The New York Observer has this piece about Sunset Park, between
3rd Avenue and Upper New York Bay, which is now home to a thriving gallery, a
weekly film series, and a growing number of artist studios. Here’s an excerpt.
“Three years ago, the words ‘Sunset Park’ weren’t even on anyone’s radar,” says Jospeh Anastasi, who opened the Tabla Rasa Gallery on 48th Street in 2005 with his wife Audrey. “It was like ‘Field of Dreams’—if you build it they will come.”
The Anastasis say their gallery is becoming a “destination” on the
city’s art circuit, and they’re seeing more artists nowadays in the
neighborhood.“I see people walking down the streets all the time with Pearl Paint
bags,” says Audrey Anastasis, who has a studio in the rear of the
gallery.Relatively cheap space is what drew painter Griselda Healy to the studio she rents on 36th Street about a year and a half ago.
“The rents are certainly much more attractive than they are in Red
Hook, Dumbo or Long Island City,” says Healy, who pays $1,000 a month
for her work space. “An artists community is evolving here because
artists enjoy being in quiet places, and there are no distractions
here.”
Do you see the inherent racism here?
Sunset Park has been on plenty of people’s “radar” since the turn of the century. Just not certain people until now. (Ahem.)
There have always been “artists” in Sunset Park– perhaps the author had certain artists of a certain ilk in mind?
“I see people walking down the streets”– were the people walking down the streets before not people at all? Or does being a person require holding a Pearl Paint bag.
Blech.