I May Not Love You: Art in New York

July 5, 2008 – 8:55 pm

“Thirty men were running through the South Street Seaport today wearing red dresses and red sneakers. Some of them even had red wigs,” I wrote to my mother in October 2005. “This strange event took place out of the blue on a Sunday afternoon. Some of the guys wearing flowery or low-cut dresses were balding or elderly. I tell you, we just had to stare and laugh. Fortunately, I had a disposable camera with me ready to snap a few shots, or else I might have ended up with no evidence to show you that this actually happened. You might have said I was making this up!”

Who were those people running through the street in red dresses? I have no idea. Since they were wearing costumes, the event must have been planned beforehand. They must have been a group of performance artists.

Art is everywhere in New York City. We don’t have to go out of our way to see art. Sometimes it is right there on the street.

People think of art as being found in museums or in art galleries, but here in New York, art is often seen installed outdoors in city parks.

Art for sale is found in art galleries. Many art galleries these days are located in Chelsea, a downtown section of Manhattan. We visited an art gallery in Chelsea a couple of months ago and saw some paintings priced at $50,000 each, and some of them were marked “Sold.” In addition to being enjoyable, art can also be big business here.

The average artist, however, does not make $50,000 a painting. The average artist is a person just like anybody else, but he or she has a talent of some kind which he or she has developed over a period of time. Talent must be trained, otherwise the general public probably would not enjoy and support it.

Talent can be of many kinds. To be a good listener, for example, is a talent. To write is a talent that must be developed over a considerable period of time. Painters go to art school for many years to learn about drawing, the uses of color, and so forth before they ever have a public show.

I happen to think that graffiti is also a form of art. I often see graffiti of such a high quality that, in my opinion, it must be considered art.

In our commercial society, hardly anyone is able to make a living from writing, from artwork– and certainly not from graffiti. The enjoyment we get from art is very fleeting, but no one could argue with the fact that art brings a lot of enjoyment into our lives, especially if we are pro-active and learn to dance, to play a musical instrument, to wield a paint brush, to sing, to put on a performance, to write poetry, to compose music, to design a CD cover, and so forth. You get the idea.

Just because the world does not value art doesn’t mean art has no value. Art is a form of communication, and we all need more ways to communicate.

Questions for Discussion

1. When you think of artists, do you think they must be poor? Do you assume that they must not be working in the business world?

2. Do you know an artist of any kind; for example, a dancer, a painter, a writer, or a musician?

3. Do you have a talent in the arts? When and how did you learn that you were talented?

4. If you are talented, do you now have a teacher to help you develop your talent?

Photographs and Text Copyright © 2008 Barbara A. English. All rights reserved.