The Lower East Side continues to expand its artistic boundaries
Lesley Heller understands that the New York art scene—like its neighborhoods—constantly changes, morphing to accommodate new movements, people and ideas. Heller adapted to this changing environment, moving her gallery since 1994 from Soho, to two separate locations on the Upper East Side and finally opening Lesley Heller Workspace at 54 Orchard St. in January 2010.
“My programming didn’t have as big of an audience on the Upper East Side,” Heller explains. Her vision for her gallery motivated a move, but despite its “world-class” reputation, Heller knew Chelsea wasn’t for her. “It was never an option in my mind, it’s difficult to stand out there.”
The small, 19th-century tenement buildings of the Lower East Side have seen countless changes, and the current art galleries filling the spaces along the cramped streets have attracted not only the wild street artists of decades past but also a growing number of gallerists with business plans and a roster of emerging and mid-career artists.
“For the type of art I show, I felt the audience wasn’t right on the Upper East Side, and it has been much better down here for the gallery,” Heller explains. “It was a good move.” But the Lower East Side’s appeal wasn’t simply about the art market. “It’s not only about selling the art, but exposing different groups of people to what’s going on,” she says, adding the community feeling of the Lower East Side allows her to educate different groups about art. “I feel like I’m part of the general community and not just the art community down here.”
Over 20 galleries have opened in the Lower East Side in the last several years. Centered around the Bowery and Orchard Street, the current gallery boom continues to spark debate throughout the art community over whether the Lower East Side will become the next Chelsea.
NY Studio Gallery located in an old storefront at 154 Stanton St.
Rooster Contemporary Art Gallery (190 Orchard St.) opened in the fall of 2010. Alexander Slonevsky says that he and co-owner André Escarameia looked in neighborhoods all over the city for pop-up gallery locations after the two graduated from Sotheby’s Institute of Art. “Obviously we didn’t look in Chelsea,” Slonevsky explains. “You don’t open a gallery in Chelsea unless you have a lot of money.”
After finding a location for Rooster on Orchard, Slonevsky and Escarameia decided to open a permanent gallery. Though Slonevsky explained it “wasn’t the greatest time to start a business,” Rooster has been successful so far. Because of the low rental rates, Slonevsky says, “the Lower East Side is a terrific place to start a business for a normal person like me. It’s a place where someone like myself can try a hand at what they think will be the new art scene.”
UNTITLED, another shiny, new gallery, opened in September 2010 on the ground floor of a new-construction condo building just a few doors down from Lesley Heller at 30 Orchard St. Joel Mesler, co-owner of UNTITLED with Carol Cohen, says that opening a gallery on the Lower East Side is definitely cheaper but, unlike other art hot-spots, the Lower East Side “didn’t feel like an art mall.”
Though the amount of galleries investing in the new art scene on the Lower East Side has increased to approximately 70 in the last few years, Tim Lemberger, director of marketing and public relations for the Lower East Side Business Improvement District (BID), explains the neighborhood still isn’t as well-known for its galleries. “I think that Chelsea has branded itself as a gallery area,” he says. So, in an effort to promote the Lower East Side art scene, the BID is organizing seven “Third Thursdays” in 2011, a time when participating galleries will stay open from 6-9 p.m. “We wanted to create a cohesive night where all the galleries participate and are all open at the same time.”
While Lemberger and the BID feel Third Thursdays will unite the neighborhood’s art community, many galleries on the LES already feel solidarity since they are open on Sundays—a rarity in most of the art world, and a draw since the trendy restaurants in the neighborhood have a thriving brunch scene.
“I think it’s also other dealers wanting to be with other dealers of their generation, trying to get the foot traffic of your generation,” Mesler explains.
Although the Lower East Side galleries generally attract the vision of a new generation trying to break in, the neighborhood’s appeal is not lost on old-school veterans. Sperone Westwater, founded in Soho in 1975 by Gian Enzo Sperone, Angela Westwater and Konrad Fischer, opened its new multi-million dollar building on the Lower East Side at 257 Bowery, near the New Museum, last September.
According to Westwater, they were attracted to the neighborhood because of the mix of the Bowery’s historical and artistic legacy, and that their Norman Foster-designed building contributed to the architectural dialogue in the area.
“The neighborhood pulses with creative energy and it has also become an architectural destination,” Westwater says. “Moving to the Bowery has almost doubled our space and presents our artists with a variety of spaces in which they can show their work.”
Of course, Sperone Westwater’s building doesn’t necessarily mesh with the small-neighborhood vibe echoed by other Lower East Side gallery owners.
“A lot of artists work really large, and there aren’t a lot of spaces that can accommodate on the Lower East Side,” Heller explains. Because most Lower East Side galleries are smaller, Heller doesn’t believe it can become the “new Chelsea.” But that doesn’t mean the scene won’t continue to evolve. “I assume that this neighborhood will slowly change as well,” Heller says. “I don’t think it will turn into a Chelsea because of the space, but I don’t think this is the end of the line at all.”
[READ RELATED STORY: East Side Migrations, about galleries shifting from UES to Chelsea & Downtown.]
