Kevin ORourkeCentral Park between E 90th St and E 89th StHeart Four · Location 484 · Drawn July 2004Download photograph 1Download photograph 2Download photograph 3Download photograph 4Download photograph 5Download photograph 6Download photograph 7Download photograph 8Download photograph 9Download photograph 10Download photograph 11Download photograph 12Download photograph 13Download photograph 14Download photograph 15Download photograph 16Download photograph 17Show all 17 photographsVideo podcast0:00To find this drawing's location, enter into Central Park off of 5th Avenue at East 90th0:06Street.0:08Take a left onto the sidewalk, get to the emergency phone and stop.0:12With your back to East Drive, you're facing a curving stone wall with hints of vines moving0:19around it.0:20The drawing was made on the curved stone just before it meets the angular rectangle blocks0:27and make up the rest of this wall. The drawing was originally done under a0:32small framing of vines and as of spring 2006 those vines have been beat back and0:40are surely not defeated. This is Kevin ORourke. He was drawn in July of 2004.0:47His drawing is counting one person. In a very real sense the project especially0:55Especially for Mike, it's not work, it's his life.0:58It's what happens when your life becomes your work1:01and Mike has pretty much given up every single thing1:04other than eating and sleeping to get this done.1:07So he stopped making money,1:10only makes the bare minimum1:12to basically pay our bills for the whole project.1:15Stopped exercising.1:17The entire time I've known Mike, he hasn't had any friends.1:21Isn't that so crazy?1:22Like, Mike used to live in Fort Thunder.1:25of an artist community and this project has completely isolated him. He used to1:30and then it was different because he lived at the Potato Palace so he was1:33living with Rob and Eric and then by default that community would come over1:38to that studio and then we moved into our house and then a couple years after1:43that we realized there's not even time for him to walk around the block from1:47our house to the studio so now we have the studio at our house so that he can1:52wake up and start working and then work until the last minute until he falls asleep.1:56So Adrienne has just been describing the way this project has become your entire life and I asked2:00if it was worth it and you said yes. But what I still don't get then is why? Like why have you2:06let this project become your life? Why has it consumed your every waking moment and every2:13available dollar? I mean what is it about the project or about you or about the subject matter2:18that has made that just the default.2:23If you can corral that answer out of someone like him,2:27I mean, that's easier with me, because I've been at it for five years,2:31but when this project started, Collin was in high school.2:34Don't pass the buck to Collin. I'll ask Collin. I'm asking you.2:38Do you just not want to answer that question?2:40Well, I mean, you know...2:43It's a hard question to answer. I'll give you that.2:44Actually, I can give you a very simple answer, which is that the emotional impact of being2:51in Oklahoma City set in motion something that never, ever had any resolution in my mind.2:59We were making a mural there for the firefighters.3:03The firefighters were talking, and rescue workers were talking to us and sharing all3:09all the details of their search and recovery efforts.3:14And we were there as a sounding board,3:16just to listen and to create work for them.3:21And we internalized all of that.3:24And when September 11th happened,3:26we have the inevitable momentum of that internalization,3:31our want and wishes to do well,3:35the love of Manhattan,3:37and all the people in it and this necessity arose to just follow through on this idea regardless3:48of its inconveniences which is a wish that I would wish upon anybody for any idea that they3:58truly feel at their heart is worth pursuing, just pursue it.4:05To emphasize that idea, we made a decision about a year or two into the project that4:11the fact that it was unfunded was our boldest exclamation point that we were not doing this4:18for any other reason than the necessity to do it.4:22And we have discovered over the years that when people talk to us about the project and4:26And they say, who funded this?4:28And we say, nobody.4:28They are deeply moved by that.4:31And in that moment, in that interaction,4:34we have at another core of why the project is good4:38and why it affects other people.4:42Not that that is necessarily the goal,4:45but it is nice to have that as a side product of all of this work.4:52If you dedicate yourself to something like that,4:54then and you're fortunate enough to have a partner and friends who can feel the5:03depth of that dedication and help then you are in a good place in life have I5:09lost a lot of friends yes have I jeopardized anything that could be5:15remotely described as balance yes absolutely what I wish that upon5:21upon anybody? Yes, again. This project, theoretically, this idea was supposed to chew up maybe a5:30year or two, which seems like a palatable amount of time to sort of go full force. Yeah,5:35it's been five. Whatever. It's going to be done soon.5:41A woman just walked by in an I love, I hurt New York shirt.5:45She does too.5:49All the kids knew. If their bike was broken, a flat tire, a loose chain, then all they had to do was take it to the firehouse and see Kevin M. O'Rourke.5:59He would dig his toolkit out of his locker, where the other firefighters had taped up a sign saying, Kevin's Bike Shop, and he'd fix it.6:06And while the kids were there, he invariably...← Location 483Heart Four · Location 484Location 485 →
