One of the great aspects of the Lower East Side is that it’s the most likely gallery neighborhood where artists are willing to speak to our group when we visit. That’s because the gallery owners there are younger than in other gallery neighborhoods, and they bring in young artists to show work, and young people are more likely to want to reach out to promote their work. Therefore, I’m happy to announce that my Sat. March 28 Lower East Side gallery tour will include not just one but TWO young artists – Ori Carino and Lala Abaddon – who’ll speak to us when we visit their respective shows.

I haven’t yet met either of these two artists – naturally I’ll meet them on Saturday’s tour, along with everyone else – though of course I visited their exhibits prior, to determine that theirs were 2 of the 7 most extraordinary exhibits from the Lower East Side’s 125 galleries.

Ori Carino will speak to us about his sculptures of brick architecture that comment on perpetual change – both destruction and regeneration – that characterizes New York real estate.  His brick was sourced from Brooklyn, where he lives.  In some ways, the artwork resembles doll houses.  But they’re the opposite of neat and tidy; rather, there’s a tumult about these structures.

Lala Abaddon will address us when we visit her show of photography and video.  Her photographs are actually photo “weavings.”  For each piece, she takes a photograph of one of her abstract paintings, then cuts it into strips, then weaves the strips with strips from a photograph of nature.  They’re very special.  And wait until you see her video in the gallery’s basement.

Other highlights of the tour: (1) a female artist’s digital animations of cityscapes, projected onto several layers of glass, that took 3 years to make, and (2) abstract “paintings” that combine video stills, spray paint, and even radio signals in works unlike any you’ve ever seen.  I sure wish those artists were available to speak to us as well, but even getting the two artists we did arrange was quite the coup.

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