Jay Myself
In 1898 in the New York neighbourhood the Bowery, the Germania Bank Building was erected, a big building – 35,000 square feet with 72 rooms. By the 1960s, the neighbourhood was in decline, allowing photographer Jay Maisel (1931) to buy the building at a bargain price of $102,000 in 1966. Nearly fifty years later he sells it for $55 million.
It is where the film's story begins, as told by Stephen Wilkes, filmmaker/photographer/Maisel's one-time apprentice. Over the years, Maisel had filled the building with varied collections of items; for example, there is a room crammed with table legs, the hallways are adorned with all sorts of random gadgets and tools, while the basement is packed with boxes of photographs. For Maisel, all this junk is an endless source of inspiration. He speaks often about the difference between looking and seeing; if you look closely, you can see that light and colour are changing qualities. While the move is taking place, Wilkes shows what Maisel means, thus celebrating the life and work of this fascinating artist.
Introduced by Joep Heusschen, co-founder of the Youseum a cross between a pop-up art experience and an Instagram museum on the Weesperzijde in Amsterdam.
