Art has always been a huge part of my life. Since I was a kid my mother brought me to museums regularly, and growing up in Italy basically meant growing up constantly surrounded by art. Traveling a lot I had the chance to visit beautiful cities and museums all over Europe, and slowly, throughout the years, I learned to look for and appreciate the hidden beauty of things, and still nowadays I like to look for the beauty in everything, everyday. Whether it is buildings, nature, fashion, food or photography. I believe we live surrounded by art, and beauty.
Since I moved to New York one of my favorite things to do is to explore museums and art galleries, and if you know me or follow me on either Instagram or Snapchat you probably know this already. Every Friday, for the past few months I’ve had the opportunity to visit incredible buildings, galleries and museums all over Manhattan, and although you probably already visited The MET, or The Frick (one of my personal favorite museums in the Upper East Side. It’s a MUST SEE if you haven’t already!) you may not know about some of these hidden gems. So, for the first piece of my “City Guide” series, I thought I’d share with all of you some of my favorite FREE art galleries around the city.
Chelsea
In the Chelsea Art District you will find hundreds of galleries concentrated between West 18th and 27th Street, and 10th and 11th Avenue. Most known for Contemporary Art Chelsea Galleries are famous all over the world. You could wander for days around this district and constantly be surprised by new interesting exhibitions. Definitely worth a visit! Here are just a few my favorites out of the ones I had the chance to see so far:
Barbara Gladstone Gallery – 530 W 21st St
http://www.gladstonegallery.com/
When I visited the Gladstone Gallery, in early October, Ugo Rondinone’s works (in the pictures above) were being shown. Currently (January 27 – March 25, 2017) a beautiful exposition by Wangechi Mutu called “Ndoro Na Miti” is held there. This gallery has two exhibition spaces in Chelsea, an appointment-only gallery in the Upper East Side, and one overseas in Brussel, Belgium
Lisson Gallery – 504 W 24th St
More recently I visited the Lisson Gallery, a beautiful space where (November 5 – December 23, 2016) Ai Weiwei “Roots and Branches” was being exhibited. (pictures above)
Lisson Gallery is one of the most influential and longest-running international contemporary art galleries in the world and also has two exhibition spaces in London and one in Milan.
Currently (13 January – 18 February, 2017) Lisson Gallery is showing a selection of Roy Colmer’s early spray-gun paintings, most of which have never been exhibited and a selection of the artist’s late photo collages.
Hauser & Wirth Gallery – 511 W 18th St
Representing both emerging and established contemporary artists Hauser & Wirth is located in Zurich, London, New York, Somerset and Los Angeles. At the 18th Street location I visited Rashid Johnson’s “Fly Away” (pictures above) in October. Currently there are two different exhibitions held in their exposition spaces around the city, one of which I also had the chance to visit more recently.
Paula Cooper Gallery – 534 W 21st St
https://paulacoopergallery.com/
I visited Sol LeWitt’s exposition (pictures above) a few months ago at the Paula Cooper Gallery. This was the first art gallery in SoHo, opened in 1968 and moved to Chelsea in 1996. The gallery has two upcoming exhibitions opening in February 2017.
David Zwirner Gallery – 525 W 19th St
Considered the “father of color photography”, William Eggleston is one of my all time favorite photographers. He manages to transform the ordinary into distinctive. “The Democratic Forest”, a collection of his most outstanding photographs was recently at the Zwirner Gallery. (October 27 – December 17, 2016). Until February 18, 2017 the gallery holds a lovely series by Aline Kominsky-Crumb & Robert Crumb called “Drawn Together”, which I’m definitely planning to see this week.
5th Avenue & Upper East Side
Although mostly known for their high-end shopping locations the Upper East Side and 5th Ave. also hide some beautiful art galleries, most of which are either located inside luxury buildings or townhouses. I definitely plan to visit and explore more in this area, but so far, out of the few I visited, these three are my favorites:
Edwynn Houk Gallery – 745 Fifth Ave, 4th floor
Specialized in vintage photographs, this incredible gallery over the years exposed the works of some of the most prominent international photographers, including portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz and Herb Ritts, one of my favorite fashion photographers . When I visited the Houk gallery in November, I had had the opportunity to see Elliott Erwitt photographs (above on the right) which were on view , some black and white pictures by Abelardo Morell (below, middle picture), and peeking in their backroom/storage some more beautiful works from past expositions and some yet to be exposed.
Mary Boone Gallery – 745 Fifth Ave, 4th floor
I recently visited the uptown location of the famous Mary Boone Gallery, founded in New York in 1977. Both the 5th Avenue and Chelsea spaces of this renowned New York gallery were recently (until December 23, 2016) exposing works by the international artist and human right activist Ai Weiwei. Currently (January 5 – February 25, 2017) Rebecca Morris’ pieces are on show at the 5th Avenue location.
Hauser & Wirth Gallery – 32 East 69th Street
Last, but not least, a show of Mike Kelley’s “Memory Ware” (above) was recently held at the 69th Street location of the Hauser & Wirth Gallery. Founded in Switzerland Hauser & Wirth is an international gallery devoted to contemporary and modern art. On loan from museums and significant international private collections these Memory Ware works made with buttons, beads, and other assorted personal objects are a must see for the lovers of details. Currently “Nothing and Everything: Seven Artists” is on show at the Upper East Side location of this gallery .
Art and beauty is all around us, we just have to remember to keep an eye out for it!