Upper East Side location artist and Most Creative New Yorker (according to Time Out in 2009) Borbay, who uses headlines from the New York Post in portraying iconic structures, is painting the Guggenheim Museum every June for the next 20 years. Why? "I am 100% confident this series will be shown at The Guggenheim. Twenty years of The Guggenheim in The Guggenheim on my 48th birthday sounds about right." Clearly, he's never heard of the sad tale of Fred "Someday" Phillips, who has been painting the Louvre most of his 97 years and still hasn't been invited in for an exhibit.
Borbay tells us via email that he decided to paint The Guggenheim because it's an "incredible location" that makes a "perfect constant for a series that should display 20 years of development (or regression) when completed." Knowing that he's "only 150 feet, 1 wall and some time away from a sizable pay grade increase" seems a powerful motivator to us as well. He also seems aware of the jinxing factor as well: "Now, watch, this will get me on The Guggenheim blacklist."
This is only Borbay's third year painting the structure, so he still has plenty of time to ponder the existential struggle of willing himself into one of the most prestigious museums in the world. Check out his first and second efforts, and the video documenting his third here.
