Page 105 - Off The Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 2 of 2)

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ART & CULTURE

Exhibition opening at the Agora Gallery in Chelsea

Chelsea’s Colourful artworks inside Momenta Art

Galleries Momenta Art in

Williamsburg
New York’s best-known gallery district is Chelsea,
with 200-plus galleries within an eight-block
radius on the west side of Manhattan. The breadth Space is at a premium in Manhattan, and spiking
and range (and occasional audacity) of the art rents in SoHo and Chelsea have squeezed out many
here is formidable, with powerhouse galleries like artists over the last couple of decades. Next stop?
Gagosian sharing the windswept streets with Brooklyn – and specifically the working-class
plenty of up-and-coming spaces, where many neighborhood of Williamsburg, which has become
emerging artists have their New York debuts. one of New York’s most artistic districts thanks to
The best way to experience Chelsea is by ABOVE Exterior of the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea its relatively inexpensive warehouses and lofts.
wandering and window-watching; before long, The progressive, friendly Momenta Art stands
you’ll be drawn in. The airy Agora Gallery, which provoking series “Self Eaters and the People out as one of Williamsburg’s more experimental
has been here since 1984, features memorable Who Love Them” has made her a name to watch. venues, with every medium imaginable, from
local and international works, from Andalusian- Other exhibitions have included Tom McGrath’s video satires set in South America to baskets
style Art-Nouveau pieces depicting men in aerial paintings of the East Coast suburbs and woven entirely out of one-dollar bills. Other shows
swirling capes and women draped in lacy shawls urbanized southern California. Raise the have included Seher Shah’s Black Star Project, a
to moody paintings of the Scandinavian coastline entertainment value by touring Chelsea on a portfolio of 25 prints that explore the geometry of
bathed in the northern lights. Thursday night, when galleries often celebrate the cube and its associations as an architectural
The long-running Barbara Gladstone Gallery, the opening of new shows with plenty of element and religious symbol; Elisabeth Kley’s
a model of industrial chic with its grey metal free-flowing wine, nibbles, and chatter. These ambitious drawings, ceramics, and video featuring
façade, cement floors, and snow-white walls, lively events will offer you the chance to extravagant personalities and architecture, from
showcases plenty of bankable artists, along with mingle with other art-lovers, meet artists, and Salvador Dali to Coco Chanel; and Arnold von
rising stars. Exhibitions here have featured works perhaps walk out with a signed work of art. Wedemeyer’s unique video pieces, which have
by 15 artists of different generations who explored been known to present a vase of tulips withering
themes of aspiration and frustration; an overview or a slice of bread hardening. For those with an
Practical Information
of the work of artist Mario Merz, a leading figure eye to buy, note that artwork here is generally far
Agora Gallery 530 West 25th Street; tel. +1 212 226 4151; subway: C or E
in the Arte Povera (“poor art”) movement of the to 23rd Street; 11am–6pm Tue–Sat; www.agora-gallery.com less expensive than in Manhattan galleries.
1960s and 70s; and Jean-Luc Mylayne’s large color
Barbara Gladstone Gallery 515 West 24th Street; tel. +1 212 206 9300;
photographs of birds in their natural subway: C or E to 23rd Street; 10am–6pm Tue–Sat; www.gladstonegallery.com
environments in New Mexico and Texas. Gagosian Gallery 555 West 24th Street; tel. +1 212 741 1111; subway: Practical Information
Address 359 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; tel. +1 718 218
The risk-taking Zach Feuer Gallery is at the C or E to 23rd Street; 10am–6pm Tue–Sat; www.gagosian.com 8058; www.momentaart.org
forefront of New York’s art scene, introducing Zach Feuer Gallery 530 West 24th Street; tel. +1 212 989 7700; subway: C Getting There Subway: line L to Bedford.
such artists as Dana Schutz, whose thought- or E to 23rd Street; 10am–6pm Tue–Sat; www.zachfeuer.com Opening Times Noon–6pm Thu–Mon.

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