Reactor

NYC Park Artists Forced to “Run for their Livelihoods”

by Hrag Vartanian on August 3, 2010

Brooklyn-based artist Peter Walsh has shot a short video that demonstrates the ridiculous nature of the new New York City law that has drastically reduced the number of artist spots in the city’s parks. As Walsh explains:

The new Park Rules force artists to literally run for their livelihoods. Every morning at 6am, artists must now race into each park to secure an authorized location. Artists who don’t get a spot either don’t work that day or they must relocate to a spot that dramatically reduces their access to the public. Hundreds of artists’ jobs are at stake.

Walsh is nice enough to list the names of those artists impacted by the regulation (himself included) and judging by the names, these are not the upper eschelon of the art world (yet), but struggling artists trying to make a living: Wei Chen, Qiao Fu, Guo Kun Sheug, Artashes Karslian, Ji Yin Jin, Li Qun, Lin Ruo, Dean Lu, Ren Jien-Guo, Peter Walsh, Xiang Yue Chuan, Dario Zapata, and Zhuang Xuemin.

Yet again the little person gets screwed. So, when the art world says it is more moral than the stock market and shouldn’t be regulated that rhetoric only seems to apply to fat cats in Chelsea galleries or the auction houses and not to the everyday artist on the street. We should rally behind these guys, we need MORE artists in our parks, NOT less.

The original plan proposed by the city back in April has been changed but the resulting regulation is still bad. According to the New York Times:

After listening to the complaints of aggrieved artists, the Bloomberg administration has backed down somewhat from a plan to slash the number of art vendors in city parks, but still intends to cut their ranks by more than half.

What exactly is the problem with artists in the parks? This new system seems entirely unfair. Artists now rush to literally fill the limited spots and if they don’t make it that day they don’t make money.

For up-to-date news about the situation, visit Peter Walsh’s information blog: centralparkportraitexchange.blogspot.com

Hat tip LM

Tagged as: Artashes Karslian, Dario Zapata, Dean Lu, Guo Kun Sheug, Ji Yin Jin, Li Qun, Lin Ruo, New York City Parks, Peter Walsh, Qiao Fu, Ren Jien-Guo, Wei Chen, Xiang Yue Chuan, Zhuang Xuemin

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  • http://warrenthomasking.com Warren Thomas King

    Ironing board = great portable table idea

    I had no idea that street vending, art or otherwise, doesn’t require a license. This is so confusing.

    • http://hragv.com Hrag Vartanian

      I was just reminded by a friend that the city tried to do something similar to the city’s booksellers (much in the same way) but that seemed to pass after first amendment rights were brought up.

  • http://www.meledandri.com nina meledandri

    I grew up in NYC and I am an artist and I have always fought for public park space: from fighting the Metropolitan Museum’s expansion into Central Park while in high school to founding the Grand Canal Park Group in an effort to create a park in Soho.
    Sorry, but vending of any sort has to be limited in parks, the valuable park space we have must be vigilantly protected or it will disappear. Parks are created to provide us with an opportunity to enjoy nature in the midst of the city, they are not an extension of the urban shopping experience and they are not fair game for ANY commercial enterprise.
    Close off streets, allow artists to sell on the sidewalks in front of parks, but I don’t support anything that will eventually result in green space (that includes the paths) being overrun for personal (or institutional) gain, because without strict limits that’s what will happen.

    • http://hragv.com Hrag Vartanian

      I think there could be a compromise. More green space and designated areas for artists, but can you honestly say that there are too many artists in the parks? Even in Union Square they are confined to the parameter of the green space, not in it. And in Central Park, I have to say I walk by these artists all the time and never felt them overwhelming.

      • http://www.meledandri.com nina meledandri

        From my experience, things that begin small have a tendency to grow out of control: what starts as a few artists setting up outside grows to a group, next, people are not only actively painting/drawing but they are bringing finished pieces for sale. Then along come those who want to profit from the association and sell art/craft that isn’t necessarily their own and from there it is a short leap to those vending mass-produced but “artistic” items. Then all of a sudden it’s batteries and sun glasses, I’ve witnessed this countless times over the years.

        I believe parks/trees/green space require an extra level of protection. In Crown Heights, right now there is a person who goes around hacking down small trees and ripping limbs off larger ones. He lives in the community and over the years, when he is off his medication he surfaces and destroys. If he was writing (graffiti) or slashing tires or breaking windows (destroying things that have a “perceived value”) he would have been apprehended immediately (I believe he is once again in a mental facility but only because the last time he was spotted he was wielding a large knife). The point being that when it comes to nature we tend to use different standards and become lax in protecting what is an extremely valuable resource.

        One solution would be to force the use of all the “public space” that gets created by real estate developers in exchange for construction variances to be just that: public space, not restricted in use and not rendered virtually inaccessible by intimidating guards. These spaces are usually in heavily trafficked commercial areas that could be very lucrative spots for artists. Additionally, the onus of limiting the activity to that of a strictly artistic nature would be on the building staff not on the already overburdened Parks Dept, just a thought.

        I think part of the issue here is that once you alter the perceived use of a space, it is very hard to keep that in check. Unfortunately it is always artists who find the inherent value in a place that has been previously overlooked (Hamptons, Soho, bburg, etc) and then once it proves economically viable, larger commercial interests muscle in. You can’t say this won’t happen to our parks, if everything that had been proposed for Central Park (including many well intentioned and even arts related projects) had been built, it would be paved over many, many times by now.

    • Glover

      Here here!

  • http://www.davidjglover.com Glover

    “…we need MORE artists in our parks, NOT less..”
    Why?
    Why do “we need MORE artists in our parks”?
    This type of non-specific blanket statement is, in my opinion, part of the problem. It is not a given or absolute that we need more artists. Anywhere. For a start, who is this “we” of whom you speak? When artists and the arts scene in general (and I am including academia in that group) become more efficient at demonstrating the value of art and expounding the reason WHY “we need more artists in our parks,” rather than relying on empty, unsubstantiated sentiments, this type of policy will become much harder to justify and easier to fight by the artists themselves. The argument “for” is not transparent to the general public, who you are asking to “rally around these guys.” And if such negative policy by administrations does persist when well-presented, positive arguments are demonstrated then the administration has to defend itself rather than the artists defending their existence.
    So come on… answer the question,
    why?
    Why do we need more artists in the parks?
    or are you really saying that we need more parks for artists?
    Justify yourself.

    • http://hragv.com Hrag Vartanian

      I honestly have never felt there were too many artists in the parks. The closest to that would be Union Square and even there they are forced to the periphery of the park. My insistence on more was more rhetoric than anything, I was trying to emphasize the weird logic of the city. I just don’t understand the decision, do you?

  • http://www.meadmclean.com Mead McLean

    It looks like they have a fairly common restriction that they borrow from busking bylaws. The vendors seem like they have to be 100′ away from each other. Why not make a few official flea-market booths and rotate everyone through on an alternating half-day schedule? That way they’re all in one or two spots, which people could avoid if they wanted to, and the schedule works for everyone.

    I mean, I can understand why they think they want to decrease vending in the park, but you can’t hurt hidden incomes during a recession. That’s a bad move. Maybe they should create a market instead–make it a tourist attraction, increase the income that these vendors make, and get more money back in taxes. Everyone wins.

    • http://hragv.com Hrag Vartanian

      Part of me wonders if all the artists are documented and if that is why they have to live in this “shadow” economy. Immigration and economics are so related in this country but usually not in the way the MSM media wants us to believe.

      • http://www.meadmclean.com Mead McLean

        Yeah I hadn’t thought about undocumented people. I’d also assume that some of those artists wouldn’t declare their taxes accurately, even if they were fully legit citz. It’s a far cry from a town like New Orleans, where there isn’t so much money, yet they really nurture their street vendors and performers.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-J-Glover/18411027 David J. Glover

    I still don’t see anyone taking up the mantle to explain why artists selling their works should be allowed in the parks at all. What value do these artists provide to the park experience. Why should they be allowed to be there anymore than, say, an evangelist minister or a brass band or someone hanging out their laundry to dry.
    Vartanian asks the reasonable question, “What exactly is the problem with artists in the parks?” But does not provide any counter argument. What exactly is the problem with not having artists in the parks? Can you justify art(ists) in public spaces?
    What does it provide? Why is it “necessary”?
    Why is no one writing articles proclaiming, say, “We should rally behind skateboarders, we need MORE skateboards in our parks, NOT less?”

    • http://hragv.com Hrag Vartanian

      In the case of artists (vs. skateboards), I think most artists are looking for a way to make a living and in tough economic times I support people finding direct ways to make money. I think we’ve come to associate parks with artists for over a century and I personally like the how they seem to go together. I think I also make a distinction between those selling cheap prints and those actually making their own work (I wonder if the law makes that distinction).

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