Contemporary Art World -101

The High Line is open and it’s the most interesting  site specific piece of art I’ve seen in a loooong time.  The typical park is a respite from the cacophony of urban life.  It’s designed to create an oasis apart from hustle and bustle – to create a space for quiet contemplation.  The High Line -  however  -  is designed to embrace and reinforce the experience of  New York.  The park was created from an abandoned elevated railroad bed, which at the time it was built in the 30’s, was an engineering marvel meant to take the railroad traffic off 10^th Avenue and get it out of the way of foot and car traffic.  Therefore it’s  a long skinny park  and walking along it is like walking on a wide sidewalk – a normal New York experience.   But this sidewalk has plants –  not elegant cultivated plants, but New York plants  – native, wild looking  species chosen for their hardiness.  And they grow through cracks in the concrete – so you always sense the quintessential New York nature-urban conflict.  Is nature going to tame the city or vice versa?

And of course like any New York sidewalk, there are tons of people strolling, texting, gossiping,  proposing  marriage, sunning, having lunch, etc.  But unlike your typical New York sidewalk, it’s three stories above the ground, so your whole urban experience is skewed and heightened. You can see out to the river,  as well as the  inner workings of the parking lot on 19^th.  Billboards are not waaay in the air, but in your face,  as are the assortment of star architect buildings popping up to take advantage of the park. Taxis and traffic are down there as is the vista of 14^th Street.  But the guys working construction on all the new building are at  eye level and newly visible as is the wash hanging from lines in the few remaining tenement buildings.  The High Line is New York squared and therefore a wonderful thing.

You gotta go

Last week I was lucky enough to join a tour of some of the many new galleries that are sprouting up on the Lower East Side like mushrooms. The art market amazes me. Everyone knows it’s in the tank these days, and yet, for every gallery that closes – it seems as if there is some optimistic, idiotic kid who opens a new one up. Reminds me of me starting out in the midst of the 70’s recession. Several of the new galleries are outposts of established galleries but most are owned by former gallerinas – or gallerinos ?- who used to work for Chelsea dealers and are now out on their own. And they choose to open in the Lower East Side because it is the anti-Chelsea. The neighborhood couldn’t be more different. Continue reading Galleries on Lower East Side…