Dear Reader,
Being a true New Yorker for many years I have moved last year and now when coming back I realize how much I miss its spirit. New York is never boring and every time new! It is a city of enormous life energy and change, the place where past, present, and future are integrated into a reality that is so loved by many. Young generations fall in love with NY from the first time and nearly everyone, who I met dreams to come here for the first time or again in the future. In fact, once you see NY, they want to return again and again will be born in your heart.
This time I have not been in NY for more than 3 months and there are 2 things that truly amazed me. The first object is an amazing Hudson Yards real estate development that was completed in the mid March of this year. I have heard that it is one of the biggest creations in last 80 years in New York after the Rockefellers Center and its total construction was estimated at $25 billion. According to Stephen Ross, the main developer of this colossal project, it is – “A museum of architecture with a whole new way of life with everything you want at your doorstep”.
Interesting facts about Hudson Yards: it was built above the Metropolitan Transportation Authority rail yards on the West Side of Manhattan; it consists of 2 office towers and multiple shopping malls, restaurants with famous cooks and other dining facilities, hotels, apartments and residential building with separate entries for wealthy and average income renters. The main attractions of the architectural composition are Shed and the Vessel. The first one is the arts center that was sponsored by the city for half a billion and the second is of unusual space form 2,500 climbable and 150 foot-high structure that was built for $200 million.
Another outstanding spectrum of NY is its cultural power. Signing up and purchasing the tickets for the art exhibition was just enough to appear on the waitlist. Jean-Michel Basquiat, a mix of Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage was born in NY in the 60s. Jean started his artist adventure from the graffiti. Further, his energetic paintings full of black cultural heroes with distinctive visual language gained him professional art recognition during the 80th. An outstanding fact is that the exhibition started on March 6th – May 15th, however, everything was sold out. To me, this high demand for arts represents the rebirth of cultural values.
For the New Yorkers this solo exhibition of Jean-Michel Basquiat adds a great value to the cultural heritage. The celebration of origin and in the memory of artist the new space has been chosen carefully. It is located at 421 East 6th Street and occupies a century-old building that in the past served as the home and studio of famed artist Walter De Maria from the mid-1980s until his death in 2013. Richard Gluckman of Gluckman Tang Architects is working on renovation to create a 16,000-square-foot building that features 7,000 square feet of exhibition space arrayed across four floors. The project includes two new gardens adjacent to the structure and a landscaped roof terrace.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Foundation Louis Vuitton and coordinated by Brant Foundation founder Peter M. Brant and Dr. Dieter Buchhart. They brought together Basquiat’s most important masterworks from the Brant Collections as well as from international museums and private collections to this exhibition. Dr. Buchhart says, “The retrospective will show Basquiat as a resolutely contemporary artist who created a foretaste of our Internet society by using cut-and-paste sampling from his surroundings. With the astonishing radicalness of his artistic practice, Basquiat renewed the concept of art with enduring impact.” According to the Brant Foundation: “Basquiat has been a cornerstone of the East Village art scene for decades, and to bring his work back to the neighborhood that inspired it is a great privilege,” says Brant. “Our family is thrilled to launch The Brant Foundation’s New York space with an artist who is central to the collection, and above all to share his legacy with the community that was fundamental in shaping it.”
I personally was amazed by this “surrealistic” approach of Basquiat and spent a lot of time with my friends figuring the motives, questioning the meaning and enjoying the “comic” art of Jean-Michel. I would highly recommend you to visit both attractions in NY, that will change your mind and give you a room to dream about the space. Be happy, travel the world, love yourself!
For those, who want to know More:
New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/arts/design/hudson-yards-own-social-climbing-stairway.html?module=inline
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Basquiat
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT EXHIBITION
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