Lower East Side Gallery Update

New Galleries:

Madison Ave? Chelsea? Los Angeles? London?

It's the new Sperone Westwater Gallery, 257 Bowery between Stanton and Houston, in the LOWER EAST SIDE!  I'm not sure if it should count as a LES gallery - it's awfully slick. And it's not even that functional because, except for the top floor, the spaces are relatively narrow and distractingly busy. I bet there's actually less usable space here than in their old space. 


Here's their famous elevator/gallery with a guard -- a guard, for God's sake -- being a good sport about getting his picture taken:

Work by Guillermo Kuitca on the walls

Both the Dodge and Hendershot galleries have basements. Hendershot's is clean, relatively high, but clearly a basement. Dodge opened the back of their first floor so the space doesn't feel like a basement (see below), and it will also allow them to install very tall work -- but it makes the space kind of busy and makes it difficult to focus on the work.

DODGEgallery, 15 Rivington (west of Chrystie) 

Hendershot Gallery, 195 Christie, just South of Stanton.

James Fuentes Gallery, 55 Delancy (and Eldridge) wasn't open when I went by, but they should be open now. I peeked in and it looked like a modest but well-proportioned space.

Untitled Gallery (Ugh -- horrible name. It used to be the Rental Gallery) 30 Orchard Street, just south of Hester. They're not all that friendly either -- fortunately atypical for a LES gallery.

Salon 94 opens an additional space on October 7th at 243 Bowery, near the New Museum.

Other Changes:
Moved: Scaramouche moved to 52 Orchard, a comfortable space between Grand and Hester.
Name Changes: Dispatch to Bureau, La Viola Bank to Allegra LaViola, Rental to Untitled (see above)
Closed: BLT, FiFi Projects, Heist Gallery.
Sort of closed: envoy enterprises, but it's now a non-profit called NP Contemporary Arts Center, and it's run by Jimi Dams, former owner of envoy enterprises. 

I still need to check out  several other galleries, and when I'm fairly sure the list is complete, I'll re-do the sidebar gallery guide.

Many thanks to Anne Doran and the gallery Feature Inc. who have continued to be very generous in helping me update LES gallery activity.