Kriti Mehrotra
Directed by Jeremy Workman, Netflix’s ‘Secret Mall Apartment’ delves deep into the tale of how eight artists in Rhode Island created a living space inside a busy mall and lived there for 4 years. They filmed almost everything along the way, making it evident that their project was more than just a prank; it was an exploration of how even the strangest places can be deemed art and feel like home. Among the 8 participants is Colin Bliss, whose reflection in the documentary makes it clear that the apartment was indeed a second home and held deep meaning for all involved.
The Apartment Project Played a Key Role in Colin Bliss’ Development as an Artist
Although born and raised on the island of Manhattan, Colin Bliss knew from an early age that he wanted to create a name for himself in the artistic, creative world that didn’t have any bounds. However, it wasn’t until he landed at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and got Michael Townsend as a teacher that he understood the scope of art and how it has to be personal. He had no idea that his mentor would soon become his collaborator as he let him into the secret Providence Place Mall space he had already started transforming into a home, along with three others.
Colin has since asserted that, while they did use the Secret Mall Apartment as a place to live and relax, they mostly used it to plan their collaborations and various art projects. These include the Optimism Mural in Oklahoma City on the anniversary of the Oklahoma bombing, tape murals at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, and a 5-year project in New York to memorialize the first responders who lost their lives to 9/11. The most nights he spent in the apartment were 4 or 5, most of them alongside Michael. He still proudly keeps the key to the original apartment door as a memento to this day, although the flames that used to be on it have worn off over time.
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Colin Bliss Continues to Fulfill His Creative Desires Through His Work
Ever since Colin graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, he has been an active part of the art world as a creator, sculptor, tinkerer, and writer. In fact, he has even been a part of The Wurks, an all-inclusive artist studio in Providence, Rhode Island, since 2009, meaning he continues to reside in the area to this day. He reportedly specializes in exploring the emotional lives of objects and how they coincide with or clash with those of humans. As for the nature of his work, he dabbles in both temporary and permanent sculpture, working with paper, wood, tape, aluminium, plastic, linen, or anything else available to him.
Some of Colin’s works include “Chair” in glazed ceramic, “Cake” in layout fluid on aluminum, “Chainsaw” embroidery on linen, “Heart” in marble, “Library” detail comprising handmade books and a cedar bookshelf, and more. You can find all of his work on his official website, where he loves to document his every creation, including his quarantine sourdough breads during the COVID-19 pandemic. We should also mention that he is a resident of Cabin-Time, a roaming creative residency that operates in remote places but is based in Ohio. He also continues to refer to himself as a “fake astronaut.” After all, with a deep interest in space, he makes a lot of art based around the concept of space exploration.
As for Colin’s aim as an artist, he hopes “to make expensive materials appear cheap; to reimagine often ignorable things as precious treasures. Every new project should require the learning of a new skill, followed by a series of failures.” So, today, apart from being an artist, he is also an educator at his alma mater. He is a Senior Academic Technologist and Instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he hopes to inspire the next generation of artists to be their unique selves, just as his mentors did for him. That’s why, for over a decade, he has even served as a member of a public art and education collective that has made large, temporary, collaborative murals with tape while using them as a tool for education.
