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WATCH: "Art and Friendship in Downtown NYC," October 11, 2022

Art and Friendship in Downtown NYC

Organized by Grey Art Museum, NYU

Original program date: October 11, 2022

Longtime art patrons, social activists, and downtown Manhattan residents James Cottrell and Joseph Lovett grew their art collection based on their personal vision and vital friendships with artists—including Deborah Kass, whose paintings are part of the Grey Art Gallery’s exhibition Mostly New: Selections from the NYU Art Collection. The exhibition also includes several works donated to the Grey by Cottrell and Lovett, who gifted over 200 artworks from their extensive collection of downtown New York artists. In this recording of a live event from Oct. 11, 2022, Cottrell, Lovett, and Kass discuss their shared passion for art as an instrument of social change, the social experience of the dynamic downtown art scene in the 1980s, and their transformational gift in a lively virtual conversation hosted by the Grey’s director, Lynn Gumpert.