Chelsea: art is the market place

Published: 2009 - April/May, New York Itinerary

Chelsea is the center of New York’s contemporary art market, and, perhaps, the world’s. Because even if today there are other areas of the Big Apple, such as Williamsburg in Brooklyn, where artists and exhibition spaces are concentrated, all - or nearly all - of the most prestigious galleries have a branch in Chelsea, the neighborhood that offers art merchants the opportunity to reach a wider and above all richer public.
The borders of the “Chelsea Gallery District” are defined by 29th Street in the north to 13th Street in the south, from 11th Avenue in the west to 7th Avenue in the east. There are about 200 art galleries registered in this area, some open daily to the public and potential customers, others only on particular occasions. The journey to discover the world of the New York art galleries can only start from the streets of this neighborhood, stating from the area north of 22nd Street, Chelsea’s true center of gravity.
Beginning this itinerary from 29th Street, among the most active galleries we find Peter Blum Chelsea (526 W 29th St. bet.Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-244-6055),whose original site is on Wooster Street but in the Chelsea exhibition spaces present crucial authors such as Chris Marker, Su-Mei Tse, Adrian Paci, John Beech, Rosy Keyser, Robert Zandvliet and Rudolf de Crignis.
The concentration is such that more than one gallery can have their site in the same building, or even on the same floor: this is the case for example, along 27th Street, at 637 West, which hosts two galleries amongst the most important in the city. The first is Schroeder Romero (637 West 27th Street, bet. 11th and 12th Avenues, 212-630-0722), which is distinguished by an “animalistic” look at the contemporary. The other is Winkleman (Suite A, 212-643-3152): launched in Brooklyn by the independent curator Edward Winkleman, transferred to Chelsea in 2006, where it made its name thanks to a critical exhibition on the theme of the ’disneyfication’ of New York. Currently Winkleman is presenting an exhibition by Jennifer Dalton “The Re-Appraisal, 1999-2009” (until 9 May), which will be followed by “Why a noir?-Notes for White on White” by Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation (from 15 May to 20 June).
Still on 27th Street one finds the Foxy Production gallery (623 W 27th Street bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-239-2758) and Priska C. Juschka Fine Art (547 West 27th Street, bet. 10th and 11th Avenues, 212-244-4320). This last one has until 11 April the exhibition “Kurban” by Almagul Menlibayeva in program: videos and photographs from Kazakistan as a type of modern Iliad (and Odyssey) for the artist. Along 26th Street, the tour cannot forgo a visit to Green Naphtali (508 W 26th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, eighth floor, 212-463-7770) and Michell-Innes & Nash Chelsea (534 W 26th St. bet.Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-989-4258). This last gallery in particular, proposes until 2 May an exhibition dedicated to the celebrated American Pop artist Allan D’Arcangelo (1930-1998), the first in the USA since 1979. The Danziger Projects gallery (512 W 26th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves. 212-629-6778) instead present “Grace”, an exhibition by Tanyth Berkeley that has a particular muse as its only subject: an albino Mexican woman.
The Lehmann Maupin (540 W 26th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-255-2923) has added to the Chelsea space with a new gallery in the Bowery area, Manhattan’s new cultural ’hub’. The quality of its programs remain high: from 23 April to 10 July Hernan Bas; from 26 March to 2 May Mickalene Thomas; from 7 May to 10 July Adriana Varejão.
Amongst the installation galleries along 25th Street we highlight Stux (530 W 25th St bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-352-1600), which in 1996 decided to move from SoHo to Chelsea: Stux concentrates on the promotion of already emergent artists, painters, photographers and sculptors who work on installations or performance.
Considerable attention has been generated by the projects at Von Lintel (555 W 25th St. bet Tenth and Eleventh Aves. 212-242-0599): until 25 April Izima Kaoru and from 30 April to 6 June Marco Breuer.
Returning for the fifth time at Cheim & Read (547 W 25th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-242-7727) the abstract artist Louise Fishman (until 2 May), in her seventies, who continues on the path of exploration in the theme of supports on a grand scale; this is followed by an exhibition dedicated to Chantal Joffe (from 7 May to 13 June).
It is instead Myoung Ho Lee with “Tree” (from 12 March to 18 April) and Andrew Bush with “Vector Portraits” the two protagonists at the Yossi Milo Gallery (525 W 25th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-414-0370). Among the most active galleries along 24th Street is Marianne Boesky (509 W 24th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-680-9889), which presents “Project Space” by Kaye Donache (until 25 April) as well as the work of John Walters (until 2 May).
The Zach Feuer Gallery, LFL (530 W 24th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-898-7700) is an emerging gallery in the city’s panorama, thanks to the faith of the owner - who has been described as a “new young Larry Gagosian” - and artists like Tamy Ben-Tor, Sister Corita Kent, Jules de Balincourt and Phoebe Washburn.
The Gagosian Gallery (555 W 24th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-741-1111) is a true institution for lovers of contemporary art in New York. Thanks to its diverse sites it promotes ever new exhibitions, while its artists have already entered the collections at MoMa, the New Museum, and also at London’s Tate Gallery. In February the gallery proposes, for example, works by Alberto Giacometti, Carsten Höller, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Richard Serra, Alec Soth and Andy Warhol. In the large space on 24th Street an exhibition dedicated to Yayoi Kusama until 27 June.
Not to be missed the Gladstone Gallery, which has two exhibition spaces in Chelsea (515 W 24th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-206-9300 and 530 W 21st St. 212-206-7606)which is presenting until the 11 April an exhibition where Thomas Hirschhorn transforms gym and fitness equipment into instruments of social criticism.
Two spaces also for the Matthew Marks Gallery, (523 W 24th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves. 212-243-0200 and 522 West 22nd Street), who propose two exhibitions dedicated to Ellsworth Kelly: respectively “Diagonal” and “Drawings 1954-1962”. In the first eight double canvases are shown where rectangles of great chromatic contrasts extend out of the canvases; in the second we find 23 drawings created with a wide variety of techniques.
Still along 24th Street we find Metro Pictures (519 W 24th Street bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-206-7100), specializing in new media art: until the 11 April an exhibition by Tony Oursler with “Cell Phones Diagrams Cigarettes Searches and Scratch Cards”, followed by Robert Longo (from 23 April to 30 May). A noble gallery in Chelsea is at Bruce Silverstein (535 W 24th St. bet. Tenth and Eleventh Aves, 212-627-3930), specializing in photography: the calendar sees “Early London Photographs” by E.O.Hoppe, between inspiration and documentation, and “In the Depths of Winter” by the Hungarian artist André Kertész, virtuoso of the Polaroid.
It is however advisable to keep up to date on the special previews programmed by the city galleries. Events that are generally free and open to the public, representing the best way to enter into the heart of Chelsea’s vibrant cultural and artistic life.