When people attend my Chelsea gallery tours – which are the most extraordinary ones I lead – they’ll likely assume that a lot of art in the Chelsea galleries is fantastic.  Well, sorry to disillusion you, but nothing could be further from the truth.  What makes my ever-changing Chelsea tours such jaw-dropping experiences, and the foundation of my enterprise, is that this is the one neighborhood where I have 300 galleries from which to choose what I consider to be the top 7 exhibits.  My tour attendees are NOT seeing the 293 exhibits that didn’t make my cut, and the vast majority of those shows are frankly boring.

At any given time in Chelsea, I “like” around 20 of its 300 exhibits, I “love” 10 of those 20, and I choose 7 of those 10 for that month’s “Best Exhibits” tour.  Therefore, I dislike or am indifferent to 280 out of 300 exhibits, which means 93% of exhibits in Chelsea are hardly worth seeing.  Every week I personally visit 40 – 50 new openings in Chelsea, and I can sometimes go to 30 shows in a row that leave me cold.

And then I visit that 31st exhibit that is ASTOUNDING, the extremely rare show that makes my tour.  When you purchase your ticket, you’re mostly paying me for having spent dozens of hours a week boring myself half to death, so that you don’t have to.  And then, of course, I do my research to explain the art to attendees to the best of my ability, and I open a dialogue for discussion.  When I can, I also arrange for the occasional artist to speak to our group when we visit their show.

The “astounding” highlights of my Sat. Nov. 12 Chelsea “Best Exhibits” tour will include: (1) legendary artist Yoko Ono’s new, transcendent sculptural installation, (2) a world-renowned artist who has juxtaposed photos of her bohemian, drug-addicted friends with old master portraits from the Louvre, and (3) artist Susan Leopold, who’ll speak to our group when we visit her haunting show of miniature interiors.  These are just 3 of 7 all-new exhibits we’ll visit.  My “Best Exhibits” tours are so popular that I need to lead two identical tours each time – at 1:00 PM & 3:45 PM – to accommodate everyone who wants to attend.

It’s a can’t-miss experience.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York GalleryTours