Marcellus Hall’s “Open House”

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Finding a place of residence in New York City has long been a challenge, sometimes verging on a full-time job. Students bunk with too many roommates in too small a space. Longtime New Yorkers cling to their hold on a rent-controlled apartment. Couples with young children weigh square footage against school districts. Young professionals look to move into neighborhoods with their peers. The list of mental calculations is as varied as the city’s denizens. In his cover for the May 29, 2023, issue, Marcellus Hall portrays the endless line of hopefuls that will gather at every new apartment opening. I talked to the artist about the cost and character of city living.

You’ve pitched this idea, in various forms, for many years. Does this moment feel uniquely dire?

Maybe. (Can it get worse?) Although I’ve lived in the city for a long time, my mode of habitation has evolved over the years. I no longer share an apartment with a roommate, for example, and I’m lucky to have a balcony now. I think that finding what you want in New York is still as difficult as it always has been. There always seems to be a scramble to buy or rent when a desirable apartment becomes available. I don’t mind the changing face of New York architecture, but it would be nice if developers’ greed would lessen.

What are some things every would-be New York City dweller needs to know?

Brace yourself for the price-to-size ratios here. The cultural value of living in New York, however, should not be overlooked.

You have been involved in both New York’s indie-rock scene and its art scene since the nineteen-nineties. Do you think the changing housing landscape has altered creative life in the city?

I always read about how the cheap rents and bombed-out desolation of the East Village in the late seventies fomented a culture of creativity. Certainly, cheap rents will attract artists and musicians, but the truth is that New York seems to remain an artistic haven despite its unending real-estate pressures.

In a previous cover about real estate, you showed Manhattanites banished to Brooklyn. Yet you yourself stayed on the Lower East Side for a long time, recently moving a block away from your old place. What keeps you anchored in the neighborhood?

Oh, yes, it’s ironic (but fitting) that both covers comment on New York City real estate. I lived first in the East Village and then, more recently, the Lower East Side, which in many ways still feels like New York’s best-kept secret; there is a lot to be said for being near so many vibrant places and eclectic neighborhoods. But I also loved living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, before it became “Williamsburg.”

Do you have any furniture that has stuck with you throughout your various moves?

Here’s a photo of me that a fellow New Yorker cover artist, Jorge Colombo, took a few years ago: I’m at the drawing table I used for more than thirty years—a large board placed at an angle on top of some paperback books and an old metal desk that I found on the streets of industrial Brooklyn. In my move to a new apartment three weeks ago, I threw it out. Now I’m in the market for a new one; I have a possible lead in Rutherford, New Jersey, but do let me know if you come across a classic, wooden drafting or drawing table for sale.