Abstract Art Drives Entrepreneurs

By COLlive reporter
Photos: Marko Dashev-Dashevevents.com

It looks like any other Brooklyn co-working venture. On any given weekday, you will find a half dozen or more people sitting in front of their computers, focused intently on their work.

The Crown Heights Young Entrepreneurs (CHYE) Business Workspace at 510 Empire Blvd. functions as an office for a varied assortment of Chassidic Jewish men who are focused on building their businesses. Complete with WiFi, printer, scanner and coffee the Workspace provides clients with a low-cost alternative to maintaining a private office.

As part of an initiative to make the Workspace conducive to creativity and collaboration, the CHYE organization partnered with local artist Daniel Wolfe to display an installation of interactive collages called “Bits.”

A Manhattan native, Wolfe is an abstract painter, tech executive, and mentor at CHYE. He focuses on light, shade, texture and color in abstract images that resemble the brick buildings of his city youth and, later, the smooth stones of Jerusalem.

Trained in studio art and art history in New York and Israel, the 40-year-old Wolfe put his art on hold for nearly 10 years as he became frum and started a family. He only began painting again in 2004.

But life with 4 kids and a full-time job was busy, and it was difficult to carve out time for his art. So he searched for ways to create that took less time and space than his initial room-sized paintings.

Feeling blocked, Wolfe cut up some of his large compositions and mounted them onto magnets, foam core, and wood. He then attached the pieces to various frames, creating new works that were puzzle-like, and moveable. He discovered that re-arranging the pieces helped him unwind, and eventually produce new paintings. It was interactive art; or, as Wolfe calls it, “a moment of creative transformation.”

Studies show puzzles stimulate brain activity, and can lead to increased productivity. Plus, the art brightens up the Brooklyn storefront. The walls of the CHYE workspace are now graced with “Bits” depicting glowing cityscapes. Wolfe says he hopes they “bring light into the urban jungle,” and enable people to “tap into their creativity,” the way they did for him.

The Business Workspace clients are thrilled with the art.

“It’s inspiring to be surrounded by beautiful artwork while plugging away at your own business,” commented Nachshon Rorick of nachshondesign.com.

“Instead of staring at drab walls while brainstorming your next step, you can draw energy from the paintings around you. The inclusion of art in the workspace is a great example how CHYE not only supports young entrepreneurship but also serves as a patron of the Arts.”

CHYE Director Rabbi Yehoshua Werde says, “from the first moment I saw Daniel’s art I knew it belonged on our walls, Bits sets the tone of our workspace as a place of creativity collaboration and synergy.”

The CHYE Workspace is just one of the many programs and services Crown Heights Young Entrepreneur has to offer to the aspiring business-minded young men and women. CHYE currently has the opportunity to open a women’s workspace and is fielding expressions of interest. To find out more, email info@CHYE.info.