i visited bryson gill in berlin.
he is my favorite bay area artist.
bryson paints in his live/work
studio by a canal full of
swans in kreuzberg
why do artists still
move to brooklyn?
it's over.
jaded.
$$
you can live a real
good life in berlin.
i know some of you
will disagree with this
he is my favorite bay area artist.
bryson paints in his live/work
studio by a canal full of
swans in kreuzberg
why do artists still
move to brooklyn?
it's over.
jaded.
$$
you can live a real
good life in berlin.
i know some of you
will disagree with this
18 comments:
I adore Bryson and his work. It's fun to see what he's created in Berlin.
This is unrelated but Bibli-odyssey just posted the letter drawings of Van Gogh: http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2009/10/handshakes-in-thought.html
Please stop bashing a place where you couldn’t earn a living. Just because there's a decent artist in Berlin doesn't mean its THE place to be...And stop posting blather about design…for god’s sake- tea towels? At $20 a pop? lol pathetic
Sammy:
you bring up an interesting point.
In the end, it's the consumer's decision to spend $20 for fair labor, small business enterprise and equal wage rather than $5 for a towel made in china with poisnous dyes and unsubstantial wages.
it's just a decision one makes.
thanks again for letting us know what position you take on this issue.
and I'm happy to say that i haven't use a paper towel in 4 weeks since using a studiopatro tea towel. it feels real good.
cheers,
lee
Artists traditionally move into areas looking for cheap rent and those areas often become attractive to others looking for a more creative environment to live in as well. So artists in the West Village moved to SoHo and the East Village and then got priced out and moved to Hoboken or Williamsberg and got priced out, etc. Berlin probably has it's own version of the same phenomena.
thanks for your comments on Bryson Gill. I also think he is a great artist. I am lucky enough to own 3 works on paper by Gill.
Great to see his Berlin Studio and see his new work. If you have any additional photos would love to see.
comparing berlin to brooklyn is kind of silly - it's a totally arbitrary comparison. yeah berlin's great and all. nice shops and so forth, charming places to have a drink, dinner, galleries, good place to visit. but it's not like it's a new phenomenon. kind of old news, no? i mean i could take this post more seriously if you were writing it in 1999 - or 1989 for that matter. what's the next berlin? that's what i'm interested in.
i for one appreciate your curating / showcasing nice ecological sound and socially responsible tea towels!
hi,
i'm in art school, and have been told many times by fellow students and teachers that berlin is a good place to be. people still dream of ny, but berlin is gaining ground.
the next berlin? our bets are on stockholm.
amazing beautiful intelligent posts by the way.
Berlin is sooo great! All scandinavian artists move there, because the rent is cheap, and the art is inspiring! Why look for a next Berlin? Berlin is Berlin, New York is New York.etc..
Keep on your fantastic postings! Love your blog!!!
Hey Lee,
Thanks for introducing me to Bryson's work. It reminds me of one of my favorite painters, Josh Marsh.
See Here: http://www.baileygallery.com/artists_02.cfm?fid=464
He Lives in the Woods in Pennsylvania incidentally...
Such wonderful and thoughtful posts!
Reading and Writing from my Brooklyn Studio overlooking the East River. Still awake and yet to be poisoned with the cynicism and fear of ambition.
Cheers,
Chris
(Tyler's friend that has Mollusk in Brooklyn with John)
I understand, I understand. I was in Berlin for the first time a couple of weeks ago (probably about the same time you were). It blew me wide open. I can't stop thinking about what it would be like to live there. I haven't been so compelled since I moved to New Orleans, over 10 years ago. It has the same appeal that NOLA did then (and still has to some degree): dark and light, lavish decay, gritty and beautiful, affordable and filled with artists while simultaneously seeming wholesome and able to sustain families and friendships. My friends who live in Berlin tell me the same thing you said, that one can live a very good life there, which is in no way to say that one can not live a very good life here. It is simply... hm, a new place to adore. A new place to dream of.
Long time reader, first time commenter. I think. Maybe second.
I love Bryson Gill's work. These paintings are great. Don't care where anyone lives - just care that people do what they love to do and put their best foot forward.
Berlin is all the things you want it to be - but also so much more. Do not be fooled; it is very hard to make a living in Berlin and there are hidden costs, even if yes; the life you can live there could be richer for the spirit in many ways. Take it from someone who's lived there, tried. As an artist coming from abroad earning your money from elsewhere, it's a fantasticly inspiring place to work from. I love Berlin but do not have the same illusions of an everyday life there anymore, for better and worse. Not that I wouldn't move back, but I know it won't be simple and easy only.
lovely blog, thoughtworthy content.
thanks
/ anna
I felt this way from the moment I crossed into Berlin from Copenhagen about 6 (eep) years ago.... Could it be it still has that something in the air thats free and inviting? And that it is still affordable? hmmmm...
Berlin's spark died a while ago. But I'm still here. Why? Because I can't afford New York.
there are lots of great cities, but New York will always be the center of the world. Fact.
writing from Barcelona (not so bad, eh?) and still dreaming of NY.
Cheers,
Jacob
www.jacobheftmann.com
PS this is my favorite site on the whole internets. I am just intrigued by its mysterious curator.
i wonder what it would be like if people stopped 'colonizing'...if the pull to somewhere 'better', 'cheaper', 'more creative' became instead a decision to stay put, to get to know intimately the place where one is from, where one is born, one's own culture, one's own family/society... to stay still rather than move outward, continually displacing those whose place 'over there' is...would we stagnate? or would we grow? is upheaval necessary? do we miss something when we are constantly seeking the 'next' place? are we all refugees of capitalism, of endless growth, ever-increasing rents, sky-rocketing real-estate - or are we playing a crucial role in the game by never digging in, never establishing, never working to change the things we don't like about where we are, thereby making it easier for communities to be gentrified, 'renewed'...i don't know. i'm not making any sort of statement, i'm just asking...
Bryson is a one of a kind. So methodical and refreshingly aware of art history. I'm lucky to call him cousin.
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