On summer days, you may battle the crowds of Union Square for a moment of nostalgic, back-to-nature joy at the Greenmarket. But stepping further south, you can find more to entice you than artisan cheese and organic veggies. That is, the unpretentious, crafty appeal of local artists selling their work on cloth-covered card tables. This is not one of those country art fairs filled with generic sunflower still lifes. These artists definitely have more than a little edge, humor, and, above all, creativity.
From a black-and-white girl balanced on a unicycle to a landscape enmeshed with a sleeping woman, in a short time my roommate has managed to acquire a veritable collection from our local art-vendor paradise of Union Square Park. Of the eight pieces she owns all were under $50, many under $20. The downside, if you see it as such, is that a lot of these are reproducible screenprints and photographs which probably grace the walls of several other downtown apartments.
Still, there is plenty of uniqueness to be found at these stands for the same prices. Another friend has a set of three original paintings from a Union Square artist that are anything but reproducible. They have the charm of any little painting one may find along the Paris Seine and happened to cost less than $50 for the whole set.
You can find artists along the South and West sides of the park any day of the week, but on Greenmarket days—Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday—they are more sequestered to the lower end.
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