Somewhere in the heart of Brooklyn, NY, is an old deli. Decrepit and dirty, the deli sits on the corner of a small street, void of any functioning automobiles or beating hearts.
This isn’t your typical deli, though. In‒fact, you couldn’t stop by and buy anything from this deli. You wouldn’t even fit in the door. This deli is a part of an art installation titled “Trainset Ghetto” by the artist Peter Feigenbaum.
Peter takes pieces from miniature train‒set collections and adds a bit of his own touch with materials such as cast plaster, polystyrene plastic, chipboard, basswood, green foam, and tempera. The installation isn’t a unique reflection of the real world, as much as it is a powerful ‒ and yet tiny ‒ sampling of how the artist views the world.
In an interview with The Morning news, Peter explains what inspired him to create a miniature, ghetto world:
I guess I have this fascination with urban wildness–it’s a way for me to objectify an urban experience that’s quite different from my current scenario. Nostalgia for an era that I never experienced? I was also inspired by a lot of location-heavy graffiti and crime films from the late 1970s/early ’80s as well. I also have a dark sense of humor!
Often we feel as though art should imitate the real world as it surrounds us, as it’s defined in history books. But through creativity and intuition ‒ and a dark sense of humor ‒ Peter has created a world not quite all his own, and not quite historically accurate. It’s something unique to outsiders. It’s something original and inspiring and simply fun to look at.