Artists are taking over New York storefronts left empty by the coronavirus pandemic, enjoying priceless free exposure and bringing depressed shopping streets to life.
Thousands of shops and restaurants closed this year as the virus wreaked havoc on the Big Apple’s economy, and now artists are occupying some of those premises to use as studios and galleries.
“Sometimes they say that tragedy brings an opportunity. So this is an opportunity,” said the artist known as Sir Shadow, as he made one of his signature one-stroke drawings in an old Manhattan furniture store.
The septuagenarian receives help from Chashama, a New York nonprofit organization that convinces property owners to temporarily donate vacant spaces to struggling artists, to use them as studios and to display their work.
As homeowners struggle to fill vacant lots, Chashama is ramping up efforts amid the pandemic and plans to get 100 spaces next year, in addition to the 150 studios it already operates.
“There are definitely many more spaces available and many more that people are willing to give us right now,” the organization’s founder and artistic director, Anita Durst, told AFP.
Artists receive the space for free and take home all the money made from any sale, a panacea in New York, where spaces are outrageously expensive and galleries often take a cut of the proceeds from the works.
This arrangement – which stipulates that the artists will vacate the premises as soon as it is rented out – also benefits the property owners.
“We make the space look good. We are there to open the doors to (real estate) brokers. In that way, we try to help make it rent,” Durst explained.
A similar initiative is taking place in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where the empty windows of prominent Columbus Avenue prominently display the works of local artists.
Oil paintings on canvas, acrylic works and photographs appear in the windows alongside “Space Available” signs at the “Art on the Ave NYC” exhibition, which runs from November 21 to January 31.
– “Change the mood” –
That idea was conceived in June by three professors, including local resident Barbara Anderson, who grew increasingly depressed as one store after another closed as the virus engulfed New York.
“I said: ‘There has to be something better that we can do, something a little more energetic or vibrant,'” he explained to AFP during a tour of the exhibition, which features some 40 artists.
“Hopefully (the expo) brings foot traffic to the area and also helps businesses that are struggling to pay rent,” Anderson added.
Passersby stop to take photos and press their noses against the glass to read the description of the colorful and brilliant work titled “We the People,” priced at $ 3,500 by artist Lance Johnson, 45.
“Instead of brown paper on the windows, it looks amazing art. It changes your mood,” Johnson said.
“You also see the diversity of New York City. That is a beautiful thing, especially now that people say that New York is dead. That is not true, we are still here, we continue to fight and it is important to share that,” he added.
Sir Shadow – who risked being questioned by the police when he hung his drawings on park fences before joining the Chashama program in the mid-1990s – thinks the pandemic will bring lasting exposure for artists.
“Once people get used to seeing these full spaces and feel the benefit and see their beauty, they cannot go back to what they used to be,” he said.
pdh / mdl / yo / lda
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