I noticed that demolition started up again on the corner of Third & Bond Street. The developers actually have a blog on Brownstoner chronicling the trials and tribulations of their quest to build housing on toxic land. Are they also trying to be down with the street artists while they are at it?I am no fan of real estate blogs as I see them as part of the problem of the borification and homogenization of NYC (check out their advertisers!) but I do check Brownstoner out about once a month to see what the progress is on this fantastically interesting project as it up the street from me. What type of sinks will they use?! Who will do the gardening?! A real cliffhanger, I tell you.
Apparantly they've got an artist that works on many of their projects which include the fabulous NYU dorms on 12th Street in Manhattan. I guess she is the anti- Art Dog! They rarely mention the fact that they are opening up earth in the midst of toxic brown and aquatic brownfields but hey, it’s really no big deal. The fact that Whole Foods probably won’t ever be setting up shop a couple hundred yards away due to environmental reasons is a non issue.
I just find it a shame that times are so tough in this city for artists that they find themselves employed by the very people that would displace them. Unless that is, they make over 80K a year which seems to be the income that qualifies one as eligible for "affordable housing" in these types of units.
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Bow wow! Arch-nemesis and the Anti-Art Dog huh? Thank you, Found in Brooklyn; I am damn flattered.
What can I say about yet another artist selling out at the ripe old age of 31? This is some dog-eat-dog world that's for sure. Me? I would not be caught DEAD! working for these people. HELL NO, not me! Art is more than pretty pictures in my school of thought, and I can eat cheaper dog biscuits when I need to save money. I know every artist has a right to their own self- expression. Maybe, since she's young, she will catch on soon and come to her senses. I mean, painted flowers are pretty useless when the real ones can't even grow anymore because of all the ground contamination. And think of the humans trying to live there! Damn.
Well maybe those are toxic fumes that she painted coming out of the roofs of the houses...
Anyway, if an artist wants to be successful, or even survive, to who do you think they end up selling their art? Most rich people move more and more to the right because the system is working for them just fine and dandy. And then yes, in a sadly twisted and ironic way, these are the very people who ultimately support us artists....there's.... no....... escape.....
True Mizz Anon...we all work for the man in some capacity, that is unless you are Mother Theresa or something (and i don't think she really got paid!) I realize that artists have always been employed by the rich, doing portraits of royalty and such through the ages and of course the wealthy are usually the ones that buy the works of contemporary artists. I just find this case particularly ironic as everywhere this woman paints is a neighborhood that's original character (made up by former residents) is changed by the very buildings she is "beautifying" while under construction.
"Beautifying" in quotes, motherfucking right! This artist is horrible but it's easier to gull some developer who can't even follow the law than to compete in the (admittedly kind of gross) straight art world. What's funny and interesting is that it only bolsters my contention that by far the majority of "street art" is advertising for money or who want to change an area's character, most often from industrial/manufacturing to fake "luxury."
Why do you think it's so so popular in Soho or the young-ish white people with money areas of Williamsburg? Because it adds a fake veneer of "edginess" or whatever bullshit terms idiots use now, and none of the owners have to pay for it. FACT: street art, either sponsored or "real" appears almost exclusively in neighborhoods which are being sold, "branded" and resold for the wealthy white people. Maybe that's good, maybe it's not, but most bloggers are either too stupid or too beholden to outside financial interests to offer their readers the whole story.
Also, why is it so few so-called "real estate" blogs don't rarely write about the industrial/manufacturing buildings and the people who in them that are in their midsts? (FIB's cognizance of her environment is sadly exceptional.)
Personally, if I sucked this badly I'd neither come out of my studio, nor let anyone in but maybe my standards just aren't luxurious enough?
Sincerely,
Gato Salsa
Nevins St.
Just a few words from an old newshound, if I may. I worked for the Sunset News, 1975-2002, and, until now, was a happy FIB "lurker."
Brownstoner is not any kind journalist and the gal he hired to pick up the slack while he is running the business (which is keeping up an "ad friendly" site) barely qualifies either. There are what, three dozen real estate stories she walked right past without a peep? Multiply that times a borough and the truth is infinitely more interesting than Brownstoner reality.
As for the other blogs for whom the real estate racket is their "hobby," they are even worse: experts in nothing, duped by all. They could, if they had gumption, be counted among the free people but instead, they would rather position themselves as gurus to a generation of knuckleheaded internet Brooklynites who don't better and are either too lazy (calling Fresh Direct, if you don't live around too many black people) or too scared (Spanish = "sketchy," unless it's the voice of my underpaid Salvadoran nanny) to know any better.
As with so much land around Gowanus, however, all of this rests on a rather shaky foundation. As idiotic as things might be now, the truth will out, even if they won't be the ones reporting it.
Meanwhile, a hearty Brooklyn fuck you to the non-existent Gowanus Whole Foods and those who lied for them. Was a free tote bag worth the price of your soul?
Best,
GOBB3
Did anyone read where Brownstoner accused C.O.R.D. of lacking "polish" and "focus"?
This from the July 3 Brownstoner: "In the meantime, if there's anyone in the neighborhood with a background in public relations who opposes the project, you should think about donating your time to CORD. They would benefit from some polish and focus." This little passage says it all. How can anyone accuse a grassroots organization of lacking in "polish and focus?" That is developer talk plain and simple. I guess he was saying they needed to get a better artist than Art Dog....maybe like the one here who painted the horses? to convince Bill DeBlasio to push for downzoning? and more safety at the subway??? And yet as soon as anyone dares to comment on that blog that a building is "out of context"(i.e. lacking "polish" to say the very least), out come all the Brownstoner attack dogs crying "NIMBY!!" "Move to the Burbs!, you grass loving loser!" "NYC is high density ya get it???" It's as bad as the Brangelina fans I swear...they all say the same thing over and over and over and.....
I really really rarely read Brownstoner or the one that begins with a Cu and when i do the commenters are nastier than any hell's angel, punk rocker or down at the heels street person could ever be..yuppies all.
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