Saturday, October 25, 2008

Arts and leisure ..Chelsea 1994

When I returned to NYC in 1994, after abruptly packing my shit from mom's house in Reston, Va..I encountered the renovation of the Flatiron District and the emergence of Chelsea as the new art scene. By this time the East Village scene had peaked and died, with it had died that whole "down and out, with a beat-ific vision" aesthetic myth which was born in the DeKooning era and reached it's apotheosis with Basquiat and Haring.
Chelsea was where Warhol'ism bi-furcates. Andy was downtown, but once he got shot he decided to be more UP-town for the rest of his life. Chelsea was where the gay scene left Stonewall behind for martini bars and Dolce Gabana. It was also where the artworld demanded it's products be now high gloss and produced by MFA's with resumes and dense ideological premises.
to be cont'd

No comments: