CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/25/2024

Joshua Charow's 'Loft Law' documents the last of NYC's original artist lofts

Featured spreads are from Loft Law, filmmaker and photographer Joshua Charow’s new book documenting the last of New York City's original artist lofts. “Walk through SoHo today and look up into the cast iron windows that line its cobblestone streets,” Charow writes. “Between tech offices, luxury storefronts and multi-million dollar condos, you might catch a glimpse of a space that commands your attention. The loft’s rawness stands out from its surroundings, with rusted tin ceilings and empty cans of paint lining the ground. Inside the loft, an 85-year-old artist is having their morning coffee while working on a painting. Behind them are thousands of other canvases stored in the wooden shelves they’ve filled up over the past 50 years. This person is not just a painter, but a time traveler. If you’re lucky enough to walk into one of their studios, you will be transported back to the year they moved in, to a New York that doesn’t exist anymore. However, due to the perfect storm of history, politics and enough of a fight, these artists remain today, giving us a peek into the wonderful worlds they’ve created and sustained in our ever-changing city.”