Eric Orr sat at a wooden fold up table in his living room. His quick and then suddenly slow sharpie pen strokes created an echo that traveled throughout his Parkchester apartment. He sketched a version of Rapper Max Robot, a comic book character he created back in 1986. Despite Orr’s artistic safe haven being his home, he may make a change to his creative environment.
Orr grew up in Parkchester. A true Bronx native, he has lived there for 41 years. The neighborhood, he said, nurtured him as an artist. “The Metropolitan Oval is great I normally sit there and take in the environment and get inspiration from the people and I have always created right here in this apartment.,” said Orr.
He started out as a graffiti artist and was one of the few people to work with Keith Haring. In the early 80s, he created logos for various Hip Hop acts such as, Jazzy Jay, Afrika Bambaataa, Zulu Nation, and Lord Finesse. During this period, Orr created Rapper Max Robot, the first Hip Hop comic book character. Now 54 years old, Orr’s work today still consists of art and design.
His art allowed him to work for major record companies such as Jive, MCA and Uni. He designed items for the New Zealand based D.J. software company Serato and is going to New Zealand in November to paint a Mural for the company’s 15 year anniversary. “I will also be attending the upcoming Comic Con at the Jacob Javitz Center to promote Rapper Max Robot,” said Orr.
“I attribute walking with an open mind and taking in everything around me as my way of gaining inspiration,” said Orr. Open mindedness is a value Orr cherishes and he is disappointed at what he views as closed mindedness taking a toll in his community.
“When I first moved to Parkchester, the population was made up of whites and Blacks with a few Hispanics,”said Orr. There has been an influx of different minorities and demographics have shifted to a larger number of people from Hispanic and middle eastern decent from the previous black and white dominance. According to the Social Explorer, Hispanics make up a total of 39 percent of the population followed by African Americans at 20 percent. Over the past ten years, there was an increase of people migrating from Bangladesh who now make up about 15 percent of the population.
“Tolerance is a major issue in the area. We have families coming from different parts of the world and we need to learn their culture and be more understanding. They also need to be more understanding of our culture and what was here before they came,” said Orr. A series of hate crimes has plagued the Bangladeshi community. According to The Daily News, the most recent attack occurred back in August 2013 when a cab driver was attacked leaving his mosque in the Parkchester area. Incidents like this are what Orr refers to as closed mindedness reminding him of the judgmental prejudices that still exist in America.
Despite these incidents, his faith in the neighborhood remains. “I learned when I was in school the more banks your community has the more economically sound it is. We have 6 banks in the neighborhood. If they start closing then we should be concerned,” said Orr. While he loves his childhood neighborhood, he thinks it is time for a change. “I would like a change of environment and to be closer to a body of water,” said Orr. He cites water as being an inspiration to him.
As a result of working with Serato, Orr travels back and forth between the U.S. and New Zealand spending six months here and six months there. Among other things, he received a commission by Sky City, the owners of the Pin Needle skyscraper, to teach workshops to children in New Zealand. He is thinking about moving. “I love Parkchester, I love New York, but there is not enough water change, not enough culture change for me and that’s what I like about New Zealand. It’s on the other side of the world and doesn’t have the same mind set as us,” said Orr.
