“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
—Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC)

Art just hangs around at a stall in Union Square.

Four days per week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, Union Square gives itself over to the fabulous Farmers Market. I have shopped there for 34+ years. Fruits, vegetables, bread, baked goods, flowers, meat and other locally produced foodstuffs are sold by farmers from New York State, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

During the three days that complete the week, other venders stake out real estate for their tables and racks. They offer a different way to feed the urban human, through art and music. Here is a sampling of the artists peddling their wares on a recent Thursday afternoon.

You can see first hand these or other artists and musicians during Walk About New York’s Five Squares and a Circle Tour.

The artist, Willy Biaggi, checks his e-mail in Union Square.

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887)

I spoke with this artist, Willy Biaggi. He was born and raised in Paris, of Italian background. He did not have a French accent; he lost it, he told me, when he studied speech at the HB Studio. His bold, colorful art is featured at his website, Kiki Gallery. The canvas is linen, he explained, and the paint is oil based. Because the impasto is as heavy as it is I thought it was acrylic.

The artist is hidden behind his art in Union Square.

“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

An artist chats on her mobile while waiting for customers in Union Square.

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

An artist busies himself at his table in Union Square.

“I don’t paint things. I only paint the difference between things.” —Henri Matisse (1869–1954)

Music CDs for sale in Union Square.

“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.” —Edgar Degas (1834–1917)

An artist waits to make a sale in Union Square.

“Great art picks up where nature ends.”
—Marc Chagall (1887–1985)

An artist uses an easel to display his work in Union Square.

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

A musician entertains passers-by in Union Square.

“An artist is someone who produces things that people don’t need to have but that he — for some reason — thinks it would be a good idea to give them.”
—Andy Warhol (1928–1987)

Read about Andy Warhol’s association with the highly-ornate and very slender Decker Building in Union Square.