When Arctic Air enthusiastically in New York City, bundles the artist Karyn Lyons and rests her feet on a heater, while she paints nostalgic scenes of the longing of teenagers in her unheated studio in West 137th Street. Lyons, which is in the forties, Work on the 450 square meter room on the ground floor for six years. It has what it needs: extensive wall space, a slop sink and privacy. The setup would be perfect if it were not nearby because of the lack of a creative community. But she believes that this is a small price to have a studio in one of the most lively cities in the world. “I would not be happy anywhere else,” says Lyons, who shows with gymnastics gallery. “It is the cramped studios, the occasional rat and the lack of warmth.”
Karyn Lyons' 2023 painting The tennis lesson.
Lyons in her unheated studio in West 137th Street in Harlem.
From West Harlem to Ridgewood, from South Bronx to Brooklyn Navy Yard, artists set up studios wherever they can find good business. There is no longer any area with cheap rents and huge rooms – like Soho in the early 1970s or Williamsburg in the late 1990s. Some streams in studio building in Brooklyn because they have built -in community and amenities. Others continue to venture into isolated industrial areas in Queens and the Bronx. Some leave the city as a whole and settled in the state of New York or in the rural area of Connecticut. “It's like a survival game,” says Michael Nevin, owner of the Journalgalerie. “There is no blueprint for an artist how to have a studio in New York. You have to find your own way. “
Art star Rashid Johnson, whose career retrospective was opened at the Guggenheim in April, founded a studio in a former Augustpost by Luhing Augustine Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn, which he bought according to Property Records for 8 million dollars. The celebrated painter Amy Sherald, who has an upcoming solo show in the Whitney, works at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City. Laurie Simmons and Carroll Dunham moved her studios to Cornwall, Connecticut, while Peter and Sally Saul in Germantown, New York.
Tavational studios were the key to making New York the epicenter of the art world, but for decades artists have discovered dark parts of the city just to evaluate them when developers follow. “In the 1950s and 1960s, New York became the melting pot for progressive, amazing art, because artists were able to rent spaces very reasonably that nobody else wanted” for the 1960s the revitalization of the city center. “It wasn't fashionable. It wasn't clean, ”says Findlay. “It was cheap and had big rooms – what artists always want.”
After the artists arrive, bars, restaurants and luxury brands follow and finally rents rise. It happened in Soho, then in Chelsea, then in Williamsburg and then in Dumbo. “This is a narrative like the time,” says sculptor Tony Matelli, 54, who set up in a small garage in Williamsburg in 1995 and initially rented USD per square foot. (Nowadays on the ground floor on the ground floor in the areas of Prime Williamsburg rental contract for up to $ 300 per square foot.)
Williamsburg is “the most dramatic version of an artist slave who becomes a completely gentrified, radically changed environment,” says Matelli. “For better in many ways, but then artists have to move.” He went to Greenpoint and later Long Island City, where he has a 5,000 square meter studio on an industrial route on the midtown tunnel. There is no restaurant or bar in sight.
Artist Mitchell Charbonneau.
Charbonneau's corner of a shared studio in Queens.
Many younger artists are looking for studios who continue to be outside along the L Zugin line. Ridgewood became a popular travel destination after luxury ownership apartments had displaced affordable commercial space in Greenpoint and Bushwick. The 30 -year -old sculptor Mitchell Charbonneau moved to a studio building in Ridgewood in 2017, shortly after the Pratt Institute. It is guided by friends and it is 10 minutes on foot from his apartment. According to Wyatt Burns, a co -founder of Wyatt Burns. There are 32 artists on the premises, some sharing studios that have amenities such as ventilation and compressed air. Artists have access to four shops: metal, wood, ceramics and jewelry.
Senseless, a 2023 sculpture by Charbonneau.
Charbonneau looks happy. New York is “really difficult for an artist in my age group,” he says. “For many people, it takes years before they can define their studio practice before sales can deliver this. Many people don't follow. “
Painter mie yim.
Yims Studio is located in a former warehouse in Mott Haven, a neighborhood in Südbronx.
The 61 -year -old painter Mie Yim is convinced that her Bronx studio in New York is the most affordable. She received in Brooklyn from Chelsea and Industry City, so she rented a 6,000 square meter floor of a warehouse in Mott Haven with a partner, divided her into eight studios and rented it to other artists below the market price. The area can be bleak, and at night shootings were occasionally shot. “What will you do? I need a studio that is affordable,” says Yim. “We have a toilet. We have light and warmth. What do you need more?
“Our floor is always full. It is so great to have happy tenants and happy artists. “◾ ◾
This story originally appeared in March 2025 edition of Elle Decor. Subscribe to