You Can't Be an Artist! An Only in New York Story

This is a story of a 61-year old barber shop manager from New York, who decides to follow his lifelong dream of being a painter, and despite all the criticism and self-doubt, perseveres, becoming an inspiration and an unexpected leader for the local community of artists.

Who is Big Mike? a.k.a Michael Saviello, he has been working at Astor Place - one of the most iconic barber shops in America - since graduating college. Having met the likes of Keith Haring and Francesco Clemente back in the 80s as customers of Astor Place, after all these years he finally decides to follow in their footsteps and become an artist in his own right.
Having no formal training in art and starting with just a painting of his wife on a canvas found on a curb outside the barber shop, he is now very prolific, and becomes an overnight sensation, covered by a slew of local newspapers and news stations.
Astor Place itself, having survived the near closure during Covid, is changed. As a reflection of Big Mike, it is now not just a place to come and cut one's hair, but also a newly emerged center of art community in Manhattan's East Village.
But is Big Mike really an artist, and who is to say otherwise?