Chelsea Hotel manager David Elder is now accepting paintings in exchange for stays at the famed Chelsea Hotel. And here we thought those people lined up on the sidewalk were waiting to get into the comedy club. It's a return to the good old days. Nadia Bertrand told Chelsea Now that she recently turned over two paintings to David Elder in exchange for a month long stay. "We'll take it as it goes in terms of if other people are interested," Elder told Chelsea Now. This should give the occupancy rates around here a big boost. We hear that the poets will still have to pay. (Photo of Nadia and her painting by Patrick Hedlund.)
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Hotel Chelsea Blog
Posted in Art
40 responses to “Good News for Chelsea Hotel Painters”
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Not sure how much Nadia typically gets for a painting but I know she was on a room with a shared bath which usually goes for about $119.00 per night. So do the math. If you’re a painter and live in a roomw here the rent is around $2,000 per month you should be entitled to one month free rent.
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What a ridiculous attempt by Elder to make himself seem appealing. Like something a child would come up with:
“Lets bribe some artists into thinking I’m a real great guy, and maybe they will forget all about the destruction and lawsuits I’ve brought to bear on the Hotel.”
Elder will do about anything to keep the attention of inconsequential Chelsea lapdogs, including make himself a bigger hypocrite than he is a thief, liar, and criminal. His days here are definitely numbered.LikeLike
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REALLY? A painting christening party? Sounds like fun! Where’s my invitation? I guess Elder was holding the guest list too…must have have been some shin-dig, we all know what a party animal David Elder is…lol. Well I’m sure my authentic opinion of the artwork or David Elder’s motives won’t get published here so I’ll just say I really dig a Chelsea Hotel “Christening party” for artworks that have not been vetted by anyone but a know-nothing-about-anything named David Elder.
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This article’s entire premise is fabricated.
David Elder and his underlings BANNED the Chelsea Now newspaper from the Chelsea. But only long enough, evidently, until he drum up a ‘story’ of his own to sell them on.LikeLike
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http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=453774952&albumId=964180
Here’s a link to what Ms. Nadia was an eyewitness to as she waited on April Fools Day –how apropos– to ‘pitch’ David Elder on his second painting acquisition. Not unlike the many other tourists gathered around the reception desk at the time, Nadia was visibly taken aback by the destruction — the videos will be posted. But from the looks of things she got over it. Maybe the way David Elder expects Piri Thomas to just get over the million two hundred thousand Elder bilked from his Hotel profits.LikeLike
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Did somebody say “Free Rent”?
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Did Elder hire himself PR flack, a la Andrew “No Willy” Tilley? No question he’s trying hard to sugar-coat some of the bullshit he’s been pulling. This story, ironically, doesn’t even mention the fact that Chelsea Now has been outlawed from the Hotel. I’ll bet anything theres a stack of them now
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Hmm since David Elder knows absolutely nothing about Art, valuable or no, I’d be willing to hold my breath waiting for this “investment” to blow up in his face.
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Sorry, but if its been a known fact that the Hotel doesn’t accept long term residents (which Nadia also claimed to have her sights set on) or artwork in exchange for guest rooms then why, again, would Nadia just presume that those rules don’t apply to her? Real brain buster there…Mr. Elder forced all the plants off the balconies and the rooftop gardens with his sabotage, but he’s got no problem cultivating a “Plant” of his very own.
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Hmmmm, so Elder & Kruass think they’re carrying on the Bard Family’s traditions. There’s one problem here. The Bard Family made money…..
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yay. she’s a painter. join the club.
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“Elder stands for art”, Ms. Bertrand? You obviously know next to nothing about anything going on here at the Chelsea except how to shmooze free rooms from a nebbish who nobody can stomach except a few geriatric types who have no place better to go, and wouldn’t know their own first names if they couldnt’ declare they lived at the Chelsea Hotel. What Elder stands for ripping up our beloved historic home, stealing its profits from his elderly stepfather (an actual artist), and committing criminal acts of violence against tenants who beat him up in court.
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Oh puleeeze, before Nadia was telling people she traded paintings for her stay, she was telling them that she was the Hotel’s newest long term resident and that Elder let her “move in.” It must have taken a minute or two for them to get their ducks in a row and come up with the same tale. First David Elder undermined the credibility of the Chelsea Hotel and now he’s tried to undermine the credibility of Chelsea Now reporting with this nonsense. Trading art for rooms was one of the “offenses” levied against Stanley Bard and Family in Elder and Krauss’s legal subterfuge. Problem is, Stanley rarely ever did that — its an URBAN LEGEND that Stanley didn’t do anything to dissuade. Elder and Krauss came in thinking they’d inherit a stack of Larry Rivers paintings but did they ever stop to ask why Larry Rivers would have needed Stanley Bard to pay his rent? Elder is just such a moron that he believes the his own hype and thinks he can get away with doing what he accuses others of.
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The new CFO must be mighty busy this morning figuring out how to report this to the tax man…..
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What a big crock.
Whats really going on here is that Elder no longer has leverage to throw out tenants (which forced him to finally grant rent stabilization to residents instead of filing more frivilous lawsuits), and several Stop Work Orders prevent his crew from illegally bashing and hacking up any more of the Hotel.
That leaves him with nothing much to do all day, so now he’s trying really hard to convince some gullible souls that he’s something he ain’t. It costs him nothing to have “guests of the Hotel” for extended stays, it only costs the Hotel. I’m really glad I got out when I did because David Elder as close to being a patron of the arts as follicles on his head are close to sprouting.LikeLike
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David Elder, you are a scummy person – in my opinion, of course.
What a foolish, transparent attempt to legitimize yourself at the Chelsea Hotel, whose grand presence on 23rd Street has been deeply marred by your hideous tampering.
Someone who hires men to assault residents of an apartment building, then tries to cover his tracks, can never be legitimate; the oil painting you’re allegedly taken for rent will not help you redeem those tickets, nor will any fan club membership.
David Elder, are you too dumb to know you should count your blessings you’re not in prison for what you’ve done both to your own family and those who cherish the Hotel Chelsea?
Maybe you are.LikeLike
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If I bequeath a cache of Hotel Chelsea artwork that David Elder had tossed in the 23rd Street garbage heap shortly after he took over — including a portrait of Arthur Miller by renowned sculptor Rene Shapshak, how much free rent would that be good for, I wonder?
You’re just a fountain of knowledge,David, so glad you’re here.LikeLike
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As soon as Stanley Bard is in a position to extend offers of so- called “Free” rent, the same sycophants quoted by Patrick Hedlund will be singing his praises once more. They blow with the prevailing wind, and cultivate their own silly naievte – its so bohemian, after all, to play up detachment. Meanwhile they’re glued to the blog.
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What puzzles me is why Nadia didn’t report her good fortunes to the Hotel Chelsea blog? She had to seek out a banned newspaper to make this announcement? Seems fishy, as in it stinks.
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I attended the “party” on Sunday…if you want to call it that. Talk about a creepfest. I couldn’t resist, though, and find it hilarious, maybe, that after all this time David Elder has me pegged as pro-Him. As if I enjoy hanging out with a guy who robs from his own kin.
Anyone not invited didn’t miss much. Elder conjured up a little gaggle to slurp free drinks, the usual suspects who dont miss a chance to be patted on the back as “artists”, even if the one doing the patting has filth all over his paws.
I had to get out of there before my cerebellum melted completely, but here’s some advice:
Go convince a commercial art gallery to represent you, they can attempt to sell your work, then you won’t need to hawk it for rent as if you’re struggling to get by, just an overwrought charade that nobody with sense really buys at the end of the day.
The Chelsea is a home, not a commercial art gallery. If you happen to live here and wish to hang your paintings on the walls, wonderful — thats the tradition here, thats part of the charm. But buying your way in has NEVER been part of the Chelsea tradition. Buying your way in is not charming, its corrupt. So is marketing the idea that others can buy their way in, when they can’t.
Actually, on second thought, if you’re that far out there in the stratosphere to think David Elder will do anything positive for you or the Hotel, then you’re just crazy enough to live at the Chelsea and you shouldn’t really be counted on to employ logic.LikeLike
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David Elder is a small man who carries a big schtick.
In other words hes a fake.LikeLike
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http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=453774952&albumID=964180&imageID=9878674
Quack Attack — actually the same young lady (seen here despairing during the mailbox destruction in April) told the photographer she was a reporter. Then she changed it to “painter”, but it was “reporter” first. Seems like none of them can get their official stories straight.LikeLike
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Nothing but poorly conceived propaganda.
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David Elder threw out Shapshak’s portrait of Arthur Miller? What a moron. Everyone sees through Elder, even his few, feeble sycophants who laugh at him behind their hands. This art-for-room exchange is rather ironic isn’t it? And it is just window dressing to hide the fact that he and Krauss are kicking artists to the curb, running roughshod over Chelsea traditions, architecture, history and, evidently, art. Want to do something real for artists, Elder? Pay Piri Thomas the big money you owe him if you haven’t already, open up more rooms for long term tenants working in the arts, bring back the mailboxes, and, um, Bring back the Bards.
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Agreed, Ergo, nada but propaganda and David Elder trying to manipulate facts and play on the willful ignorance of tenants and maybe this painter, too, who traded her artistic dignity to become David Elder’s mouthpuppet for a few nights rest. Smoke and mirrors might work on her and Chelsea Now…but not me.
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typical “artist” thinks her arrival on the scene can redefine a hundred plus years of tradition and history. as long as she’s getting what she wants, right? all else is negotiable, it seems. people like this make me want to vomit in my own mouth. or on a canvas, then trade it to david elder for rent.
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Trading rooms for unknown artists work is “along the lines of what we are”?
No it isn’t. Not at all. Not even close.
Thats what David Elder read in a book on Chelsea mythology (or, rather, he had someone read it to him) while exiled in the cultural wasteland we call Los Angeles County. That must be where he acquired his vast knowledge of Art 😉LikeLike
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I’m at work on a portrait of taxicab drivers I’ve refused to pay.
Its an inside joke, but still…
how much free rent, David?LikeLike
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I’ve never heard of Merle Allen, but his quote leads me to wonder if it really took David Elder more than two years to “realize” there were artistic people living in the Chelsea Hotel? The several bronzes outside the front door weren’t enough to convince him, eh?
So he just woke up one morning recently and “realized” it? Or did he realize a new con game aimed at aspiring artists? I also take it Mr. Allen wasn’t the tenant who was assaulted. That part of the gentleman’s legacy was conveniently omitted.LikeLike
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This is so sad and transparent. David Elder is using the Hotel to attempt to buy friends. I wonder who else is on Elder’s Dole? A lot of us know that art is not the only thing he’s trading in an effort to find a few fly-by-night friends.
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Sans Souci —–> I think Merle Lister was quoted, not Allen, who seems to be saying this David Elder clod started out by throwing Hotel residents in the street, only to later realize he should keep some around —-> not, mind you, because they have a right to stay in their homes, but because they are “artists”. He didn’t realize when he was filing the eviction lawsuits —-> (?) He’s done a lot to spoil the Hotel Chelsea’s rep around the globe and shouldn’t be a candidate for puff pieces.
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Occupanmcy is so low that this is a very cynical and hollow gesture on Elder’s part. Cheap, transparent PR.
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fairly sure the dentist who worked on the 6th floor considered himself something of an artist, as well. of course, he should have taken up painting on the side to fit into david elder’s narrow view of what makes the chelsea tick, and maybe he’d still be around.
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There’s a reason occupancy is insanely low — actually three reasons, David Elder, Marlene Krauss and Arnold Tamasar. It’s sad but strangely compelling to watch them systematically destroy the Chelsea, like watching a train wreck. Bring back the Bards.
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QUACK QUACK QUACK
NO PAINTINGS NEEDED, I’M SINCERE: FREE RENT
ALL YOU GOTTA TO DO IS TALK SOME SMACK!LikeLike
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Oh goodie, now all The Axis Of Evil has to do to clear the debt of back rent is collect spin art from the tenants. Yessir indeedly, the ol’ chellsea is back, with a vengenace!
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Nadia says she stands for art and Elder “stands there too.” Yes Indeed, he stands there, with his heavy cleated boot on the neck of some poor artist. Nadia, you think it’s a “family” now? Right, it is, if the beloved patriarch had been unceremoniously dumped by his evil, scheming stepbrother and stepsister. You shoulda been there in Bard time. That was truly a community, and there was a peculiar magic to the place much diminished since Elder, whom you praise, and Krauss found a way and the right legal beagles to take the hotel out from under Stanley. Mark my prophetic words, if the Bards aren’t given back the hotel to run, this current incarnation will be just a way station en route to becoming a Hard Rock Hotel or a Russian oligarch’s plaything.
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Are you allowed to see the inside of the Chelsea Hotel even if you don’t rent a room?
I’m staying a couple of weeks in NYC, but I can’t afford a night at the Chelsea. Will I be able to take a peek inside?LikeLike
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wow. the only time i heard of stanley swapping art is if a tenant fell behind and the house needed some-thing to act as collateral in the absence of cash. i never heard of anyone walking in off the street and swapping art for stays. thats bad business –it is a business, after all — and prejucicial against every artist whose bubble they’d inevitably be bursting by saying ‘no’. stanley protected his investment in existing leases by lending a hand occasionally. this is not really the same thing. not at all.
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Why pay for comedy next door when we have Arnold Tamasar for free. This guy is a joke with no punchline. Yet.
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