All of us have those special places, buildings which are dear to our hearts: the place where we were born, the house we grew up in, that spot where we had our first kiss or that first home of our own. There are places that we are attracted to inexplicably, even though we have never been there before. We feel like we belong there, for no particular reason. After a while, if we are lucky, we figure out why we are important to each other.
As a child growing up in Pécs, Péter Weiler couldn’t wait to switch on the little black and white TV set next to his bed. He could watch programs from neighboring Yugoslavia: American movies and music videos. The images were blurry and scrambled on the screen, yet they signaled a distant world different from his home in Pécs.
Péter was seventeen when he decided to apply for a scholarship to art school in the US. He spent several summers with relatives in New York City. He visited libraries where he browsed scholarship catalogues, and he had the chance to explore the city as well.
He wanted to discover the places that he had read about or saw on TV, visit famous galleries, touch the walls of buildings and take photos of the changes. Andy Warhol had a significant impact on him, so 222 West 23rd Street was on his list. This is where Warhol shot Chelsea Girls in 1966.
Today, Péter Weiler is a renowned artist and a member of the New York School of Visual Arts Master of Fine Arts program. This year he felt the time was ripe to commemorate the Chelsea Hotel and its famous artist residents with new paintings.
inside
iconic
walls
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