We’ve all passed by them before-the faded storefronts plastered with rusted gas station signs and window displays piled high with furniture.
To some, these stores look like a scene from the A&E documentary series “Hoarders.” To others, the sight of dusty antiques makes their faces light up, their palms sweat, their hearts beat faster-to them, these sites are treasure troves just waiting to be picked through.
Gary Ross, owner of Estate of Confusion on Main Street.Greg Ross, Owner of Estate of Confusion
Visitors at Estate of Confusion would be hard pressed to not bump into at least two or three artists while rummaging through the stuff piled high behind the Main Street shop’s chain link fence.
“I supply people with material to do what they want to do,” says Greg Ross, Estate of Confusion owner. “I was paid a compliment one time by the curator of the Hunter Museum. She said, ‘You have a good eye,’ and told me there was an artist who had used some things from here in a piece that’s at the Hunter Museum. I said, ‘So I have junk at museums?’ She said, ‘Greg, this is the second time you’ve had your junk in this museum.’ Another artist had repurposed some junk for her art, too. I thought that was cool.”