You wouldn’t know that we were mired in an economic slump if you gauged it by the continued robust expansion of the Lower East Side galleries.  Four years ago there were only around 10 galleries there, and today that number is approaching 90.  New York Gallery Tours was, of course, among the first to lead gallery tours in the L.E.S., and this year I will be expanding my offerings there, commensurate with its growth.  My first Lower East Side tour of the season (combined with the neighboring Soho galleries) will take place Sat. Sept. 25 at 1:00 PM, and my second tour there, showing completely different exhibits, will happen Sat. Oct. 30.

The Lower East Side now boasts New York City’s second highest concentration of galleries (in comparison, the third largest has 45), and its growth is so rapid it’s not inconceivable—though I am not quite predicting it yet—that one day it may even claim the number one spot from Chelsea, which is currently holding its ground at 300 galleries.  And one edge that the Lower East Side already has over Chelsea is that the L.E.S. is also becoming one of the most charming and vibrant residential neighborhoods in the city.  In contrast, the section of Chelsea where the galleries reside—West Chelsea it’s called—is still more or less a sparsely-populated industrial-looking neighborhood (the glorious new High Line Park notwithstanding).

Who could have predicted that the Lower East Side would have achieved the startling renaissance that it has?  It wasn’t so long ago—the 1980s and into the ‘90s—that the L.E.S. was one of the most drug-infested and crime-ridden areas in Manhattan.  You would not want to walk its streets at night, let alone live there.  Today, fusion restaurants, trendy bars and clubs, and hip performance spaces like Dixon Place, alongside the dozens of new art galleries, are transforming the character of the neighborhood.  Some say for the worse, as they rail against gentrification.  I say all for the better, as there is still tons of ethnic “old-world” charm left in the Lower East Side.  Besides, this neighborhood has a long and storied history of constantly reinventing itself, from successive waves of immigrants moving in over the centuries—Germans, Jews, Irish, Italians, Poles, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and more—and the current artsy trend is only its latest manifestation.  While you’re there, the most fascinating cultural experience in the L.E.S.—other than my gallery tour, of course!—is a tour of the preserved tenements at the Tenement Museum.

So, where are these 90 L.E.S. galleries located?  Well, the challenge is that they are far more spread out than in Manhattan’s other gallery neighborhoods.  One important cluster is centered within a few blocks of the New Museum for Contemporary Art, an award-winning architectural marvel that opened in 2007, and is much of the reason that the Lower East Side is experiencing its current artistic boom.  Galleries such as Salon 94, DCKT Contemporary, Sue Scott and Thierry Goldberg have taken full advantage of the museum’s proximity.  And this season’s most highly anticipated new addition to the L.E.S. is the esteemed Sperone Westwater Gallery, until recently located in the meat-packing district, moving soon to a multi-level space they built just one block north of the museum.

Clear on the other side of the neighborhood is a wonderful concentration of smaller, edgier galleries on Orchard St. north of Canal St.  My favorites on that block include Invisible-Exports, Nicelle Beauchene, Lisa Cooley, Miguel Abreu, and Rachel Uffner.

A number of interesting galleries are centered around the intersection of Broome St. and Eldridge St., including the quirky LMAK Projects, the always elegant Simon Preston Gallery, the non-profit (and often politically-charged) White Box, and the scruffy, sometimes outrageous Envoy Gallery.  Three of these galleries used to be in Chelsea.  A little north of Envoy, on Chrystie St., is Lehmann Maupin Gallery, for now the most high-end gallery in the L.E.S., with also the most beautifully designed interior.

On the flip side, this neighborhood is also the home to Half Gallery, co-owned by Bill Powers, one of the three judges on season one of Bravo TV’s reality show “Work of Art.”  If you see how tiny his gallery is (about the size of a walk-in closet), and how inconsequential the art, you will come to realize—if you hadn’t already—that the show was literally scraping bottom in casting (that being said, I can’t wait for season two).

In future blogs I will focus on even more gallery clusters in the Lower East Side, including new ones as they spring up.  It’s my job to keep completely abreast of all the changes happening, so you don’t have to.  Having personally witnessed the Lower East Side galleries grow from infancy to its current hormonally-raging adolescence, that neighborhood is now as dear to me as if I had children.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York Gallery Tours