SEVEN Years Ago Today on Manhattan Loft Guy

You were warned in my July 4 post that you had a couple of weeks of archived Manhattan Loft Guy material coming up; this will be it. My July 18, 2006, light more precious than views to an artist / more on losing views…, has what might be the first discussion of Artist In Residence rules on the blog. The occasion was a then-fresh controversy involving the artist Chuck Close and potential development adjoining his studio.

Money quote:

Close’s argument boils down to a claim that no one should be able to build in such a way that eliminates his light because the original use of that space was as a courtyard between “his” building and a now demolished townhouse. If he were not the special artist that he is, with the physical limitations that he has, this would be an almost laughable argument. If keeping that space empty was so important to him, he could have bought it, probably with the “obscene” money he makes for his portraits.

There’s some terrific local history in the links in the post, including about the artists who ‘made’ Noho. Definitely worth a read, for that alone.

© Sandy Mattingly 2013