You can buy this guy’s ‘life’ in New York City

An Australian artist returning home to look after his mother is “selling” his life in New York City, but the clock is ticking.

Bored with your life? An Australian artist will let you take over his – for $US11,000 ($A16,600).

Artist David Art Wales, 56, has created BuyMyLife.co, where he is selling the lease to his one-bedroom Manhattan apartment, a dossier of his favourite restaurants and what to order, recommendations for doctors and accountants, and even introductions to his best friends.

“I want someone to enjoy the life I had there —– I don’t want to waste it. I don’t want to dismantle it,” Wales said.

After living in New York City for three decades and running the creative consultancy Ministry of Culture, Wales moved back to his native Australia last year with his wife, Dani, to help care for his mother.

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The apartment was also used as David Art Wales’ office. Picture: David Art Wales

Rather than breaking the lease on his West 33rd St pad, which comes with gym access and views of the Hudson River, he’ll turn it over to a new tenant to cover the $4000 monthly rent. The buyer will also get his furniture and accessories – from an Eames armchair to Le Creuset cookware – which he values at $20,000 and even some pantry goods and personal items like Wales’ colognes.

“When you’ve lived in a place for a long time, it becomes alive – it has a soul,” Wales said. “I don’t want to kill that.”

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The view from the apartment. Picture: David Art Wales

Building management has OK’d him choosing the new tenant for the 58sq m apartment, which is outfitted with lighting installed by an MTV technician. Wales’ lease ends in April and will roll over to the new tenant.

Wales has also arranged for three of his friends to have lunch with the new him. “They may even become your friends,” he writes on his website.

“It’s just for the sake of fun that David would do this, which I think is very generous in spirit,” said Cory Bruce, 36, who is one of the pals for sale. He recalled how Wales would invite people he had just met – like a cab driver or diner waitress – to ­soirees on the apartment building’s rooftop.

Mr Bruce, a Brooklynite who is an editor at Comedy Central, is willing to meet up at one of Wales’ favourite restaurants, Eisenberg’s.

“(The buyer) will be ­David Wales-approved … and that’s something I trust,” he said.

BuyMyLife.co imagines possible takers: someone moving to the city, someone looking for a pied-à-terre or “folks who love the dioramas at the Museum of Natural History and long to live in one”.

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You also get access to the building's rooftop terrace, perfect for last-minute invitations to parties. Picture: David Art Wales

One interested buyer – Jill, a 56-year-old resident of Melbourne, who declined to provide her last name for privacy reasons – said she was “really close” to signing the deal.

She and her husband visit New York a few times each year and want a home base there to extend their stays.

“If I was to fly to New York and spend weeks looking at apartments, and furnishing (one), I may not find something in that location … with that incredible view,” Jill said.

“It would be a lot of work.”

She’s also receptive to the idea of hanging out with Wales’ crew.

“If you’re going to live somewhere for more than three months, you crave some connection with someone other than the local dry cleaner,” Jill said.

David Art Wales is selling his ‘life’. Picture: David Art Wales

The clock is ticking: If Wales doesn’t have a deal in place by March 1, he said he would scrap the plan.

“(That) means coming back in the dead of winter to go through 30 years of my life and decide what goes in the trash, what goes on Craigslist and what I give away,” he said, adding that he doesn’t want to do that. “It’s a beautiful place and someone else should enjoy it.”

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as You can buy this guy’s ‘life’ in New York City