Exhibit pays tribute to art pioneers who lived in NYC lofts
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Imagine living in a TriBeCa or SoHo Loft for only a few hundred dollars monthly. It happened in the 1970s in New York City when those buildings were essentially uninhabitable industrial spaces with no electricity or running water.
Dozens of artists moved into those lofts and paid rent while renovating the former factories with their own money and materials. Eventually, landlords tried to force them out. The artists fought back in court, and in 1982, the New York State Legislature passed the Loft Law. Tenants and their children are now protected under rent stabilization laws.
A new exhibit at the Westwood Gallery on the Bowery tells the story of these loft artists. It is the work of 25-year-old filmmaker and photographer Joshua Charow.
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He told PIX11 News that when he started the project, he “went door to door, rang doorbells, and met some people. Eventually, it got easier; they referred me to their friends.”
The exhibit entitled “Loft Law: Photographs by Joshua Charow” is a “collection of forty photographs of the artists and their studios, and 18 works of art by 11 of the Loft artists.
Two of the featured loft artists are 82-year-old Jeff Way and his wife, 78-year-old Carolyn Oberst. Way tells PIX 11 News his TriBeCa Loft space was a “real fixer-upper” in the 1970s when he moved in.
“It was all underground. We also had to pay off the building inspector, the Con Ed inspector,” He said.
“It was a really destroyed building; there was a fire in the building. There was no electricity, no water, no walls,” said Oberst, who moved in a short time later.
The art exhibit is accessible to the public and is open until June 29. Westwood Gallery co-owner James Cavello told PIX 11 News he supports Charow and the important art history of New York City.
“This is where the world took place. You name an artist, they all had lofts on the Bowery,” he said.
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