Neighborhood Watch: So Many Galleries, So Little Time

Nothing says Chelsea like bohemian happenings at its infamous hotel and ritzy art galleries. But even if the former is not quite your scene, this district is still a haven for galleries of every size and aesthetic.

Arguably the heaviest hitter in the New York art scene is PaceWildenstein (545 W. 22nd St. between 10th and 11th avenues). An outgrowth of 57th St.’s Pace Gallery, PaceWildenstein established two downtown branches when Chelsea emerged as a hotspot in the ’90s. It has been on the cutting edge of the art market ever since, selling both well-established modern artists such as Mark Rothko and Chuck Close, as well as popular contemporary artists like minimalist Robert Ryman and sculptor Zhang Huan. The current show, a Robert Irwin installation entitled “Red Drawing, White Drawing, Black Painting,” ends on Feb. 28.

As for the quality of the exhibition spaces—snow white, grand, and somehow exuding effortless sophistication—both of Pace’s Chelsea galleries are of museum caliber. The space does indeed make the art more appealing, which is of course the ultimate goal: the gallery is primarily involved in the secondary market, acting as a broker between the seller of an artwork and potential buyers. But no matter the motive, this is the place to go if you want to view works that will one day be dispersed throughout the nation’s top art museums.

The Matthew Marks Gallery (523 W. 24th St. between 10th and 11th avenues), another huge player in the Chelsea scene, was the first significant gallery to make the fateful move from uptown to Chelsea.

Marks, a Columbia College graduate, opened the gallery in 1991 afterleaving his job at Pace. After a brief sojourn on Madison Avenue, he moved his gallery to W. 22nd St. in the then-nascent neighborhood of Chelsea. While Marks is similar to Pace in that the gallery represents some of the country’s elite artists and is certainly involved in the secondary market, it also spends time and effort establishing newer, emerging talents by selling works directly from the artist.

Alongside these commercial mega-galleries are cooperative galleries, such as the Noho Gallery (530 W. 25th St. between 10th and 11th avenues), which are much smaller spaces managed, curated, and paid for by the represented artists. Though Noho consists only of one large room, visitors are still able to have a fruitful viewing experience. The gallery offers communication between artist and viewer, a key aspect of art that is often forgotten in today’s world view.

“At a co-op gallery,” said Noho Gallery treasurer and artist Chuck von Schmidt, “selling a work is only a secondary objective. The primary objective is to show the art.” Thus, said von Schmidt, “there are fewer restrictions. At commercial galleries, you might have someone say ‘I can’t show that piece because I can’t sell it,’ but there are no such hesitations here.” Noho Gallery, along with the many other small co-ops spread throughout Chelsea, offers a more organic art experience not filtered by marketability. It is a first-rate option if one is looking for unique and eclectic art exhibitions.

Chelsea is known for many things, but the New York art world’s collective decision to migrate to this neighborhood in the mid-1990s has given it a particular bragging right—one that draws art heads and casual gallery-hoppers alike to this multidimensional neighborhood.