[image]
[title]Bleecker St between Sullivan and Thompson Sts
What are you up to? I'm working. I'm a creative lead in visual effects. Right now I'm doing a commercial for McDonald's that features the Smurfs.
So you make the Smurfs do cool animated things? Yes.
In the name of selling Happy Meals? [Laughs] Yes, in this case for the U.K. market. And I don't do the selling—I really don't! I just work on the content.
Are you at all conflicted about promoting McDonald's? I'm actually not at all. I'm doing my best from a creative standpoint and having a fun time. My contribution is all positive.
It's too bad tofu companies don't make ads using Smurfs. At the end of the day, everything should be allowed; it's just up to us where we put our attention. Divinity encompasses everything. And if divinity is all, there has to be a place for everything.
So our overconsumption of hamburgers and french fries is a matter of divinity? In a sense, yes it is. It's not about good or bad.
I'm sensing that you're a spiritual person. What does spiritual mean? It just means you're more connected with the ways of your spirit. That's an inherently human quality.
Do you practice a particular religion? No, I don't. Mine is an all-inclusive divinity. How can God be anything else but everything? And if it's everything, then it's all-encompassing.
Too bad more people don't agree with you on that point. Yeah, that's okay though. I don't need to focus on the division. And I don't mean to say that divinity needs to be somber. Living, itself, is divine, so if you can enjoy your life, you are already taking part in the divinity. You don't need to chant or fast; you can be yourself and be divine.
I can totally get into that. [Laughs] You're already in it.
So, if you were a Smurf, which one would you be? [Laughs] Omigod! Let me see. They're such archetypes. I think I'd be, like, the collective Smurf: a little Papa Smurf, a little Smurfette...
Of course you'd say that. What about Gargamel? Oh yes, him, too. We all have our darker sides.
More from Arman
"I'm from Bangladesh. I've been in New York 15 years; I came to America to study art."
You might also like
See more New York stories from the sidewalk
See photos of New York street style
See more in Things to Do