How Five New York Artist Couples Share Space
By Kat Herriman, February 11, 2016
Navigating New York real estate is notoriously difficult, but these young partners in love — and, often, in work — have made it an art.
Trudy Benson and Russell Tyler
BEDFORD STUYVESANT
- Two early Katherine Bernhardt portraits grace the wall above their couch. “We trade with our friends,” Benson says with a smile, pointing out the painterly faces. “It’s a nice way to collect.”
- The mid-century modern furniture in their apartment comes from Bright Lyons, a design dealer in Boerum Hill who is known for trading with artists. Almost all of the furniture is from Knoll or Herman Miller. “I think this is a child’s desk, but it’s where I do our taxes and that kind of thing,” Benson says.
- “We picked out Dazzy based on who we thought Lucy would like,” says Tyler of their furry twosome. “Lucy is really domineering and Dazzy is really chill.”
- A cheerful planter by Group Partner. “That is one of our latest purchases,” Benson says. “I love it.”
- “That’s an old painting of mine from six of seven years ago; it’s here because I haven’t moved it into storage,” Tyler says. “I have one of Trudy’s smaller pieces by my side of the bed, but we tend not to want to really want our stuff in the house.”
- Books by colleagues like Eddie Martinez and legends like Martin Kippenberger cover almost every surface. “One of my favorites is from a Jonathan Lasker dinner we went to recently,” Tyler says.
Two watchful cats, Dazzy and Lucy, greet you upon arrival at Trudy Benson and Russell Tyler’s soon-to-be-ex apartment in Bed-Stuy. (They’re currently plotting a move to a converted storefront home in Crown Heights.) Filled with the art of friends and heroes, like Misaki Kawai and Katherine Bernhardt, their place embodies the couple’s generous spirit and eclectic sensibility. This winter, they aren’t spending much time at their cozy abode. Instead, they are holing up at their adjacent Clinton Hill studios. There is much work to be done; Tyler opens a solo show Richard Heller Gallery later this month and Benson must prep for upcoming spring shows at Half Gallery in New York and Galerie Bernard Ceysson in Luxembourg.
Alisa Baremboym and Greg Edwards
EAST WILLIAMSBURG
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Eddie Martinez and Sam Moyer
FORT GREENE
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Mark Barrow and Sarah Parke
SUNNYSIDE
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Anna K.E. and Florian Meisenberg
RIDGEWOOD
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