I have known Rich Corozine since 1966. We attended art school here. He can be seen sitting on Church Street or at The Bakery reading or conversing about important subjects: The big picture. What is art? Politics on a grand scale. People tell him their problems. He is a magnet, a good listener. He draws in old friends and fellow artists. Tourists also want to talk to him. He’s not a 1960’s hold out. He is a 1960’s hold on, managing to maintain the deeply rooted values he acquired as a young man. He doesn’t own property. He doesn’t own a car. He is not on the internet. He has managed to avoid the trappings of the bourgeois. Living here has made that easier.
Rich, tell me about your life in New Paltz
“I arrived here in 1961 to attend SUNY. I briefly left to study at The School of Visual Arts in NYC, but it was not a nurturing experience. The artists and teachers there were narcissists compared to the great students and professors in the art department here. Somehow, they taught, or imparted what cannot be taught, which was how to live the life of an artist. They taught me an artist makes art for no other reason than to create beauty and tell personal truths. The artists in New Paltz supported each other, no competition and little interest in making money. I live by John Keats’s concept of ‘Negative capability,’ a philosophy of inhabiting the ‘I don’t know,’ not predicting outcomes in advance. This creates on a blank canvas, alive with mystery and possibility.”
How has New Paltz changed?
New Paltz now is all about commerce. It’s all about money. It used to be a great place to live. Now it’s just a nice place to live. Old New Paltz can be found only on one street, my street, Church Street. The tourists tell me it reminds them of a street in Europe. There is a synagogue, two book stores and a place to sit. I sit outside my home for two hours a day reading and listening to what people have to say. Sometimes another artist sits next to me drawing in a sketch book. In these times, some colleges have stopped offering courses in painting and drawing. How can that be? But on Church Street, painting and drawing still occur, along with friendship and camaraderie. On Church Street, we are a community unique to this town.”
If a famous school of painting known as the New Paltz School of Painting existed, Rich Corozine would be the leading example. His paintings show the influence of Robert Schuler and Ben Bishop, the great professors who taught here in the 1960’s. His canvases are large, depicting images from his memories and his imagination. Recognizable local people such as his daughter, Lucia, or Jack Murphy are his subjects. He is one of the few “hold-ons” here who have lived purely “the artist’s life” which requires discipline, tenacity, commitment and love.
Join the family! 
