Artsy Hotels ...
Eric Shapiro - NY Press - 8/30/2010
People are willing to pay a lot of money for art that they never look at. Walk into any middle-class house and you’ll find all manner of abstract paintings, even if they are just prints. Now, hotels are incorporating our need to feel sophisticated into their business plans. Case in point: The James, located on Grand Street. The hotel has conscripted artist Matthew Jenson to select original artworks for each and every one of its 14 floors of rooms.
The New York Times reports that many businesses are seeking to inject themselves with a bit of personality of late. This provides a window for art students and unknown artists to display their art, according to Leah McCloskey of the Art Students League. “There’s all these empty walls and there are thousands of artists out there who are living in the city and have never had their art seen by anyone,” she said. “If someone’s got insomnia at 3 in the morning, they can pace the halls and have a really intimate and personal encounter,” artist Jessica Cannon. Right. Or they can just call someone and/or watch porn.
Listen, people stay at hotels for several reasons: business trips, vacation and to fuck. If they want to see art, they’ll go to a gallery or buy an art book. The only ones who benefit from this new trend are business owners whose pretentious customers rely on art to supplement their egos. If I ever see an original work of art on the wall at a hotel where I’m staying, I’ll go Keith Moon on it (burn it, throw it out the window, or run it over).
People are willing to pay a lot of money for art that they never look at. Walk into any middle-class house and you’ll find all manner of abstract paintings, even if they are just prints. Now, hotels are incorporating our need to feel sophisticated into their business plans. Case in point: The James, located on Grand Street. The hotel has conscripted artist Matthew Jenson to select original artworks for each and every one of its 14 floors of rooms.
The New York Times reports that many businesses are seeking to inject themselves with a bit of personality of late. This provides a window for art students and unknown artists to display their art, according to Leah McCloskey of the Art Students League. “There’s all these empty walls and there are thousands of artists out there who are living in the city and have never had their art seen by anyone,” she said. “If someone’s got insomnia at 3 in the morning, they can pace the halls and have a really intimate and personal encounter,” artist Jessica Cannon. Right. Or they can just call someone and/or watch porn.
Listen, people stay at hotels for several reasons: business trips, vacation and to fuck. If they want to see art, they’ll go to a gallery or buy an art book. The only ones who benefit from this new trend are business owners whose pretentious customers rely on art to supplement their egos. If I ever see an original work of art on the wall at a hotel where I’m staying, I’ll go Keith Moon on it (burn it, throw it out the window, or run it over).