LIKE I KNEW IT, 2023
The new Yorkness of new york is that the rules are always changing, if Barney’s can close permanently, anything is fair game.
I gave myself the name girl knew york to honor how I love knew york. As far as i’m concerned new york city is the concept of america done really properly. What kind of culture grows from one that asks drag queens and nuns school children and college students punk kids and finance bros to pack sleeve to sleeve each morning on the subway? Then they all peacefully commute in near silence unless theres a mariachi band or some teenagers decide it’s show time. There’s an invisible contract in new york about minding your business unless someone is in trouble and then treat the troubled peer like a brother. New York holds a up an inescapable mirror reflecting all of the most intimate experiences of humanity at nearly all times.
New York is famous for being the home of everything good and all it costs you is everything you have. New York asks you to stand on your feet all day, walk everywhere, stand in line for good coffee for good cake for a good sample sale, run down the stairs stand wait for the subway, walk the wrong way down an avenue twice a week. Then New York asks you to cough up money in intervals of $5 and $27 and $1000 without warning. After all that New York asks you to justify living there as often as possible to anyone who doesn’t live there! As if any of that were a steep price to pay for access to all the greatest art, architecture, music, plays, restaurants, education and most importantly people wasn’t an obvious enough pull against any hardship. New York appears in most good art that’s been made since its establishment. New York is the setting for most good literature cinema and television and then most importantly new york is the setting for most good gossip.
New York produces good artists because it creates perfect conditions for good artists. A reclusive painter can’t avoid his outside world here, but the ycity does provide an invisibility cloak via her chaos so he can hide in plain sight. New York requires you to witness and be witnessed at nearly all times. New York has inspiration, community, hardship, and magic that all swirl together to make an artist make good art.
I’ve pledged my life to this city. I’ve made this city my name the moment I wanted to make a name in this city. I invite you to make art about your pledge to the city for the last group show at Girl Knew York Gallery.
The artwork can have the spirit of New York infused in anyway that you see fit, but can also answer the question what is a new yorker?
