The Street Vendor

Street Vendors such as the one in this painting have a long and varied history. A street vendor is broadly defined as a person who offers goods for sale to the public at large without having a permanent built up structure from which to sell. Street vendors have been in existence since ancient times. In all civilizations, ancient and medieval, one reads accounts of travelling merchants who not only sold their wares in the town by going from house to house but they also traded in neighboring countries. Ancient and medieval civilizations were accepting to these wandering traders and that is why they flourished. In modern times, we find that street vendors are rarely treated with the same measure of dignity and acceptance. Every city in the U.S. has its quota of these independent enterprising vendors. In New York City alone, there are more than 10,000 street vendors— hot dog vendors, flower vendors, book vendors, street artists, and many others. They are small businesspeople fighting to make ends meet. Most are immigrants and people of color. They work long hours under harsh conditions, asking for nothing more than a chance to sell their goods on the public sidewalk. They have no health insurance unless they buy it themselves, no sick leave and no unemployment insurance. The 2008 recession squeezed customer’s wallets and forced many who had previously worked a nine to five out of work and out of resources, leading to a modern street-vending boom. I took the photo for this painting one spring when I was down on Fresno’s Fulton Mall. I sometimes keep a photo for decades before I decide to use it in a painting.

Click Here for More Information