www.slate.com: Wander through New York’s Chelsea art district right now, and it might not be one of the shows at the neighborhood’s increasingly overweening megagalleries that stand out. It’ll be the sheep. The gas pumps at the Getty station on 24th and 10th are half-buried in what appears to be a rolling green pasture, neatly fenced in. Clustered on the incongruous green field is a flock of loveable, sculptural sheep. It’s a bit of soft surrealism, perfect for bemused Instagramming, and could easily be mistaken for some whimsical public art installation.
1 comment:
Art sets the feeling for a community. What other than self-expression can define a group of people? It fosters a sense of culture than will bring people who are looking for that particular medium or mood into it. Having grown up in non-hipster (specification necessary) Brooklyn and gone to high school at an intersection of Tribeca and Chelsea, I can say that I've seen and agree with the assessments of most of the areas mentioned in the article. New York specifically is such a heterogenous mix of cultures, races, and identities that it seems as if chunks of them have always been breaking off and moving into another community. The diversity of NYC causes a dynamic commuity.
But for all the culture and art brought into the communities by artists, how much of it is beneficial to real estate agents? They certainly bring a sense of identity with them, but at what cost? I feel like the romanticism of the 'poor artist' and 'wandering artist' has increased in the past few years; and for what it's worth, I have no idea why that is because I keep hearing news about friends having to move out to a house of five roommates because they refuse to spend less than $40 on a meal. Lessons that refuse to be learned aside, art certainly increases both financial cost and social worth of a society- if you have money to afford it. And it pops up even when you can't afford it, because it itself can be an escapism for such communities. But is it causal in either direction? I think not.
Post a Comment