Best arts community: Lower East Side

Reena Spaulings

Photograph: Sophia Wallace

“Who would’ve thought that the Bowery would become a hip art destination?” remarks Anne Pasternak, president of public-art nonprofit Creative Time. “The Lower East Side is fresh again for the first time in a long time.” Indeed, the ’hood once known for pickles, immigrants and flophouses has in recent years attracted a steady influx of artists and their creatively minded patrons.

New Museum

Photograph: Sophia Wallace

It’s not the only place this phenomenon is happening, of course; artists displaced from more expensive precincts are flocking to Bushwick and Sunset Park, which are likely only a few years from becoming creative hot spots themselves. But for right now at least, the Lower East Side’s art scene is recapturing the excitement of Soho circa 1978, according to Matthew Lyons, curator of the Kitchen in Chelsea. “What sets the neighborhood apart is that there’s a truly collaborative spirit that builds partnerships and creates synergy as an artistic community,” he says. “This is rare among artists.” And thankfully, he adds, the area has a long way to go before it’s as gentrified as Soho.

Spaces in the still-somewhat-gritty LES have spawned avant-garde, grassroots and sometimes fleeting creative efforts in the past four years, such as the pioneering Reena Spaulings Fine Art gallery (named for a fictional art dealer dreamed up by a collective of international artists), which opened in 2004; the late Orchard, a lecture-and-exhibition cooperative (2005–2008); the funky basement print shop and self-proclaimed “occasional bookstore” Dexter Sinister; and cutting-edge contemporary gallery Miguel Abreu (both founded in 2006). All are evidence of the feisty, creative attitude that permeates the ’hood.

MIguel Abreu

Photograph: Sophia Wallace

Lately, though, such nonconformist projects have been counterbalanced by more well-heeled institutions. “There are different kinds of art spaces operating side by side,” says Lyons, “from upstarts to established galleries opening a secondary space.” The Spaulingses and Sinisters share the sidewalks with satellites of the Upper East Side’s Jeannie Greenberg Rohatyn’s Salon 94 and Chelsea gallery Lehmann Maupin, and of course the year-old New Museum of Contemporary Art on Bowery. Meanwhile, experimental theater Dixon Place has just staked out hot new digs on Chrystie Street, and the old-guard Bluestockings alterna-bookstore continues to rabble-rouse with its nightly readings and discussions. As far as our experts are concerned, this is artistic community at its best.

“For a neighborhood on the cusp of discovery, the artistic flavor has an old ring to it—artists have lived here for a long time,” says Pasternak, pointing to a history of Beat poets and theater communities. “Now the old energy of places like the Bowery and other fringe areas is converging with the new.”

At last count there were 54 galleries on the LES. Get a free gallery guide by calling 212-226-9010.

RUNNERS-UP

Coney Island
“Faced with the imminent arrival of big money and bad ideas, a tenacious group of artists is holding on, led by Dick Zigun and Steve Powers, keeping alive the spirit of the ‘strange but true.’ The neighborhood itself is a living, breathing work of performance art!”—Phil Hartman, founder of the Howl! festival (and owner of Two Boots pizzerias)

East Village
“The East Village has been the site of tremendous vitality and creativity for decades and is currently an area where passion for the arts and artistic production are unparalleled. The ardor of neighborhood organizations and local working artists coupled with the enduring legacy of movements born here in the last 30 years makes the East Village our favorite. We love everything about this place: from the mosaics from a neighborhood artist on lampposts to the Ramones to heavy hitters like artist Tony Feher and cultural lion Carlo McCormick. That’s why our office is here!”—Anne Pasternak, president and artistic director of Creative Time

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