Alvaro Barrington: They Got Time

‘The got time aka you belong to the city is a love letter to the nyc streetscape of my youth in the form of an art installation at ropac patin’s space. The nyc that today is globally recognized one that includes the opening scene of breakfast at Tiffany’s to famous photos of the notorious BIG in a coogi sweater versace glasses kangol hat with the world trade in the background and the impossible heights of Micheal Jordan playing at MSG. It is nyc where as a teenager i would go to 5th ave in the early mornings before school be greeted by friends who worked in those stores as they helped me pick my shoes and the cloths for that day. I would walk across central park hours late for school feeling prepared for the world.

If the renaissance deposited the idea of the individual as a god given gift the dutch birth the idea the promise of capitalism and the french birth the idea of the arcade that gave way for the storefront….nyc in that moment birth the reality that culture in its most expansive sense felt especially true in Hip Hop was luxury. A reality that today feels very much a live today in the streets of paris and streets all over the world.’