Pete & Carl 2, 2004.
So which bubble bursts first-the contemporary art market or the Manhattan real estate market? Neither, if painter Elizabeth Peyton is to be the judge of things.
She and her artist boyfriend, Tony Just, have recently dropped $3.8 million on a Commerce Street townhouse in the West Village, according to deed-transfer records. The couple signed a contract on March 9, with the deal closing in late June.
Ms. Peyton–the critics’ darling who has painted numerous portraits of rock stars (such as The Libertines to the right) and pop-culture eminences–also regularly paints her boyfriend, both while sleeping and awake.
The couple has been living for years in on the North Fork of Long Island, but they’ll now have an idyllic brownstone to work and sleep in (or work while the other is sleeping).
Located between Bedford and Barrow streets, the 25-foot-wide townhouse dates back to 1832. Along with the three-story house, there is a large garden in the back.
Broker Frank Lemann, of Prudential Douglas Elliman, had the listing. Mr. Lemann did not return calls for comment. Ms. Peyton and Mr. Just could not be reached for comment.
– Michael Calderone