.noscript-alert { background-color: #fff5f5; color: #F42927; border: 1px solid #fcdede; padding: 30px 20px; margin: 50px auto; max-width: 650px; border-radius: 12px; text-align: center; box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba(0,0,0,0.05); font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Geneva, Verdana, sans-serif; } .noscript-alert img { max-width: 120px; margin-bottom: 20px; } .noscript-alert h2 { font-size: 26px; margin: 0 0 10px; color: #cc0000; } .noscript-alert p { font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0; color: #444; } CuturedMag Logo

JavaScript is Disabled

To view content on CULTURED, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Pulled From Print The Rent Edit Art

When Living in New York Comes at a Premium, These Are the Luxuries Artists Can Still Afford

For The Rent Edit, five New York-based artists tell CULTURED what they've had to sacrifice—and what they refuse to let go of—for the sake of living in the city.

Julia Halperin

August 27, 2026

Artist Melissa Joseph studio and apartment in New York — Melissa Joseph’s space in New York. Photography by Tom Scanlan.

This is The Rent Edit, a package from CULTURED that explores the financial reality of being an artist in 2026. Elsewhere, artists reveal what they bought with their first big paycheck and what it really costs to live and work in New York.

Has living in New York become an unaffordable luxury for artists? When Diya Vij stepped up as commissioner of the city’s cultural affairs department under Mayor Zohran Mamdani this year, she declared her top priority was “addressing the affordability crisis as it pertains to arts and culture.” The toll of the city’s astronomical cost-of-living burdens are starting to show: Over the last decade, the city’s creative sector shrunk for the first time in decades, with dancers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, and art directors fleeing for the hills (or, at least, New Jersey). Yet, according to a report from the Center for Urban Future, more than 100,000 artists continue to make their creative lives in the city, convinced that its art infrastructure fuels them in ways a reasonable mortgage never could.

Here, CULTURED asked five artists, three of them native New Yorkers, to share what they’ve given up—and what they won’t—to maintain the biggest indulgence of them all: living in New York.

Tony Oursler

Hometown: Manhattan, New York
Age: 69
Main Medium: Video and installation
Galleries: Lehmann Maupin and Lisson
Held Onto: WFMU/WQXR. Pinch Chinese. Experimental art projects. M5 Max chip, designed for extreme workflows, featuring an 18-core CPU and up to a 40-core GPU. AC. OST Cafe. Books, book fairs. A.I. optimism. The Wooster Group 4ever. Nightclubbing opera.
Gave Up: The illusion of reliable FedEx, Amazon, USPS. Tyrian purple pigment. Drinks at Mudd Club. Local fabrication. Spirit photos. Cocaine/narcotics. Samuel Dickstein Plaza. Drinks at Windows on the World. Shipping to other nations. Séances.

American Artist

Hometown: Altadena, California
Age: 36
Main Medium: Sculpture and video
Gallery: Commonwealth and Council
Held Onto: Renting a studio. Floral arrangements. General strikes. Feeld Majestic. Laundry service. Telfar. HBO Max. Wine at home. Taking classes. Art from friends.
Gave Up: Two bedrooms. Eating all the time (intermittent fasting is in). Studio assistants. Art openings. Ssense. Instagram ads. Car repairs. Hulu. Congestion pricing. Tasting menus.

Melissa Joseph

Hometown: Saint Marys, Pennsylvania
Age: 45
Main Medium: Felted wool
Gallery: Charles Moffett Gallery
Upcoming Show: “Casserole Culture” at Charles Moffett, opening in September
Held Onto: Oat lattes. Small artworks. Natural light. Good felting wool. Blueberries. Mani/pedis. Greeting cards (and stamps). Dishwasher.
Gave Up: Space. Heat. Paying quarterly taxes. Gym membership. Most spa and salon treatments. Live entertainment. Media subscriptions (I borrow my sister’s logins). DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub. Nature.

Herb Tam. Photography by Tom Scanlan. — Kenneth Tam. Photography by Tom Scanlan.

Kenneth Tam

Hometown: Queens, New York
Main Medium: Video, sculpture, performance, installation
Gallery: Commonwealth and Council
Upcoming Show: “Guild and Greyshkul” at Cooper Union, opening Sept. 16
Held Onto: A good mattress. Art catalogues that I don’t read. Haircuts at Shizen. Flowers from Saffron. Salmon from Sockeye Salmon Share. A car. A studio that is basically storage, and then a separate storage unit. Better than CVS-level moisturizer. Watching the entire “Currents” slate of films at New York Film Festival. Upstate Airbnbs.
Gave Up: Living in New York full-time (I hold a teaching position in Houston, where I split my time). Breakfast pastries. Membership at a gym/pool (or any membership in general). Appetizers and second rounds. Making large work. Car washes. Driving into Manhattan. Eating at restaurants on “best-of” lists. Any kind of live performance that is not art-related. Guilt-free idleness.

Photography by Ethan O'Grady. — Elia Alba in her New York studio. Photography by Ethan O’Grady.

Elia Alba

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Age: 63
Main Medium: Sculpture, photography, video
Held Onto: Fabrics. Books. Astrology apps. Candles. Supplements. A therapist. Trips to Miami to see my 92-year-old mother. Slow mornings. K-beauty products.
Gave Up: Uber rides. Streaming subscriptions. Daily Starbucks runs. Instacart. Constant dining out. Over-frequenting Briciola Harlem. Wine subscriptions. Gel nails.