Artist Dan Covert Doesn't Wait to Be Inspired

From "The Leg Up," our series on New Yorkers who are going places—and the pants designed to take them there.

At any one time, the Brooklyn-based artist and director has a backlog of 10 to 12 ideas for what to make next—whether it be a painting, or sculpture, or film, or commercial. Or, or, or. “There’s always time,” he says. “It’s just, how do you maximize it in order to make stuff?”A professed night owl, Dan nonetheless plots his days in shifts, moving back and forth between his “chaotic” basement studio and well-appointed office upstairs.

“There’s an 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift, which is normally when I focus on ‘work work,’ and then a 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.,” he says. “Obviously, you’ve got to fit a life in there. But I think it’s just about carving out those blocks of time.”

When it comes to clothes, Dan looks to keep things crisp, clean, more professional—even, or especially, if he’s working at home. “I feel like if I’m dressed a little bit nicer, I carry myself a little bit differently.”