On the Block with Frank J. Miles
Frank J Miles is a pandisciplinary artist based in New York City: a visual artist, an artistic philosopher, a social sculptor who studied at Columbia University, and a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. His work is about atheism, death, competition, bonding, density and utopia. The creator of Communitas, his next step is an MFA PhD program overseas in art and philosophy. Communitas is an essential part of his art practice. It is: a downtown Manhattan creative think tank and salon; a pandisciplinary arts collective; a future global arts movement and civilization Communitas is a symposium of the occurrent arts and social sculpture, captures the times we are moving toward \u2013 continuing the tradition of a Downtown Manhattan participatory social practice where the evolving ideas of society, culture, and New York City converge. This creative think tank is a salon which brings artists and audiences from many worlds of New York City and beyond to create what is the next vanguard for the city \u2013 welcoming a diverse spectrum of creative voices engaging in dialogical aesthetics and art intervention. Bringing people together to open more worlds, make beauty and magic, create peace and freedom, be more futurist than nostalgic, Communitas uses global art and its power to build a united tomorrow not equal but egalitarian. He is shot out of a canon and this is, without a doubt, one of the best conversations I have had on OTB. In this episode, we discuss racism in the gay community, the perils of Tinder, and how art can help us understand and ultimately transcend the many labels society tries to put on each of us.