An
ARTIST ’ S
DAN COLEN’S REGENERATIVE SKY HIGH FARM IS A GROWING BEACON OF CREATIVITY, AGRICULTURE, AND FOOD SECURITY.
SKY HIGH FARM OFFERS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS FOR INDIVIDUALS TO DEEPEN THEIR COMMITMENT TO FARMING.
HARVEST
N POST-9/11 NEW YORK, ARTISTS and bands ran wild, as downtown was rebuilding and a new creative culture rose with it; Dan Colen was one of the scene’s central figures. In the mid-2000s, you’d likely find him on the Lower East Side, making art with friends — he, artists Dash Snow and Terence Koh, and photographer Ryan McGinley were dubbed “Warhol’s Children” by New York Magazine — and generally indulging in all New York City had to offer a dazzling wunderkind. Colen’s early work often played with the intersections of high and low culture, mixing fine art techniques with graffiti and materials like chewing gum. His quick ascent — his first exhibition at a Gagosian Gallery in New York was in 2006, when he was only 25 — elicited both admiration and envy, with critics calling his work juvenile and genius in equal turns. Then, in 2009, Snow died of a drug overdose. Grieving his friend, Colen relocated to the Hudson Valley, purchasing 40 acres that would become Sky High Farm. It’s probably not the future anyone would have imagined for him 20 years ago. And yet Colen has managed to channel his creativity into establishing a thriving nonprofit dedicated to fostering community and food sovereignty through regenerative farming.
by Julie Gerstein
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ISSUE 02
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