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It wasn't just that rent was cheap; rent was cheap in many other places as well. It's that rent was cheap in close proximity to the buyers and dealers artists
by human20190310 8y ago
It wasn't just that rent was cheap; rent was cheap in many other places as well.
It's that rent was cheap in close proximity to the buyers and dealers artists needed to make a living, with a subway to get around on nearby, and (eventually) a critical mass of like-minded creators to hang around with.
This basically doesn't exist nowadays. You can move to western New Jersey to lower your bills, but it's a long haul to New York when you need to do business, and unless you get others to move with you, you'll be working in isolation or with a small handful of peers.
- LeanderK 8y agoIt's true. In my experience of talking to artists...they work very differently, but most don't work alone and need a community to function. Sharing the Atelier, contacts to the business side of the art-world etc. Another very big factor: A (suprisingly) large amount of artists don't really make most of their money through the selling of their art. They do art workshops with adults and children and therefore absolutely need the proximity to their clientel.
- L_Rahman 8y agoYes, I guess one solution to this could also be to create nodes outside of Manhattan. Who cares if SoHo, Chelsea and the West Village are large malls if the soul of the city moves somewhere else? But that would require sustained public infrastructure development at a scale America hasn't done since the immediate post WWII era.