A couple of years ago I visited my friend Robert in New York. The great thing about visiting him is that each time I do, he lives in a different part of the city, and at that time he was living in Brooklyn. He had a three story house that was rent controlled, and he had an extra room open to rent out. I was considering a move, but wanted to go there and hang out for a little while to see if I was ready to live in such a huge city. I really wanted to live there, as I am a painter and there is something that makes being an artist very real when you are in New York. In my small hometown, art was seen as something of a hobby, with most people not realizing that yes, artists can make it their living, their livelihood and their world.
So, on that trip one of the first places we visited was the Brooklyn Museum. This is one of the largest and one of the oldest art museums in the United States, and when you walk through the doors and are surrounded by everything from contemporary work to that of the ancient Egyptians, you become aware that art is history. It is the history of the soul of the artist and it documents the history of their times, of their societies. The truth is I was overwhelmed with a sense of belonging. In my hometown, artists are viewed as a bit kooky, a little on the nutty side, but here in Brooklyn it is the others, the rest of the people outside of the art world that are the nutty ones. So although I was far away from home, I had finally found my people. This makes sense to feel this at the Brooklyn Museum, after all it is their mission, to bridge the gaps of time and culture by bring all of the together in one place.
So, after a few hours, Robert and I went to one of the restaurants in the city, and had a talk. I was overcome with emotion when I told him that I was going to take his extra room. I knew that I was about to make an immense journey in life, and that I was about to leave a town that I had grown up in and lived my entire life. But even though I was getting ready to leave that hometown, I knew that what I was actually doing in moving to Brooklyn was in fact coming home.