Mayor Bloomberg vs Artists -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

The street artists in Paris, the ones around the Eiffel Tower, the ones that 30 years ago sold inexpensive beautiful watercolors and pastels of Paris to tourists, have all been replaced.  The artists have been replaced with salesmen, their original art works replaced with cheap prints.  They look like real artists with their paintings spread out on a blanket, some even have paints and brushes, but they are just props, no one is painting.  It turns out, some time ago, the wise elders of Paris started to charge the artists and require them to carry permits.   Artists work on the thinnest of margins, street artists doubly so.  Slowly but surely the artists stopped painting and a large company took over.  The company makes cheap prints and put salesmen on the city streets.  They do such a good job looking like artists most tourists never notice.  But I was shocked I could not find one real street artist in Paris.   It made the whole city seem fake to me, like Disney World.  Now New York is going down the same path.   How could artists be the problem with New York?  Have you ever heard of an artist causing trouble?   Has anyone ever complained that there was to much art?  Will there be nothing left to purchase from your trip to New York other than an "I Love New York" T-shirt or a Twin Towers ashtray?   Sad.   And one more thing, if the US Constitution's First Amendment doesn't protect someone's right to express themselves on paper and then sell that piece of paper on their city street block, then it has no meaning. GL


t r u t h o u t | Mayor Bloomberg vs Artists: The Battle for the Soul of New York City