Page 6 - The Faces

renovated the place. He lived with his kids in a dump, we were always won- dering how he does it.
How did it change?
The late 1960s were very different. Artists could just walk into a gallery - any gallery - with their slides and if the work was good they would make busi- ness. It was a small world, and we artists would hang out at Mudd Club They all were there. The area is now very commercial and storefronts dominate the streets - that Apple store down the street, it was the post office! It’s all about real estate today and about the number of people who walk past your storefront. Soho itself was a town in the 1960s where we all knew each other - and it grew into a city. Similarly the art world grew into a art solar system
or an art galaxy rather, with many worlds within.
Is New York the centre of the galaxy?
People are always looking for a centre. New York as the centre of it all may be an illusion. There are many centers and New York is just one of them. In a few centuries the centre might be in China.
Centers come about because people are drawn to one another and want to socialize; in the 1970s we did this at Mudd Club around the corner. But to- day it’s very large galaxy and there are many centers - or maybe there is no centre at all; now we have Instagram and socialist there. I have you now on Instagram and I know you had Lobster the other day!
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