Kipton Cronkite and Anita Durst host a chic gathering on the 48th floor of One Bryant Park, with views of 17 artworks by artists who worked with Chashama, an organization that provides artist space in NYC.
Anita Durst wore a Jason Wu tunic that looked chic when it needed to, and playful when she wanted it to. Of course, I’m speaking about the moment when she had a short, very tongue-in-cheek performance as an informant to two NYC artists wearing a remixed mime costume and Victorian wigs, looking for ways to make their art in the city, without being driven away by high rent. It’s here where Durst’s tunic goes from costume to couture, as she’s all business, securing space around the city to provide artists with. Its ultra-low cost or free, and it’s an effort to keep the culture here, in NYC, the art capital of the world. The passion and commitment to this idea has lasted for many years, allowing Durst and Cronkite to continue their mission, and expand on it, bringing in plenty of money and land along the way. It’s a cause that you can’t refuse, denying high rent? A no-no, culturally. Denying artist’s right to work? You’re suppressing the very culture!
The show had 17 artists, with a high variation in work, from photography to painting, sculpture, needlepoint, even, as mentioned, performance art. Reasonably priced, the works trickled out, as interests shifted from the crowd, to the view, back to the works.
If anything, Chashama is ambitious and a good step in at least facilitating a world fit for an artist, it’s not hand-holding, and it’s not a handout. But perhaps more than ever, a hand up. Consuelo Costin, Yorgos Scarpidis, David Storper, Alex Hamer, Elizabeth Kurpis, Anita Waxman, Sarah Arison, Gustaf Demarchelier, and Ariana Rockefeller were in attendance.
The evening was also presented by Kipton’s ArtStager, a service that brings art into new and existing real estate development.
