I embarrassingly need your help.

For 40 years, I've been building things that move and (hopefully) making people smile. My New York studio has been the hub of my art-making and my community — and right now, I'm in danger of losing it.

The pandemic wiped out exhibitions I'd counted on. I then stepped away to care for my dear mother in Iowa. When I came back, I was facing an unsustainable situation with my patient landlord, and even after a liquidation sale, I'm still in the red. I'm asking for help clearing that debt so I can get a fresh start and get back to making art.

Art that includes kinetic sculptures built from old machine parts, broken toys, kitchen utensils, carnival figurines, and whatever other beautiful junk I can get my hands on.

Things that move. Things that make people stop on the sidewalk and stare and grin.

I've been doing this since 1985, when I was granted permission to install in an abandoned SoHo factory window and started making motorized installations on Broome Street. Since then my work has traveled the world — but the moment I live for, is still the same: watching someone see a piece move for the first time and just light up.

That's what I'm trying to protect. The studio, the work, and my community outreach workshops for kids.

Any contribution means the world. -gerb