East Rockaway library features local artist’s work

Jeffrey Okin, 30, of East Rockaway, embraced medical challenges thrown his way through making art that will be showcased in a month-long exhibit featured at the East Rockaway Library this April.

“I’m very excited,” Okin said. “I can’t wait for everyone to see my artwork.”

Okin is a mixed media artist creates abstractions, cartoons, pointillism, watercolor and collages. He studied art briefly at the State University of New York at Oneonta, before graduating with a B.A. in communication studies in 2007. Okin has battled bipolar disorder as well as a slow-growing carcinoid cancer that has affected his lungs, liver, kidneys and arm and legs since he was 16. For Okin, making art mitigates his condition.

“It relieves stress and it also makes me happy because I’m doing something that I enjoy doing,” he said. “It puts me in my own world basically.”

He said his aunt, Chira Budick, encouraged him to pursue his artwork, and that she recognized talent that he didn’t see in himself initially. “I’ve been interested [in art] all my life, but I always felt that I wasn’t good enough so I didn’t apply myself,” he said. After prodding from his aunt, Okin began to explore different art forms — including collages and watercolor painting. When he heard the East Rockaway Library offers local artists studio space to exhibit their work, he decided to inquire about putting his works on display.

Budick said Okin would often visit her at her Long Beach home, and when she saw him draw beach scenes and sunsets inspired by the landscape there she was impressed by his process. “He started doing the work when he visited me, and I was lucky enough to watch him blossom,” she said. “It’s unbelievable therapy that’s just helped him so much.”

Okin, who aspires to open his own gallery someday, said he often has trouble walking because of the cancer which causes leg pains. He said he thought elements of his bipolar disorder were explored in his work too.

Budick said that her brother (Okin’s father) passed away eight years ago, and that he would be incredibly proud of his achievements and commitment to art.

“It’s been hard,” Budick said of Okin’s illnesses. “[But] he’s a trooper.”

Okin’s exhibit will be on display at the library up through April 22.