The meals saved my life.

“I came to New York to become a famous artist,” says Joel. “In retrospect, it was a very working-class idea of what art is. But I have had some success.”

Joel is a painter. His work, which is characterized by bold colors and the concept of transparency and the “unseen,” has been shown in exhibitions and galleries across the country.

He believes that good art, while it can be beautiful, shouldn’t shy away from the ugly truth it represents. “Painting should be revolutionary,” he says. “If it doesn’t stay revolutionary, then it becomes scenery.” 

Joel has called this apartment in the East Village home for more than four decades. The living room is a showcase of his work, both embroidered tapestries and canvases. He has a small studio in the spare bedroom. “I’m doing the best artwork I’ve ever done,” he says. “I wish I was 81 with my 40-year-old body. My brain is very young, but my body is falling apart.” 

Six years ago, at the height of the pandemic, Joel contracted Covid. He had to be hospitalized and was in rehab for months after. When he finally returned home, he struggled to do basic things, like preparing meals. “I watched him try to cook,” says Joel’s husband, Jim, “but he didn’t have the energy to stand up.”

“I forgot to eat and then I began to lose weight, but I didn’t realize it,” says Joel. Then, he started receiving home-delivered meals from Citymeals. “I didn’t know that I needed them,” he says. “But I do. The meals saved my life.”

Joel and Jim met at a mutual friend’s party in their 70s. Then, they just kept running into each other around the city. It wasn’t long before they decided to get married. As Jim says, “You don’t waste a lot of time when you get old.”

Joel came out as gay in his 60s. “It took me a long time to get to that place in my own life,” he says. “But I finally have the life that I want and I feel incredible.”

“People think we’ve been together for 50 years,” says Joel. “He’s a piece of work, but I wouldn’t change anything. Even if we don’t agree on so many things.”

“That’s not true,” Jim says. 

As a caregiver, Jim appreciates that, even when he can’t be there, he knows that Joel has something to eat. “The meals on wheels, when that delivery comes, it’s a moment that says someone cares,” says Jim. “And I’m very grateful he gets cookies.” Because Joel always shares. 

“Aging is really a learning experience,” says Joel. Part of that is learning to accept help when he needs it. Recently, Joel got a new elevating power chair to aid his mobility. “Now I can actually stand in front of a painting and paint.” It’s made continuing his work easier. 

“There’s nothing that makes me happier when I come home than to look into the studio and see him working,” says Jim.