For the Love of a Parking Meter: an interview with Pure Vision Arts artist Chase Ferguson
Chase Ferguson is an artist working out of Pure Vision Arts, a NYC-organization providing individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities new opportunities for artistic expression and creative freedom. As part of Inside Job — our monthly artists’ profile series led by LAND Gallery’s Sophia Cosmadopoulos — Ferguson talks about DIY sci-fi blasters, parking meters and incandescent lighting.
Sophia Cosmadopoulos: Hello old friend, can you introduce yourself?
Chase Ferguson: Name’s Chase Ferguson. I’m the guy who makes some paper models, cardboard models, artwork characters, Mii characters and parking meters.
SC: We’ve known each other for a long time. Can you describe how we met?
CF: You used to work at Pure Vision and I met ya. For a couple of years.
SC: And what is Pure Vision Arts?
CF: It’s a place for people to do art every day and every year. It’s at 114 West 17th Street in Manhattan.
SC: And how long have you been going to PVA?
CF: Since 2010. Yeah. I have been here for almost 9 years, yep.
SC: What are you currently working on at PVA?
CF: I am doing some bigger cardboard models. I now do the firetruck, large models, out of cardboard. I made small sized models, formally, and I made medium size models and now I make bigger size models.
SC: Yes, your models have gotten bigger and you now use cardboard instead of paper! What were they like before?
CF: I made the small cars out of paper. I used to do the computer drawings out of them. But now currently paper drawings, hand drawings.
SC: That’s right. So you used to create a flat diagram of your car models on the computer, but now you draw them freehand. Then what comes next?
CF: Then cut them and fold them. Then put papers in it, yeah and then tape them up.
SC: Then they become 3D. What is your favorite car to make?
CF: Old cars, any of old cars. 1900s, 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and fewer 80s. Beatle buses, Ford Mustang, Chevy Belier, MINI Cooper, Dodge Charger, Plymouths and more. That’s all.
SC: And you like to go to the Javits Center for the car shows, right?
CF: Yeah, that’s right. Every year for 18 years. Since I was 12, 13 years old. I take pictures. I go to the Museum Bus Festival too. Every September, every year in Brooklyn. And the Transit Museum. I have been for a long time at the Transit Museum.
SC: And besides the cars, what are you working on now? You have developed a new series right?
CF: Yeah, weapons. Blasters and phasers. From Star Wars and Star Trek, I watch them. The blasters are made out of cardboard boxes. I did the Hans Solo blaster and the James T Kirk phaser, and Imperial E-11 blaster and what else? I did the Blue Guard’s blasters this year. And the ST 14 C blaster pistol and the CR2 blaster pistol.
SC: What made you interested in these weapons?
CF: Types of blasters from movies and TV shows and games. These Star Wars video games. I saw them all, I saw these types of blasters.
SC: When I first met you, you were really into parking meters, do you want to explain that?
CF: I made parking meters since 2013, a couple of years ago, because they were being replaced, being phased out by Muni Meters; that’s why I made them. Parking meters had been here a long time since 1951. They had been withdrawn since 2011, I saw them being replaced by Muni Meters. I just didn’t realize that all the meters with the coins were gone, they had been removed. Now all that’s left, that remains, is “pay at muni meter” on top of the meters. They had made a change.
SC: You were sad to see them go, so you immortalized them in your replicas! You actually made a physical model of a parking meter right?
CF: Yes with moving parts, put a coin in and also digital.
SC: And what models did you make?
CF: Yeah, like the old parking meter with a flag on it, that said “time expired” with a violation and an arrow. The models are Duncan, Park O Meter and MacKay. There are three of them parking meter factories. Two of them in the US — Park O Meter and Duncan — and Mackay parking meter in Canada, manufactured in Canada. Duncan model 60, model 70, model 80, model 90, model 95. There is duplex, double, twin parking meter, separate. There is also a quad parking meter, with four of them.
SC: I remember you would go visit the quad in Gowanus! It was like a pilgrimage. You had me looking for parking meters all over the city — I had never really noticed them before. And how did you make them?
CF: I made them out of cardboard paper. I made them on cardboard and cut them out and then glued them up and painted them. The base was a pipe.
SC: And some had moving parts?
CF: Yeah made out of cardboard and straws that you could move.
SC: What do you like about parking meters?
CF: They are more collectible. I was 25 when they went away. I was a kid and I would see them any place in Manhattan and the Bronx.
SC: Are there any left in NYC?
CF: Only a bit left. In a junkyard, bagged up in Queens. Underneath the Queensboro bridge in the DOT parking storage. There are a few in the Bronx. Last time I saw them, probably some on 49th street. Used to be in Coney Island leftover, Duncan model 80 and some in Downtown Brooklyn.
SC: How many meters have you made over the years?
CF: 100 of them. I had a goal for 100. Now they are overseas. London and the Netherlands.
SC: And what’s your ultimate, favorite model?
CF: The New York City parking meter, model 90 and 95. They have been here for a long time.
SC: You used to travel around and photograph them, right? I remember loving seeing your vacation photos because they were only ever of parking meters.
CF: Yeah, yeah, yeah sometimes. Oh yeah, in Baltimore? That’s right Duncan model 80 with moving parts, the oldest, in Baltimore. Back in 2017, I went with mom and saw the rest. Also in Atlantic City, the Park O Meters. And I photograph ice cream trucks too, especially Mister Softee. Now I take pictures of cars, trains and buses. And traffic lights.
SC: Oh yes, you love traffic lights too. And light bulbs. Talk to me about that.
CF: I used to make them out of cardboard. I started in 2012, have made probably a few. I had to have a special kind of lightbulb for it. A party bulb, incandescent and CFL. I used to work at a hardware store with bulbs. I was looking for a bulb that was more cooler. My favorite is incandescent, CFL and LED, that makes 3 things.
SC: Yes, you used to work in a hardware store. What happened to that job?
CF: I used to work there. Then Hurricane Sandy destroyed the rest. Back in 2012, that’s right. It was in downtown where I worked in the basement on the computer. All my files that I gave to them was lost forever. That’s been cut now.
SC: You also love the subway, what do you love about it?
CF: Oh yeah, the old subway cars are from 1900s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. My favorite is any of the old subway cars. In the Transit Museum they weren’t used anymore. And the subway yards, the Coney Island yards, I see them. The museum train was out in Brighton Beach last week. The BMT subway cars. And the museum buses, the old look buses from the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s.
SC: Would you ever be a subway driver?
CF: No, I am not trained for this, Sophia.
SC: And what about your drawings?
CF: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. My Mii characters. I use these Mii characters’ outfits, I draw them all in the background. There are Michelle, Mela, Crema, Top Gum, Jamaya.
SC: Yes, you make up all the names, I love them. Especially Top Gum. And you are usually in the drawings too, right?
CF: Yeah, me as Chase. I am me, I was. And my alter ego is Case. She went back to her own planet, to her own universe. Now she’s gone.
SC: Where did you grow up?
CF: In Brooklyn, then Long Island, then the Bronx, then Harlem since 2004.
SC: When did you first make artwork?
CF: Me? A long time. My first models? I was 11 years old. Yeah, I started at 11 years old and made a car. I don’t know the model. Then I made more of them, thousands. They are at home and at the art studio.
SC: You like to organize your models. I love watching you do that.
CF: Yeah, they are all gathered up. I line them up like a parking lot area. I do it at home sometimes. In my room there are only a few. The rest I gave away to mom.
SC: What art shows have you been in?
CF: I have been all over the places. Any of places. Weird Days, City Reliquary, The New York City Transit Museum and what else? Yeah, yeah Pioneer Works, I was a one man show back two years ago. My models and parking meters, that’s right. And the Outsider Art Fair since 2011.
SC: Do you like going to those shows? How does it make you feel?
CF: Good. The best artist to sell, to sell some.
SC: What are your goals for the future Chase?
CF: Complete the models.
SC: What would you like people to know about you, the lasting impression?
CF: They want to know? They should know I am the best artist.
SC: Chase, thank you so much, it has been a real pleasure, you really are one of the best.
