A Yard Sale, Chelsea-Style — in an Art Gallery
Artist Sean Naftel remembers well the first treasure he found in a yard sale: an Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon comic from the 1960s. He bought it with his own money when he was 6 years old, it cost him a nickel.
Naftel is now celebrating yard sales in an art installation with fellow artist Chris Attenborough. Their piece is at the De Buck Gallery in Chelsea and it includes objects like a bicycle, speakers and a mounted deer head, all of which were part of work created by them or other artists represented by the gallery. Visitors are encouraged to touch the art, and bargain.
Naftel said the idea is to celebrate yard sales as a cherished summer ritual and a reduction of a department store. “They’re the thing where you can find everything,” he said. “You don’t always expect everything you find in a yard sale, which is kind of great.”
Naftel explained the piece is also interactive, and that by entering the show visitors become part of it. “It's kind of fun seen what people kind of gravitate towards,” he said.
The artwork goes from US$ 8 to US$ 5,000. “Yard Sale” will run through August 1st at De Buck Gallery in Chelsea at 545 West 23rd St.
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