What is the life of an artist really like in New York City?
WNYC’s Leonard Lopate convened with two panels of gallery owners and artists to discuss the ecosystem of the New York art world in 2012. The award-winning arts and culture host continued his tradition of interviewing tastemakers, creators and innovative thinkers outside his regular studio and in the station’s downtown, street-level live venue, The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space.
The first panel included Sean Kelly, a top gallery owner, Carter Foster, a curator for the Whitney Museum of American Art, and artists, Pat Steir, and Fred Wilson. They explored a wide range of topics that included: the current state of the art market in light of the economic downturn and the impact of the exponential growth of art fairs.
The second panel consisted of four artists at various stages of their careers: Peter Campus, Joan Snyder, Ryan McGinness and Jean Shin. They compared notes on surviving as an artist in expensive New York. Topics included things like having to take a non-art job to pay the bills, studio space hassles and the politics of sustaining a career in NY.