NY art shops: Not a pretty picture

These are tough times for New York City artists.

Many of the longstanding mom-andpop specialty shops that filled neighborhoods and supplied artists with obscure and exotic items have been bought up or driven out of business by stores that are more art-supply supermarkets, a survey of the sector by The Post has discovered.

On April 30, another venerable name will disappear. On that date, A.I. Friedman, an 80-year-old art supply store on West 18th Street, will go dark — the fourth such independent retailer to bite the dust over the past two years.

The legendary Pearl Paint shuttered in 2014, and New York Central Art Supply and Lee’s Art Shop closed last year.

A.I. Friedman’s store and warehouse closing will put 27 people out of work, according to a state filing. The store didn’t return calls for comment. Industry insiders say it’s been struggling to pay vendors.

Some of the art world tsouris is caused by the growth of one art-supply supermarket, Blick, which has been growing briskly.

In 2013, Blick bought rival Utrecht Art Supply’s 45 stores, along with its Brooklyn paint manufacturing facility.

“We are one of the problems but certainly not the only ones,” said Blick Chief Executive Bob Buchsbaum of his 65-store chain. “It’s a challenging time for all retail.”

Blick has seven stores in New York.

Among the last independents still standing are DaVinci Artist Supply and Soho Art Materials.

DaVinci store managers say Blick and resellers on Amazon are forcing them to slash their prices, while Soho Art Materials owner Jonathan Siegel says sales have been down between 20 and 30 percent since their peak in 2013.

Buchsbaum offered another theory for shrinking sales.

“The average freshman art student at Parsons and Pratt is buying less than they used to,” he said.

Incoming freshman typically spend between $500 and $1,500 on art supplies, and Blick has noticed that their lists have shrunk.