Walking through Soho yesterday (something I haven’t done in years), I was dismayed by all the tourist galleries. Do you know what I mean? Galleries that don’t cater to art collectors but rather they sell commercialized pieces in tourist areas. Happens all around the world, not just Soho.
Most of the street artists are pretty cool, but they are also creating for a tourist audience. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Hey, they have to make money and I’m not saying the work isn’t good. We all sell out at one point or another.
Anyway, I see this truck with a life size sculpture of Construction Workers Lunching on Crossbeam, that famous 1932 photograph by Charles C. Ebbets. How friggin cool? The artist is Sergio Furnari from Sicily. He’s been in NY about 20 years.
Lots of fun stuff on his website. Check out that mosaic bathtub below! Turns out the big sculpture on his truck was down at Ground Zero for a few years. It’s probably pretty famous and everyone knows about it, but I just found out yesterday.
That’s what happens when you don’t take time to play tourist.