Our colleague Andrew Russeth reports that the burgeoning Lower East Side gallery district continues to … burgeon. There may be as many as 60 galleries, in fact, in the neighborhood now. Here is the latest:
Chicago’s Golden Gallery [is] set to open up shop in a ground-floor space on Elizabeth Street, just south of Broome Street, in September. Golden will continue to operate its space in the Windy City.
“We’ve been working with more artists from New York and bringing them to Chicago to do shows for a while,” said Golden founder and director Jacob Meehan, in a telephone interview, explaining his decision to open in Manhattan. “We want to continue to grow with them and expand the audience for them.” Among the New York artists the gallery has worked with are painters David Malek and Patricia Treib.
The Elizabeth Street space will have about 200 square feet of exhibition space, an office, and a back room.
One has to wonder how closely real estate brokers might be following the obvious germination of a New Soho or a New Chelsea—or, at the very least, a New Williamsburg. Much of the Lower East Side, downzoned and/or landmarked as it is, has only so much to offer potential retailers and their would-be landlords.
tacitelli@observer.com :: Follow on Twitter @tacitelli
