Art Spells in the E. Village

Kofi Forson
October 2020

FUZZ GLASS (POET, PHILOSOPHER, SEDUCER):
ART SPELLS IN EAST VILLAGE, NYC

Fuzz Glass was alter ego of art writer, poet and playwright, Kofi Fosu Forson. He existed between the hard, grinding years of life in East Village, New York City, during the fall season of the year, 2011 to late 2012.

On a typical night when late artist and painter, Joe Heaps Nelson and artist, saxophonist and publisher of Whitehot Magazine, Noah Becker and Kofi had gotten together for a drink at the local bar, 2A, Kofi hardly knew it was going to be a night unlike any other when his life would change. Their conversations drifted between the art scene; current gallery openings, art gossip, all the while they humored Kofi, who almost always seemed manic, outrageous in his persona, being not so much life of the party, rather with fault and responsibility, he was the punch line to the equations drawn from all the rhetoric about artists and their neuroses; Kofi as a shining example.

Having had his fill of the night, as regulars sauntered out of the bar, Kofi drifted out into the streets. It was raining. He had no umbrella, except for a black cap he had been wearing. He wandered the avenues until he got to Saint Marks. The kiosk on the corner of Second Avenue was open, still receiving shoppers, those who were night-walking or exiting the many bars and restaurants in the neighborhood.

Kofi had been thinking of buying a du-rag, which he did. By now his black cap was wet and unwearable. He walked back home in the rain after he threw away the cap and decided then, from that moment on, he would assume a new persona as someone who wore a du-rag.

At the time Kofi was living transitionally in a housing program. He had been living in Washington Heights as part of the program. After his apartment was broken into, he needed to relocate. Luckily, he found a living situation in the East Village.

Kofi alternated this newfound lifestyle with invites from other artists to come over and break the mode of life in transition. Pop artist Brian Leo was a frequent guest. Filmmaker Rachel Amodeo and her husband, East Village legend M. Henry Jones were his neighbors.

One artist Kofi knew early on after they met at a gallery opening was the late muralist and installation artist Dianne Bowen. She lived several blocks down from him. They met frequently to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee, chat about art culture, philosophize about how the world was taking shape. Their friendship grew to include dinners together and casual trips to gallery openings all over the downtown area and into Brooklyn.

At this point Kofi had assumed the role of his alter ego, Fuzz Glass. The name Fuzz Glass was a combination of Kofi’s nickname in college, Fuzzy, with the phrase “love on da glass” he had heard in a song. He wore the du-rag with dark glasses even at night. His new persona was more of a toughened, thick-skinned version of the person he was manifesting into within the world of urban living turned upside down.

Life in the streets, given his body-sizing of other men, confrontations and machismo grew to include an overt hyper-sexuality, where women viewed him as an untouchable, someone who could easily seduce and dominate women. His extracurricular activities translated onto social media, where he posted on his interactions in the streets along with selfies on Facebook. He began writing poetry in thread conversations with Dianne. This became what originated as “thread poetry”. Dianne transformed her nature, seemingly gained confidence and posed for Kofi’s pictures. The thread poetry and their project for taking selfies turned into a gallery show at Tribes Gallery, called Dismember the Night.

Kofi and Dianne were later invited to perform this show at a gallery where photographer and curator Savannah Spirit had curated a show.

All the while, Kofi as Fuzz Glass was making his presence felt at the art parties, gallery openings and alternate evenings at the bars. One night at an art opening he met video artist Rebecca Goyette. That night turned into art romps in Brooklyn, where Kofi discovered a new world, as he played partner to Goyette’s misadventures and success as an artist in the Bushwick art scene.

Kofi, at this time, was writing for Whitehot magazine. He interviewed John Lurie, Phoebe Legere, Jennifer Precious Finch, Joan Jeanrenaud, Tony Ward, among many others.

Dianne had introduced Kofi to publisher and performer, curator of poetry events, Peter Carlaftes. While performing at his curated poetry event at Cornelia Street Cafe, Kofi met poet George Wallace. He promptly invited Kofi to join his open mic and featured poets program at Parkside Lounge. It was there Kofi met Phillip Giambri, The Ancient Mariner, who also curated poetry events at Three of Cups. Along with these venues Kofi frequented Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe. He later discovered another poetry program, Su Polo’s Saturn Series.

Fuzz Glass spent those years between 2011 and 2012 giving the impression of a street-wise philosopher who transformed from life behind closed doors, dealt with rabid culture of dangerous men, translated this into philosophical theories as blogger of Black Cocteau, read novels by writers of his generation and those come before, Emer Martin and Fernanda Eberstadt, seduced a younger generation of muses, until he left the scene, moved uptown, and with expectation, burnt out, sought a spiritual and intellectual life.

Years that followed found him coming back into the East Village to do poetry readings, at times overweight, burdened by a new stress, recapturing his life-lived spinning between art cultures and street culture, happy to have lived to talk about it, managing a newer history as artist, survivor.

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Kofi Fosu Forson is a Ghanaian writer and artist who explores gender based art about the art muse, root of the artist’s psycho-social transformations, habitation of a city (New York), by using collaborative interventions in poetry, theater, and performance.