Abandoned factories as art
Listening to local artist Andy Pinto speak about his favorite subject to paint, you”™d guess it was wild flowers in the sunset, not abandoned factories in Bridgeport.
“The bricks are thousands of colors,” Pinto said. “The windows are like stained glass of a church.”
After painting factories for 14 years, 20 of the artist”™s best works are on display through September at Framemakers Picture Framing & Art Gallery in Bridgeport.
“I just want to keep recording these buildings because they”™re disappearing,” Pinto said. “I want to show them when they were the center of culture.”
Bridgeport art and artists have been named an important part of the city”™s redevelopment by Kip Bergstrom, the deputy commissioner at the state Department of Economic and Community Development. In July, the Bridgeport Arts + Cultural Council (BACC) received two state grants to create public art and get people excited to go to downtown Bridgeport.
“We know from all the economic development studies and reporting that it takes great art to make great places,” Bergstrom said in July. “Great places create great jobs.”
Pinto, an assistant professor of art at Housatonic Community College, was born in Bridgeport, grew up in Trumbull and now lives in Monroe. He said he remembers walking around the area with his grandfather growing up, watching smoke billow out of the factories”™ chimneys and sparks and flashes fly through windowpanes.
The BACC is currently taking submissions to paint a mural for the Bridgeport train station, which often serves as the front door into the city.
Rather than use art to cover up Bridgeport”™s “eyesores,” however, Pinto said he believes the abandoned buildings are a work of art themselves that should be preserved. He”™d like to see the city”™s abandoned factories be repurposed, not demolished.
“It breaks your heart to see it broken down and burnt down,” he said.
People have come up to Pinto while he paints to ask why he”™s painting such an eyesore, saying they”™d like to see the buildings knocked down. Other times, people will approach him to say he sees the buildings the way they do, as historically significant buildings to be admired.
“I can”™t ever get sick of these as a series (to paint),” Pinto said. “I”™m always going to come back. There”™s so many I haven”™t touched.”