I Photographed A Painter in his Magical Brooklyn Loft of 45 Years
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Contact me: joshuacharow@gmail.com
Follow me on Instagram: joshuacharow
To inquire about purchasing a photography print, please contact: info@westwoodgallery.com
Steve Silver is a painter from The Bronx. His work was first shown in New York by Ivan Karp at OK Harris. Steve creates vibrant paintings in large scale series. His pieces line every corner of the 5000 square foot Williamsburg loft that he moved into in 1979. Steve has had exhibitions in Mexico, Germany and Spain; his work has been shown at Art Miami, Art Cologne and Kunstmarkt Dresden. To purchase Steve Silver's artwork, please contact: platacentral8585@gmail.com
I spent the past two years creating my first photography book titled 'Loft Law. The Last of New York City's Original Artist Lofts' about artists living under the protection of the Loft Law. The law, enacted in 1982, granted protection and rent stabilization to thousands of artists who were living illegally in commercial and manufacturing zoned lofts in neighborhoods like Soho, Tribeca, and the Bowery after the manufacturing industry predominantly left Manhattan. I photographed and interviewed over 75 artists who are still living in these incredible lofts to this day. The photographs explore some of the most unique beautiful, and hidden artist studios across New York City. The book includes writing and personal stories from the incredible group of artists featured in the book.
Buy the book in the US: www.artbook.co...
Buy the book outside of the US: www.damianiboo...
Video Directed by Joshua Charow
Cinematography by Joshua Charow, Joshua Curley, Giles Perkins, Daniel Chang
Edit by Abraham C. Howard
Sound Mix by Gunnar Nagle
Subscribe for more videos coming soon!
Truly baffling to me that this video series doesn't have millions of views. Absolutely stellar. My favorite thing on UA-cam at the moment!
This is so true! Another underrated channel is soundsociety for music. The one with the pink donut.
Right. For stuff like this I love UA-cam... You'll never get it anywhere else. Maybe a PBS special if you where lucky back in the day. Same for music!!!! My friend's a Big Apple guy.... I said that's nice dude.... But there's recordings that are live, recordings that aren't live, the artist the side of the recorded in their bedroom at 3:00 in the morning, the artist decided to do it in front of 3,000 people... You don't get that anywhere else .... Like tiny desk music .🤘
I love it too, but as the arts have always been. Underrated. I wish more people cherished the arts😢
Seconded
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it
Bravo to Steve Silver and Bravo to you, Joshua Charow, such worthwhile and important work you are doing. And thank you for the opportunity to buy your book.
This is glorious. Stunning. And wow Steve is so cool. I love his laugh!! He is really an amazing artist.
I loved this video! I'm 74 and back in the 70s was a successful gallery artist in San Francisco. The 70s were truly a wonderful time for young artists! Rents were cheap, You could rent a flat in North Beach for less than $200 a month. My art was colorful and decorative and sold well. But it was no way to get rich. In the 80s, I went into the tech field, and that worked out well for me.
Exactly! It's so hard Sadly fir artists to make a living 😢
@@TJ-jq9bz Exactly.
And the majority of artists end their lives in loneliness finding that being alone, due to lack of money, makes their sense of life. If you are a successful artist , If the market pays you well and you lead a comfortable life, that's fine. Otherwise, you will be a painter living in a cottage in the countryside, and trying to convince yourself that there is self harmony when you can see the beauty of a small plant, and the light through a spider web.😢
AGREED! The 70s were just the best decade ever!!! You're right the rent was cheap to us now. Back then $200 was still a lot if you were a struggling artist. My rent in 1979/80 was $190. We thought that was pushing it but doable. Now if you were to produce the same art you'd probably make more off a couple of paintings than three months of a tech field pay check. That's because people finally value and collect our art at prices we fully deserve. Get your paints and canvases back out! Not for the money - because you're an artists.
@@antoniocarlosrodriguescamp1497 ♥
💙✨What an inspiring, gentle human! Thank you Joshua for documenting his humble and genuine spirit… yes, it’s from the Mother… he Knows that. I have goose-flesh!!!💫💙
Why this artist is not recognized? He is incredibly.
the best part is it doesn't even matter :D
You have been creating such a tremendous series of videos! Great work!
Thank you Joseph! I really appreciate it.
I’m a new subscriber, but have watched 3 or 4 episodes of your work - LOVE IT, keep going, I appreciate your exploration & sharing
Loved watching this interview. Such a creative and lovely soul.
oh my god I love him, this is my favourite yet, I smiled so many times and know exactly the feeling he was talking about at the start, what an inspiration to all artists.
Love this guy! what a beautiful, pure spirit. Thank you for making & sharing this with us
This guy is a walking talking piece of art , with a glorious coat of many colours. Thanks for sharing !
Great stuff. How you don't have more followers is a damn crime. Keep it up! These things have tipping points.
Beautiful work! The film, the photography, the artist and the art!
these videos are so special, thank you for doing them and sharing it, this guy is amazing, exudes so much light XX
Absolutely beautiful and what a kind soul. Bless his heart ❤❤❤❤
Thank you so much for making us hear and understand Steve in his space.. the photos are amazing so are the stories!! ps: i am turkish and i was incredibly shocked and happy when i got to see some of his work!! (with the numbers on the wall) again thank you!!
Amazing video - amazing series. I love when I come across something that actually has emotion behind it and not just another internet video. Thank you for making me feel motivated and inspired.
Oh I love this, what a beautiful soul. This is my favourite episode yet. Thank you for documenting these lives ♥️ also, I LOVE his kitchen!
I love these videos! Thank you so much for creating them. They are wonderful and will be treasured.
Thanks for letting us meet such a beautiful guy. His work is wonderful too. Very inspiring!
Seeing how artists and individuals curate their spaces is captivating, hearing the stories from them is even more so. You are capturing such a precious community and such a crucial moment in time. This series brings soul back into the law and really shows its implications. Thank you.
I loved your series @Joshua Charow so much, hi from Australia
what a wonderful video - thanks for sharing his story and making it look so great
What a talented and cool man!
I had a friend who lived in a big loft in an old noodle factory in Williamsburg. When I asked him what it was like in winter, he said it was freezing and impossible to heat. So, there are always sacrifices and two sides to every coin. But I love those big windows.
If they had a wood burning fireplace it would be amazing
Thanks for your great work! People have so much to tell. A rich life! And you give them a time to shine. I love that! ❤
A Fantastic series ,inspiring artist , so bloody frustraiting the book I ordered months ago is still out of stock !!
Incredible ❤ thank you for the art you make, by sharing other artists ❤
Loved this video and the artist!
That was inspiring. Thank you
This brilliant work.
This work you are doing is totally amazing. Hoping there will be a documentary coming out of all this.
omg I love that. I´m an artist searching beauty and talking with strangers all the time. Great dude. His color theory work is really cool.
Ohhhhh, I’d love to see his decorated cakes!❤️💕❤️💕
What an uplifting video - thank you , I just love your work !
Beautiful story. Keep them coming.
I am watching from England. This is a tremendous series. I will definitely be purchasing the book. I agree with the previous comment- best thing in You Tube. Hugely inspiring and informative.
A true "artists loft!"
WOW,I love his out look on life, art etc.
Unreal
A real one . 👊
Tremendous
What a cool older dude.... ❤
beautiful
sweet
Very nice! Where can we see Steve's work on the net?
❤❤❤
Amazing video and artist ✨ What camera are you using for the photos?
How old is this artist? No heat and he makes do…that is what the younger generation is missing, grit 😂😂
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
What’s this guys name? Steve silver?
I wish I was his neighbor.
dude gets 5k sq ft in NY
for like 300 a month
so uh, hows he paying rent?
Get a job....
Nice video! @goteamphoto #goteamphoto
The privilege of painting every day does seem too good to be true. I was asked where I was going on vacation this year. I'm not going anywhere. I'm painting. That's the best vacation I can possibly imagine.
This makes my heart happy - go girl
I wanna be his friend. Such a great vibe
AgreeD, he's VERY CooL
Love people like this !!
Don’t know if it’s the cluttering of everything that the artists have around them, but every video that you have shown us feel cozy for some reason, and it’s a great feeling. 🙏🏻
Thank you so much. I try and make these videos as intimate as I can.
Artist don't need designer look. These are mostly items collected within their lifetime and displayed or used for their art. I know I'm one of them.
INFP's lol
Sterile rooms make me anxious. I purposely leave "clutter" around just to make it feel cozy!
What a fabulous guy. You captured his essence! Wonderful film. 😊
I really love this whole series on artists, their lofts, and their lives. Wonderful stuff!
Before Wall Street ruined the America where artists could survive in ample space without pressure to pay usurious levels of their income, such as it is, to try to keep a roof over your head. Occupy!
Occupy what? Theres nothing left for us.
It wasn't wall street it was uppity wanna be kool [wh#te] gentrifiers that destroyed our affordable artists spaces, galleries and communities then and now...
@@TheMockatielMaybe they’re referring to the Occupy Wallstreet movement? I don’t see it referenced much anymore.
Well..there are plenty of offices empty now after COVID…occupy those…
What a beautiful thing. The artist is amazing. His work is beautiful. The video is beautiful. The photographs are beautiful.
Wonderful man, wonderful story - thanks for showing us all!
I just love these videos! I also love the book! Please keep telling these stories. They are truly fascinating!
Such a smiley guy, with a passionate pursuit. BeautyFull!
What a wonderful, free spirit. He’s got his priorities straight and has the fearlessness, joy and sense of wonder to prove it. Thank you for these tremendous videos 🙏❤️
This is great, love that line “beauty is my business”
I’m in love….Steve has captured my heart. ❤ The glee in his eyes as he says “nobody can’t tel you nothin!” Resonated with my inner child and artist. Thank you for your work Joshua. I’m very new to art and also very alone. It helps to connect to others with souls like your own…I am inspired and comforted. Thank you.
That is truly a beautiful human being.
I love this series
It’s my dream to truly live as a painter. What an amazing life living in that big beautiful loft surrounded by his art. I’m a painter born and raised in New York City. My dad was a painter and on Sundays he would take us kids to the museum. The Met and the MOMA and art galleries in SoHo. I’m an abstract artist . Retired from teaching and longing to embrace art but have no space to paint because I gave up space to house my daughter who had no place to live. Watching this amazing artist makes me so happy. Rock on man.
Hey Lisa! Lack of space is not a final barrier. Just before COVID (2019) all of my supplies (was in storage) and I was living in a studio apartment that was smaller than my (12x20') storage space. I got down on a 3'x5'' section of the floor in front of my twin bed and created the majority of the artwork for my museum solo show from April to early August. The really messy pieces I did outside in the complex courtyard. I just put tarps down in the grass, did the work and brought it back inside at night to work on the next steps. I just had to adapt from creating really large works to smaller pieces or doing a large piece in parts (a composite). The show opened in mid August with the completed works and the curator agreed to promote it as a "living exhibition".
The exhibit would evolve every day or week until November as I added more finished works for the series. The director of the city museums gave me an unused smallish space in the museum down the main corridor for a studio space to complete the rest of the pieces. I became the first Black artist in residence at that museum. One of my dearest artist friends would create her wood carved printing plates, pull her prints and do her gauche and egg tempera paintings in her tiny living space that was the the size of a large bedroom. There are people in jail cells creating artwork...
There's an elder artist here used to teach at art schools in California who's been homeless for years. He will draw and paint on anything he can get his hands on. He would draw phenomenal figurative works and scenes on the back of business cards, paper bags, fliers... while riding the bus or anywhere you'd run into him. He was really freakin good!!! I was totally impressed and floored, especially when I found out he was homeless...
I got the gallery I was curating for to give him a solo show that summer. The gallery paid to have his work framed and hosted an opening and closing reception for him. I got community folks, other artists and a couple of business sponsors (including Jerry's Artarama) to buy and donate art supplies for him. The gallery was able to sell several of his works. The gallery owner only took have their normal fee. He was extremely grateful and relieved to receive the money for his artwork. That was nothing compared to the look on his face when we presented him with bags of supplies and canvases at the closing reception for his show. He somehow got it all on his bike back to the little little lean-to in country he was "living" in and created more art with all the supplies he received.
The point of these examples is, space is not a barrier to creating artwork. The barrier is in our minds and drive to create. Just find a way to do your art. Go outside, use the front or back porch or a section of the garage/carport. If y'all have a basement or attic - there you go! Get down in that basement or up in that attic.
Or! Or! Put a 10'x10' popup covered tent in the backyard. Paint in the dining room at the kitchen table. Just go smaller, if you have to...
Ms Lady, just paint!!! Make a way outta no way!
Amazing video! I love seeing artist spaces and this studio is amazing!
I’m so so so obsessed with this series!
Your UA-cam series of artist interviews is great and will be even more appreciated in the years to come when these artists are no more. These people will remain relevant in the future as we look back at society and history. Good work!
he is so young! i want to remain that passionate about my craft and life even at his age.
I love this artist's passion, enthusiasm and energy! He brought a smile to my face. :)
I just love this guy. He just lets his curiosity lead him. I love curious people because it always leads to creativity, even in unconventional ways.
AWESOME! still enjoying my book
Thanks so much for getting one!
I am an almost disabled lol 52 yrs old beginning a new life in NE ( for now) .
Lol "starving artist" painting in our little house. The big space would be a dream come true for me. I tease my loved ones. Just put me in a huge room with big canvasses and paint supplies. Leave me alone for 1 week !! No phone nothing. I just want to PAINT MY BRAIN & HEART OUT
I liked this guy! 13:40 "nobody can tell you anything" , that's the spirit
Oscar Wilde - 'I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.' Love the space, art, and interview, but I never mistake the works of my hands as me (Osho). 🙏🏼😁
Such a soulful documentation.
The most beautiful channel-thank you to the creator and UA-cam
this guy is my new favorite person.. so inspiring.. im going to paint tomorrow
Fabulous video. Great interview. I appreciate the story, the art, the peek into his world. His art is fantastic! He should be able to afford heat. Housing is a struggle for everyone everywhere in the US right now. Except for the rich, who eat and eat and eat. It's a crazy world we're living in.
Beautiful! I feel liberated by his words and his playfulness. Thank you for sharing! Ps: One of your books is going to Luxembourg.
bless this man....
Alone and not lonely. Meaning if i was in my own space id be happy. Not having my own space. My house is overrun by my disrespectful offspring.. im surrounded by 4 dogs 7 to 8 people at times if not all the time and im lonely... i just do art and stay out peoples way...
I've started looking forward to new uploads from this series. Each is very warm and intimate. Thank you for these, such a beautiful idea!!
Such beautiful pictures
It’s a WONDERFUL LIFE!! and he sounded just like Woody Allen to me..!
Qué BELLEZA ❤❤❤ TODO EL COLOR Y escucharlo también 😊
He’s living the dream!! I wonder did his paintings n objects sell well??? I Love the floor n the colored canvases n objects! He’s been there for a while doing his thing. 👀👀👀😁😁😁😎🔥👍🤔 🎨
so much wisdom -- such a great project you have created - thank you - 💥💙💥
Truly a Great Video❤🎉. Beautiful paintings and an Individual mindset of Continued Innovation . ‼️‼️✨️👌
Soooo awesome thanks for capturing this story! Soooo inspiring! 🤙🏼🎨🎣
This video is fabulous! He is quite a character! Very interesting. Thanks.
This guy is wonderful.