Top 40 Under 40
Style Weekly
9.27.06
Melissa Scott Sinclair
You have to wonder — does he do it with mirrors?
Slash Coleman appears to be everywhere at once.
You variously encounter him in galleries (he’s a
painter), in high schools (he’s a teacher), in articles
in Massage magazine (he’s a masseur and a
writer), in his family’s furniture shop, Tinker’s (he’s
a “reluctant furniture upholsterer”), and onstage.
Top Fortyunder Forty recipients,
Slash Coleman and Scotessa A.
Hurte, take time out for a photo
opt at the event. (photo: Steven
Sulpakas)
Coleman was recently in San Francisco performing his acclaimed 30-character
one-man show, “The Neon Man and Me,” about the sudden death of his longtime
friend neon artist Mark Jamison. Soon he’ll be on your TV: PBS is filming “The
Neon Man” for a special. Yet it’s not only Coleman’s ubiquity but also his
generosity that makes him one of Style’s Top 40. He’s donated most of the
proceeds from his show, more than $10,000 thus far, to Jamison’s son and to city
non-profits.
Coleman mentors his fellow artists, giving them free advice on how to build art
into a business. He’ll soon begin teaching workshops for high-school students
on how to grapple with tragic events through performance. And he’s working on
his next show. He also confesses he’d like to learn to play upright bass. And tap-
dance. “It’ll happen in the next life,” he says.September 27, 2006
© Slash Coleman 2006