Documentary photographer Joshua Charow's speaks with Annabel Keenan in Cultured Magazine in advance of his opening on May 16th.
"Keenan: Do you have any favorite stories from the artists?
Charow: I’ll share one story that’s been on my mind. I photographed Carmen Cicero, a 97-year-old painter who has lived on Bowery since 1971. He told me about how he was walking down the street with a large painting in 1959 and he saw the director of the Guggenheim, James Johnson Sweeney. Carmen asked if Sweeney could help carry the painting up to his second-floor gallery. Sweeney did and said “Okay, I helped you carry this, let me see it,” so Carmen unwrapped the painting and Sweeney bought it and featured it in the very first show in the Guggenheim’s Frank Lloyd Wright building. Every artist had anecdotes like this that blew me away."
Loft Law: Photographs by Joshua Charow will be on view May 16 - July 13, 2024.
