Week 1: “Imagine being magically whisked away to... Delaware. [pauses] Hi, I’m in... Delaware.” “The First State” Delaware is the second-smallest state in America - Only 9 miles wide at one point. Welcome to the start of 50 signs, in 50 states, in 50 weeks. Over the summer of 2020 I painted 50 signs and numbered them on the back and dreamed of one day getting them up in all 50 states on the same day. Last spring I said that out loud which meant it was time to try. I bought signs, a new screen, lots of spray paint, and many gallons of resin. By the end of the year the 100 signs were ready and I started to recruit friends from around the country. As the weeks and months passed in preparation I realized that there were just too many moving parts out of my control and that no one would care about this project as much as I do. If one person had a last minute conflict or changed their mind, I wouldn’t feel as if it were a success. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder; so is legitimacy. I became depressed at the thought of canceling the project, especially when I reread what I had written in large permanent marker on a cabinet door in my studio: 50 signs in 50 states with a box next to it that I planned to check off when the project was completed. I realized I needed to pivot and use the Tom Sachs motto “It won’t fail because of me.” With that in mind I decided to revisit as many of my favorite places and see as many of my favorite people as I could over the next year. That is what led me to Delaware last Friday. I woke up in my childhood bedroom in Western Pennsylvania and drove the familiar route we took every summer that I can remember from my youth to the sleepy beach community of Bethany Beach, Delaware. I took my shoes off and stepped into the ocean and walked along the empty beach remembering my many summers spent there. When I think of Delaware I think of going to the beach and sandcastle contests and the condo we rented every summer; the condo my parents still rent every summer. If you are ever near Bethany Beach, grab some Grotto Pizza, and stop by the Dewey Beer Co for some Swishy Pants. Thank You Delaware! #vort #man #art #delaware #505050 #part2
Week 2: Maryland. My 2nd favorite state flag. I don’t call it “The Old Line” state or “The Free State” I would have guessed that was New Hampshire. I also didn’t know that the northern border of Maryland was the Mason-Dixon Line. I had a hard time not going to Baltimore for the Maryland sign. I thought about the 8x10 and the band The Bridge. I thought about going to Inner Harbor or maybe Camden Yards. I thought about getting up in front of the Domino sugar sign. I even thought about The Wire, one of the best shows ever made. (excluding season 2) Maybe I will go back to Baltimore before the year is up and we’ll call those signs “amendments”. There will certainly be more than one place I will want to go to celebrate most states. However; we are still in the early years. When I was just a Vort Boy before I became a Vort Man. When we went to Delaware every summer, no trip was complete without going to Ocean City Maryland. The boardwalk always smelled like French fries, air conditioning and incense with the allure of a carnival. I remember T-shirt shops kept in business by Big Johnson and Coed naked designs. I remember a giant stuffed shark I still believe to be there and possibly the same guy carving biblical sand sculptures. I bought a Hermit crab and got my picture taken with cardboard cutouts of celebrities like Pee Wee Herman and Rowdy Roddy Piper. We played miniature golf and I would ride water slides with my sister and almost every year we would go out for ribs on my birthday. Now it’s someone else’s turn to make those formative childhood memories. When I think of Maryland I think about Ocean City. “Fatti maschii, parole femine” Thank you Maryland! #vort #man #art #maryland #505050 #part2
Week 3: Pennsylvania. I’m glad we decided last week that additional signs in states will be called amendments because Pennsylvania will have more than one sign without a doubt. I don’t have enough space this week for all the words a proper love letter to my favorite state deserves. I was born in Pittsburgh, I grew up in Western Pennsylvania, I went to College in Central Pennsylvania, then moved to Eastern Pennsylvania for the most formative and some of the most fun years of my life. This week we are focusing on post college life when I first moved to Philadelphia. This was in the early 2000’s, moving to West Philly (50th and Baltimore) where I had been going to see friends for a few years. We would have all night house parties and late night trips to Choy Wong regularly. My roommate owned the house and let me paint all over the walls. At the top of the stairs you could take a left and be surrounded by a crude city scape or turn right into a jungle scene and my bedroom. I would go into the city and help Isaiah Zagar put up his tile mosaics when I first moved there. I put work in coffee shops and painted in parks and tried to figure out what it meant for me to be an artist. There were day jobs, followed by a move to New jersey and then New Hampshire and then Vermont before returning to Philadelphia where I stated painting with Chris Kelleher under the name VORCAN everyday for the next 5 years. The story of VORCAN and painting live with Chris from 2006-2011 will be woven throughout these rambles for many weeks and states to come. In 2008 we left Philadelphia and painted 50 paintings in all 50 states in 50 days. That was the original 50/50/50 and was made possible because of Philadelphia and our time living there. I will always love Philadelphia. It’s one of my favorite cities. This tour is all about going back through all 50 states. Seeing my favorite places and my favorite people. Philadelphia was at the top of that list. Pennsylvania was the 2nd state but it’s 3rd on this tour. Thank You Pennsylvania: Thank You Philadelphia. I love you! #vort #man #art #pennsylvania #505050 #part2
Week 4: New Jersey. Trenton is the capital of New Jersey. It really is; I double checked. I’m choosing not to focus on George Washington’s big victory there in 1776. Or the year(s) I was living in Marlton, working the night shift for a major trucking company. My roommate and I would regularly ride a 4 wheeler around the small back yard or our residential rental property. That is a favorite New Jersey memory for sure. This week though, I want us to look south to Atlantic City. I had just turned 21 and went into a casino and asked the first person I saw where they were giving away the free money and any advice on the best way to leave with more than I came with. The dealer said “Take the amount you are willing to lose and make one bet on something that has the closest to 50/50 odds you can find. If you win, take your money and leave.” I don’t think I ever followed that advice but it seems sound many years later. My next trip to ac was spent playing craps until the sun came up. The camaraderie is what won me over. This guy at the other end of the table kept making up names for everyone and for some reason he kept calling me Snuffy and I still get a kick out of it all these years later. I know we went to AC on the original 50/50/50 and didn’t win anything. It could have been Borgata that robbed us. I spotted this sign in front of Bally’s; that’s where we went for my Bachelor party. I don’t play table games any more and stick to the lowest of stakes sports wagers every day instead. Late in the summer of 2012 was one of my last nights playing with real chips. I lost pretty quick poorly rolling dice but before we left we stopped by the roulette table and my best man gave me $20 to put on red 9 which hit and we could be heard shouting on the other side of the casino. Those winnings transformed into a Canon S95 camera that I had my eye on at the time. I have lots of other fond memories including concerts and other all nighters around the state, but that red 9 at Bally’s is my favorite memory from Atlantic City, and one of my favorite New Jersey Memories. Thank you New Jersey! #vort #man #art #newjersey #505050 #part2
Week 5: Missouri. My first trip to St. Louis was in college when I went to a concert at the Fabulous Fox Theater. I remember it was beautiful and I saw the Arch from the car. I flew in and out of their airport a few times. I went to the zoo and visited my father-in-law in the hospital there. I had great bbq and that was probably what I would have steered you towards if you asked for recommendations. That all changed 3 years ago when we were living in Springfield, Illinois for the summer of 2022. I took my kids to movies, playgrounds, children’s museums, trampoline parks, but when I drove them to St Louis and took them to The City Museum, I found my favorite thing to do in Missouri. The building is a former shoe factory that reopened in 1997 to the public as an interactive art space. A precursor to Meow Wolf, it’s geared toward kids, climbing, and exploring. There’s a school bus hanging off the roof, slides, a giant Praying Mantis, and a ferris wheel up there as well. Theres an airplane to explore and a welded Ewok style village. My daughter was excited to see a tank full of Axolotls. Whenever anyone mentions St. Louis to me, I push The City Museum on them as hard as I can. Bring your own headlamps for the caves. When a worker got off the elevator on a floor meant for working, not exploring I saw a giant Atomik painting and remembered theres an art gallery in there as well as a pin ball museum. Fnnch had work there last time and his work was all over the merch in the gift shop this time. I didn’t intend for this post to be a commercial for the city museum. I posted about my childhood and my young adult life. This post is from a dad chapter. If you are ever near St. Louis especially with kids check it out. I’ve been reading this 50 state fun fact board book I picked up before a flight to LA recently. It says that “People from St. Louis use more barbecue sauce than any other group in the country.” That said; after the museum I encourage you to drive a mile and a half down the road to Pappy’s Smokehouse. Even my kids who only each chicken nuggets and mac and cheese loved their brisket. thank you St. Louis. Thank you Missouri. #vort #man #art #missouri #505050 #part2
Week 6: Iowa. So many places to start with this one. I lived in Des Moines for 9 months between 2002-2003. I worked for a company selling tractor seats and other random farm equipment. I was in sales and drove around the mid west quite a bit. Some people play an album as an anthem to their season or a big meaningful chunk of their life. Songs that take them back to that special place. My Iowa anthem was the movie Office Space. I don’t think of that movie and not think about that time in my life. The best thing to come out of my time in Iowa was easily when. met one of the most amazing people I know while living there. A true adventurer in this day and age, a legend who has ski’d on every continent. In our last conversation he said he planned to ski a different country every year. He was staying at our house a few years ago and said I’ll be back to get my car in a few weeks. I need to see a dentist so he went to Peru. Someone who has lived lifetimes and I really want to dedicate this post to him. He always loves the capital building and it is quite striking. He continues to hound me and I still haven’t gone to the art museum in Des Moines and I won’t go see the frank loyd wright houses that aren’t too far from where I live now. On this trip; schools out so I had my kids with me and showed them where I worked when I even had an office in a different life. I showed them the window I was on the other side of when I sold my time like I was supposed to after college. I wanted to go to Francies for a pork loin sandwich. I had a Ferris Buellers day off moment there with one of my other best friends in the world. He came to town, I called out sick and went to the Francies for pork sandwiches, beer, and NCAA tournament basketball. Unfortunately on this trip the pool at the hotel won out and I didn’t get my pork sandwich. I would have liked to see Mr Bebers neighbor Jeff when I was there, or if it was August I would have went to the state fair to see the butter cow. I am thankful for my time in Iowa. Like every other state on this journey it helped make me who I am today. Thank you Des Moines! Thank you Iowa! #vort #man #art #iowa #505050 #part 2
Week 7: Nebraska. “The most important investment you can make is in yourself.”-Warren Buffet. I’m happy to be writing about Nebraska on the 4th of July because one of my favorite 4th of July memories happened while driving across the country in the early 2000’s. Fireworks were popping up in the distance the further we went west for about 3 hours of our journey. I fondly think about Gothenburg, a little town on interstate 80 where a friend grew up. I stayed at their farm house while passing through on a few occasions. Interstate 80 has been probably the most important road I’ve driven throughout my life. I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania on 80. I lived in Berkeley on 80, I lived in Des Moines on 80, I lived in Salt Lake City on 80, and I’m typing this about 15 miles north of I-80 in Illinois. Something special along that Longitude. My favorite thing about Nebraska though is Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. I know some of you reading this probably think of zoo’s as traveling circuses where they abuse and neglect the animals. I believe that a lot of people and future animal conservationists can be inspired by zoos. Not everyone can go on a Safari. Seeing these animals can make people want to save them. I’ve talked to a lot of people who work at various zoos who really care about the animals and I believe the education and experience outweighs some of the very real downsides of animal captivity. This isn’t Sea World. The first time I went to the Omaha zoo, we didn’t have much time. I asked a docent what the we needed to see at the zoo and what was the most dangerous animal. She was done for the day but decided to stay and give us a private tour and background on almost all of the animals as she could before the zoo closed. I got to see a Baby Malaysian Tapir which is still my favorite animal. She told me a polar bear is the most dangerous animal at the zoo. I have no reason to question her. Thank you to her, thank you to the Omaha Zoo, and thank you to Nebraska. #vort #man #art #nebraska #505050 #part2
Week 8: Vermont. This sign should be green as we are taking about the Green Mountain State this week. This is another state I’m very thankful to have lived in. My first trip to Vermont was in high school. I went on a ski trip with the catholic school to Smugglers Notch. We took a bus from Central Pennsylvania, it snowed all night long and when we arrived there was over 2 feet of fresh snow. That was my favorite day I ever had skiing. Burlington is a cool town and I bought my first piece of art there. I think of the Von Trapp house near Stowe. I think about a great night spent with with one of my favorite people after new years one time. The last time I got a paycheck was in 2006 from another trucking company up there. I’ll talk more about this time in my life next week. This is about when I lived in Vermont. I spent about 6 months house sitting on a lot of acres where I couldn’t see neighbors. I painted naked on the porch and used a grill Jay Z had requested for a one time use when he went to an early x games. There wasn’t a mailbox where I lived and I don’t think I ever got mail the 6 months I lived there. If I drove down a dirt road a few miles from the house I ended up at the Skunk Hollow Tavern. They had great food but I went there for Harpoon Beer and an open mic night with 10 to 20 people each week. I started painting in the bar and on my birthday one year Chris Kelleher came to visit and we painted together for the first time. A few months later we did it again and then we both moved to Philadelphia and started vorcan. From 2006 to 2011 we spent almost every day together and painted more than a thousand paintings together. We painted 50 paintings in all 50 states in 50 days. We crossed the country back and forth multiple times and I got to have some of the best times of my life adventuring with him. The Skunk Hollow tavern is where that tiny acorn that became the mighty oak took root. I’m so thankful for him, and for my time in Vermont. I wish I could have went in the fall to see the leaves but it was so green and beautiful, there’s no wrong time to visit Vermont. I can’t wait to go back. Thank you Vermont. #vort #man #art #vermont #505050 #part2
Week 9: New Hampshire. Live Free Or Die. This week we find ourselves in another state i was fortunate enough to live in for about 6 months. My oldest friend in the world had been working a family business for 5 or 6 years and before locking down for the next 2 decades, he needed a sabbatical that called for golfing and skiing everyday. We rented a lake house that probably had 20 windows in the living room overlooking a beautiful lake and I got to watch the seasons change from summer to fall and winter after that. This is absolutely one of my favorite views I got to wake up to. Definitely my favorite view I got to wake up to for half a year. One weekend in the fall, Blackbear (the Iowa adventurer) came down from Burlington and we went canoeing on the lake in the morning and drove to a mountain and went skiing in the afternoon. That was a great day! To make rent I took another job dispatching trucks and really appreciated the half hour commute probably more than any other I’ve had; even though I’ve only had a handful of them. The one tradition that remains from my time spent in New Hampshire was born on New Years Eve when my sister came to visit and we each chose a small object from the house to break at midnight. I may have missed a few years here and there over the last 20 plus years, but every December I pick an object that is typically a ceramic figurine from goodwill or sometimes a drinking glass in a pinch. I triple bag it in ziplock to make the cleanup on the first that much easier, a lesson that took a few years to learn. The meaning behind breaking something at midnight started as a lark, but I’ve attached much more meaning to in the years that have passed. I believe in breaking something to symbolize leaving something behind and starting anew. I encourage anyone looking to add a new tradition to their New Years Eve celebration to find something breakable and attach what you want to leave in the past and break it to have a fresh start on the first. New Hampshire; you really are beautiful and although sometimes overlooked because of neighboring states. I just want to say Thank You! #vort #man #art #newhampshire #505050 #part2