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New York Post
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
NYC artists rally to save iconic space from uncertain fate after owners' deaths: ‘It's a cultural icon'
The fate of a massive creative space considered to be a 'cornerstone' of the famed Chelsea arts district could be in jeopardy after the property was listed for sale with the deaths of its philanthropist owners. Artists who lease studio space at the Raymond Naftali Center at 508–536 W. 26th St. in Manhattan assert late longtime landlords Raymond and Gloria Naftali vowed in their will that the site would remain available to its 250-plus artists. But that hasn't stopped the elderly couple's estate from listing the building for a cool $170 million — and its tenants now fear the new owner will bring with them devastating rent hikes or knock down the structure entirely to develop more lucrative prospects such as lux condos. Advertisement 4 Tenant-artists rally to save their beloved studio space at the Raymond Naftali Center in Chelsea. David DeTurris 'This building is so precious, it's a cultural icon,' said Scotto Mycklebust, a tenant-artist and founder of the West Chelsea Building Artists Association, at a rally this week. 'There is nothing like it in New York City. … It's changed everybody's life in the art world,' he said of the space. Advertisement Raymond Naftali, a clothing-company owner, bought the property in the 1970s, and he and his wife Gloria, a contemporary-art-gallery operator, developed it over the years to support the Big Apple's creative community, according to Artforum. Raymond died in 2003 at age 75, and Gloria, 96, passed away in 2022. The couple's holdings are now part of a philanthropic foundation that supports causes including fighting antisemitism, the outlet said. Raymond was a Holocaust survivor. 4 Artist renter Judi Harvest speaks at the 'Save the West Chelsea Building' rally Tuesday. David DeTurris Lawyers representing the Naftalis' estate did not respond to a Post request for comment. But one of the estate's legal reps told the New York Times that the current use of the building simply is 'not profitable enough.' Advertisement Judi Harvest, an artist and real-estate broker who has kept a gallery space in the 500,000-square-foot building for more than 25 years, claimed the building's 211 tenants are not getting any bargain. But she said renting elsewhere would be even more costly — and that the building is a crucial gathering place. 'It is not affordable — minimum studio rent [in the building] is $3,000,' Harvest said. 'It has never been a bargain.' 4 'This building is so precious, it's a cultural icon,' said Scotto Mycklebust, a tenant-artist and founder of the West Chelsea Building Artists Association. David DeTurris 4 City Councilman Erik Bottcher comes out in support of the artists, calling the site much more than just a building. David DeTurris Advertisement Democratic City Councilman Erik Bottcher called the building 'a cornerstone of our artist community here in Chelsea. 'I don't know that that's necessarily true, that they could go elsewhere,' the pol said of the site's artist tenants. 'And there's also something to be said about having a building [serve as] an ecosystem of artists. 'They learn from each other, they collaborate with each other, they have artist showings and gallery nights and open houses where they all benefit. That's why people come to New York City from around the world who are in the arts for buildings like this, where they have access to all these artists under one roof.' George Scheer, director of the Elizabeth Foundation of the Arts, told The Post he hopes a nonprofit organization could swoop in to help keep artists in Chelsea. 'Anything that enters the market is going to face market forces,' he said, noting that private investors are 'going to look at a bottom line – not the mission of keeping artists in studios, employed, engaged in Manhattan, specifically in Chelsea.' Bottcher said of the Naftalis' foundation members, 'We have let them know, in no uncertain terms, that we are going to fight any transaction that results in the displacement of the artist here.'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
From Light and Space to Pop and Craft: BILLINGS Unveils Its Summer Art + Design Lineup
LOS ANGELES, June 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- BILLINGS is pleased to announce its upcoming Summer Modern Art + Design and Contemporary Design auctions, taking place on June 28 and 29, 2025. With over 500 lots offered across both events, this two-day series presents a dynamic blend of 20th-century modernism and contemporary innovation, curated for both seasoned collectors and design enthusiasts alike. SUMMER MODERN ART + DESIGN Saturday, June 28 at 10AM (Pacific)In-person, online, absentee, and phone bidding available This marquee sale features over 400 highly curated lots of 20th-century furniture, lighting, art, and decorative objects from across Italy, France, Scandinavia, and the United States. Notable highlights include: A rare biomorphic coffee table (1952) by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, complete with original lime green-shaded glass. An iconic "Elipsis" mosaic by California mid-century master Evelyn Ackerman. A delicate and significant Weed Pot by Los Angeles-based ceramicist Doyle Lane, a pivotal figure of the Black Arts movement. A debut collection of acrylic sculptures by Jackie Greber, a Light and Space artist whose work was described by Artforum as a "magically sustaining delight." Also featured is a selection of exceptional craft furniture and studio pottery, including works by: John Nyquist Jack Rogers Hopkins Stan Bitters Peter Voulkos Mineo Mizuno Doyle Lane CONTEMPORARY DESIGN Sunday, June 29 at 11AM (Pacific)Online-only The following day, BILLINGS presents 100+ lots of contemporary furniture, lighting, and art from the world's most forward-thinking studios and designers. The sale includes statement pieces from heritage brands like B&B Italia, Minotti, Flos, Ligne Roset, and Louis Poulsen. Among the standout designers represented: Patricia Urquiola Kelly Wearstler Sebastian Herkner Pierre Charpin Re-edited modern classics are also featured, with designs by: Joe Colombo Eileen Gray Vico Magistretti Contemporary fine art and photography offerings include works by: Brian Bowen Smith Fernando Mastrangelo Bradley Duncan The sale also includes collectible objects and rare decor, including pieces by renowned pop artist KAWS. AUCTION PREVIEW Saturday, June 21 / 9AM–2PMMonday–Thursday, June 23–26 / 9AM–4PMFriday, June 27 / 9AM–9PM PREVIEW PARTYFriday, June 27 / 6PM–9PM About BILLINGS Founded in 2015 to address an absence of curated channels in Los Angeles' design market, BILLINGS offers a platform for the sale of quality modern design, furniture, art, and decorative quarterly auctions feature 300–400+ lots spanning from the pedigreed to anonymous, classic to unusual, and rare to noteworthy. Heavily weighted in mid-century modern selections from the 1960s to the early 2000s, BILLINGS' catalogs represent a wide range of American and international art and in-house live auctions are accessible online, with options to bid in-person, online, as an absentee or by phone. Registration and pre-bidding begin three weeks before each more information and press inquiries, contact Rich Carmichael at 396547@ or by phone at 213-584-2240. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE BILLINGS
New York Times
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Max Kozloff, Art Critic Who Became an Artist Himself, Dies at 91
Max Kozloff, a leading art critic who helped readers of The Nation and Artforum navigate the array of movements that followed Abstract Expressionism in the 1960s and '70s, and who later became a well-regarded photographer in his own right, died on April 6 at his home in Manhattan. He was 91. His wife, Joyce Kozloff, said the cause was Parkinson's disease. As a writer, Mr. Kozloff established himself early on. He became the art critic for The Nation in 1961, when he was a 28-year-old doctoral student at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. He became an associate editor at Artforum three years later and eventually became the editor. He wrote extensively about painting, especially those New York artists who were pushing beyond the waning dominance of Abstract Expressionism, like Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. And he tussled with older critics, especially Clement Greenberg, whose ideas he found too doctrinaire to be useful in a time of proliferating artistic movements. Though Mr. Kozloff was far from ideological, he was interested in the ways ideology and political context shaped artistic production. In perhaps his most famous essay, 'American Painting During the Cold War,' published in Artforum in 1973, he argued that Abstract Expressionism, precisely because it claimed to exist outside of politics, served as a handmaiden of postwar American dominance, showing the world that a techno-liberal powerhouse could foster great art. 'Never for one moment did American art become a conscious mouthpiece for any agency as was, say, the Voice of America,' he wrote. 'But it did lend itself to be treated as a form of benevolent propaganda for foreign intelligentsia.' By the early 1970s, Mr. Kozloff had begun to shift his focus to photography, a still-emerging field for critical assessment. He was especially interested in what he considered street photography — seemingly random, spontaneous images of anonymous people engaged in mundane activities — and he also created a large body of portraits. He valorized photographers of everyday life in early-20th-century Europe like Eugène Atget, and he highlighted postwar American artists like Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand. He particularly championed those who ventured into color photography — to him, a great frontier of contemporary art. 'Photography offered me the chance to be subversive once again because of the lack of color in photographic practice at that time,' he said in a 2023 interview for Artforum. 'My favorite photographers were those with a greater palette, ones who excited me pictorially.' Mr. Kozloff had studied art as well as art history at the University of Chicago, and while he started his career as a writer, the creative urge never left him. He began taking photographs himself in the mid-1970s, and after stepping down as editor at Artforum in 1977, he spent most of his time behind the camera. Like the photographs he wrote about, his work was defined by a wandering eye of sorts, searching streets and crowds for an indelible moment. He also created a large body of portraits. 'I could be called a street photographer,' he said in a 2014 interview with the painter and video artist Paul Tschinkel, 'someone who wanders through the streets, fishing, not shooting, fishing, waiting, loitering, looking for what I called subsequently the music of faces.' Maxwell Kozloff was born on June 21, 1933, in Chicago. His father, Joseph, was a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine who owned a leather goods factory. His mother, Rose (Hollobow) Kozloff, managed the home. His father often took him to the Art Institute of Chicago, and as a young teenager he devoured books of art history. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1953 with a degree in art history; then, after a stint in the Army, he returned to the university to get a master's degree in the same subject. He graduated in 1959. Like many artistic people at the time, Mr. Kozloff felt the gravitational pull of Manhattan, and moved there to start his doctoral studies at New York University. He left the program in 1964 without finishing his dissertation, having found a steady and rewarding career as a writer — not only for The Nation and Artforum, but also for Art International and other magazines. He married Joyce Blumberg, an artist, in 1967. Along with her, he is survived by their son, Nikolas. Mr. Kozloff wrote nine books, including slim monographs on Johannes Vermeer and Mr. Johns and sweeping histories of Cubism and modern photography. In 2002 he organized an exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan, 'New York: Capital of Photography.' The show made the argument that it was on the streets of New York that art photography reached maturity. He also drew some criticism for another argument: that the Jewish identity of many of its practitioners was central to its success, their dual status as outsiders and insiders giving them a unique perspective behind the lens. 'They present the city as formed instant by instant out of their impulsive responses,' he wrote in an essay for the exhibition. 'It is their improvised exchange with their subjects, not a kit of fixed and essential attributes, that distinguishes their work.'
Gulf Weekly
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Weekly
Learn AI skills at Art Station
An artificial intelligence (AI) and image-making workshop is being held this weekend at the Art Station, Muharraq. Hosted by US tutor Daniel Lefcourt, who works as a professor of art and computation at The Rhode Island School of Design, the free workshop will explore how image generation applications work, covering both basic and advanced techniques. Participants are encouraged to bring images of their own art to learn how to create personalised AI-assisted artworks. The workshop will be held on April 12, from 11am to 6pm and on April 13, from 5pm to 8pm. No prior coding experience is needed. Daniel's paintings, drawings and digital artworks have received critical attention in Artforum, Frieze and The New York Times. For more details, contact @ on Instagram
