Inside the Studio

Letter to Collectors (October 2025)

First published on For Collectors

I moved from New York to London not too long ago. When my book tour for 5 Ideas from Global Diplomacy came to a close after presentations on sustainable development at MIT, the UN, and other institutions, I decided to spend more time in the arts. I was figuring out my life in a new city and found the creative community friendlier. I hold an M.A. from Johns Hopkins and I was a Departmental Visiting Student at the University of Oxford, but I completed my B.F.A. at the Parsons School of Design in New York. It was a full-circle moment for me. Of course, art was also never that far away for an Upper East Sider.

Art came back to me when I picked up a polaroid camera to photograph my Airedale terrier puppy, little Freddy. I was a fashion week photographer during my Parsons days. I have also photographed musicians, artists, chefs, and other creatives. But a polaroid photoshoot is a very different experience. At a time when we are flooded with Al images, polaroids pull us out of our routines. There is excitement as each image emerges from the hazy white background and you hold in your hand a physical one-of-one artefact. I wanted to experiment with the media further by drawing on them, and that was how The Instant Film Project began.

Drawing with chalk pastel is a colourful choice, and a sentimental one as well. At Parsons, I was a student of James Romberger, an artist in the East Village canon alongside Basquiat, Wonarowicz, and McGinley. I have been a close friend of the Romberger-Van Cook family since. I began co-directing the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs with Marguerite Van Cook in 2020. We have co-organized the 2022 and 2023 Future of Global Covernance Series Conference together, which included the arts workshop “Nature and Natural Objects as Actors in Everyday Lives”. Marguerite and I co-curate the 2025 Instant Film as Contemporary Art Monthly Series at the moment.

“Nature and Natural Objects as Actors in Everyday Lives” is a significant influence on my contemporary art practice. We discussed the importance of sustainable art materials, which led me on a wild journey to source non-toxic materials for my own health and my collectors’. I currently use non-toxic chalk pastels from Chalk Copenhagen and a non-toxic fixative from SpectraFix. We also discussed the importance of introducing thoughtful cultural practices to support longer term sustainable development initiatives. My book goes further and makes the case for culture as critical infrastructure. Cultural spaces enable people to contest norms’ interpretations and adapt — a way to break free from existing cycles.

My first chalk pastel series Urban Wildlife looks at nature in our in-between spaces. A somewhat irreverent extension of my on-going fascination with subcultures. To invite dialogue, each artwork is accompanied by custom prose. I continue this practice for all of the artworks I offer today. The series is also an homage to the urban decay that is characteristic of the East Village canon. Even though I don’t “attack the canvas” as some abstract expressionists do, I take a deep breath and draw. Chalk pastels get murky after a few layers, so you cannot rework it the way you can with acrylic or oil. There is a sense of Pollock’s “controlled accident” at play: I start with a concept and let the chalk determine the precise outcome. These bold, energetic marks hold the artwork together.

My second and current chalk pastel series The Instant Film Project feels more personal. Polaroids from my everyday life are scanned and giclée printed onto archival cotton paper, before I draw on them. Urban wildlife continues to be a recurring motif, but there is a stronger narrative element. I draw the things I cannot fully express with words. Moments when I look at my dog and hope he would live forever; moments when I have to drink on a Whatsapp call because I moved to London and my friends are still in New York; and moments when I appreciate the whimsy of something I saw in London. I share this moment with collectors via For Collectors (Substack) and Youtube. There, you can see the artwork’s development from thumbnail sketches to finished drawings. Do reach out and commission an artwork if you see something that speaks to you.

Thank you for supporting my work. Your presence here matters.

M. Freddy