On NYC streets, SoHo artists sell works at non-gallery prices
NEW YORK -- The etchings that artist Stephen Duffy creates have been purchased by celebrities and New York politicians. His etchings have made the art show circuit and hung beside art legends in galleries. But every weekend on the streets of SoHo, Duffy, a big, garrulous man, sells his works for the price of a modest meal at Legal Seafoods.
"I grew up poor and in the projects so I am making the art for the masses. Everybody should have fine art," said Duffy, whose original etchings, which have been purchased by the likes of actors Whoopi Goldberg and Hugh Jackman, sell from $25 to $50 on the streets.
For decades, New Yorkers -- including celebrities -- have been able to fill their condos, their gritty lofts, and those tiny studios with original but affordable art by skipping the high-toned galleries and instead heading to the streets.
"On the streets you can get excellent stuff," said Michael J. Maddalena, an artist who every weekend is in SoHo selling his work, a combination of traditional methods of fine art and digital graphic illustration. "The thing about selling on the streets is -- it's real and raw but the gallery scene is cutthroat and a lot of it has nothing to do with the artists but who is in the gallery and what gallery."
Strolling the streets for art is a well-known pastime for New Yorkers and European tourists, according to New York artist Martha Murphy, a native of Millis, Mass. The rule of thumb is to know where to look and not to waste time on mass-produced photography and art that can be found all over the city.
"There is a lot of junk out there," said Duffy. "But there's some good pieces, too. "
The best place to start looking for fine art is along the packed sidewalks on West Broadway in SoHo, staying south of West Houston Street to Broome Street. Once a warehouse district where poor artists lived, often illegally, SoHo (short for South of Houston Street) is now a world-class haven for the rich and the lovely, a place where more than 200 wildly successful galleries exist. But outside the high-priced stores, the streets of SoHo brim with good art costing less than half a top gallery's prices. Most of the artists on the streets are not lucky enough -- and perhaps some are not talented enough -- to be represented by a millionaire benefactor or a top gallery so they come every weekend (after working in their studios all week) bearing original works.
Prices for original sketches, photography, limited-edition prints, oil paintings, etchings, and watercolors vary wildly but can be shockingly affordable, since these artists do not have to pay galleries the steep fees. A tiny print can go for as little as $5 and a large oil painting can cost up to $2,000. Iwona Polkowska, a native of Poland, sells large abstract pieces that would be perfect for a mid-century modern scheme for only $250 to $900.
"Those who have eyes to see good art will see it here," said Jacinta Stewart, an Australian artist who moved to New York City a year ago. Every weekend, Stewart, who does commissions, can be found standing next to Maddalena on West Broadway between Prince and Houston streets selling her popular original portraits of bold-colored angels with wings.
The shaky economy and aftermath of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, forced many artists to look to the streets as a way to sell their work. Others are trying to build a following or just want to be around other artists and art lovers.
Because New York artists won the right to sell on the streets without permits, the expertise of the artists on the streets varies. Some have shown in galleries or shows. Others are self-trained like Stewart and others, like Duffy and Maddalena, studied in well-known art schools. Maddalena, a Long Island native, studied at New York's School of Visual Art and later in the Hamptons under artist Mihai Popa. Murphy, the Millis native, worked for years in the corporate world before becoming a full-time artist in Manhattan. Rather than hang out in SoHo, Murphy sells her original photographs, paintings, and posters of the Chrysler Building outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue and Zabar's, a popular restaurant on the Upper West Side. She said New Yorkers are always coming by offering her their opinion about her art.
"People look at your art and make you a better painter," she said.
Position is everything in SoHo, so most artists can be found standing at the same spot week after week. Matt Osborne stands on the north side of West Broadway near Spring Street selling a copy of a single Polaroid image for $10. The framed, haunting photograph of the New York skyline is a combination of Polaroid image transfer and acrylic on watercolor and has been so popular that only once in a while will Osborne display other original photography he has taken.
Not far from where Osborne and Duffy stand is Momar Ndiaye, a stamp maker from West Africa, whose cubist-style, abstract paintings have become favorites among fellow artists and onlookers. Limited editions of his paintings go for $45 but his original pieces can cost from $700 to $1,500. He said his art would go for three times as much in a gallery.
"People just don't understand. They say why are you out on the streets?" he said one recent Sunday as he stood on the sidewalk where his art was displayed. "But it's here that you have contact with real people."
