There has been a lot of buzz the last few weeks in the press and otherwise revolving around Tribeca as the new art world destination. From The New York Times article “TriBeCa, the New Art Stroll” by Will Heinrich to Jerry Saltz’s article in Vulture, “The Return of the Tribeca Art Scene” and the WSJ’s “Art Galleries Brush Off Chelsea for Tribeca” there is a lot of commotion about the amount of galleries flocking south from the much revered and established art scene in Chelsea. While the growing Tribeca art scene may come as news to some, Tribeca inhabitants have watched it grow over the last few years with a number of galleries that have opened in the area since 2013, including Postmasters, Bartolomi, Alexander and Bonin, and The Untitled Space among others. For Tribeca locals the scene has been growing steadily for years and has been celebrated every few months since 2016 with initiatives such as Tribeca Art & Culture Night, which features 20 – 30 Tribeca galleries every few months for its evening art walks, tours, exhibits and events. Of course it wasn’t until the switch was flipped on September 6th when 5 galleries opened within a few blocks radius in North Tribeca that the rest of the art world woke up to what was happening south of Canal Street and it hit “breaking news”. It goes without saying that the simultaneous openings of 5 art galleries, many of which were relocating from Chelsea (including Canada, Monica King, James Cohan, Andrew Krep, and Chart galleries) all on the same night is sure to cause a stir. The streets were flooded with people buzzing and gallery hopping from one opening to the other, eyes wide open with excitement that they were witnessing art history in the making.
For those of you who first ventured down to Tribeca on that fateful evening it may have seemed like an awakening and yes in many regards it was. One could call it a mass exodus from Chelsea, definitely unprecedented and almost intoxicating. Local artists and gallerists alike were thrilled with the announcement of even more galleries, including Chelsea mainstays such as P.P.O.W., had also announced an imminent move to the area by 2020. Bare from the restraints of the established, specific aesthetics, high demands, and increasing rent prices set by the Chelsea landlords, the reborn Tribeca art scene feels like a breath of fresh air to many in the art community.
Having earned her stripes at Pace gallery in Chelsea, Monica King is a notable gallerist that recently opened her own space in Tribeca. “It’s long been my intention to open a gallery space that encourages collectors from all walks of life to approach art with an unmistakable sense of curiosity,” she said to ArtNet, adding: “My vision celebrates the vital contribution that contemporary art brings to our collective society and to each of our individual souls.” Other additions to this renaissance scene include Chart gallery which opened with breakthrough artist Shona McAndrew. McAndrew was a favorite at Spring/Break Art Show in 2018 with her figurative paper mache sculptures of life-sized humans and sculptures of daily life mundanities such as nail polish, tampons, shoes, candy wrappers, magazines and more.
The Bronx Museum contributes to the Tribeca art scene with their location at 80 White Street, The Block Gallery, which is an artist incubator space dedicated to supporting the ongoing creative advancement of their AIM program artists. Named in memory of late Bronx Museum executive director, Holly Block, the 4,500 square foot multipurpose venue offers private workspaces, exhibition facilities, and meeting rooms to aid the development of forward-thinking artistic practices.
In 2015 artist and The Untitled Magazine’s editor-in-chief, Indira Cesarine, launched The Untitled Space gallery located at 45 Lispenard Street. The gallery emphasizes a program of women in art, featuring exhibitions of emerging and established contemporary artists with boundary pushing feminist and activist driven themes. Notable artists that have exhibited at the gallery include pioneering feminists Betty Tompkins and Joan Semmel, as well as rising artists such as Sarah Maple who was featured in solo exhibition “Thoughts and Prayers” in January 2019, Jeanette Hayes and Fahren Feingold. Currently on view is duo show “EXPOSED,” featuring pioneering feminist artists Grace Graupe-Pillard & Robin Tewes, Curated by Cesarine, the exhibtion presents a selection of recent as well as historical paintings by both artists. The gallery has become well known for its group exhibitions including: ”SECRET GARDEN” which presented the female gaze on erotica, “SHE INSPIRES,” a group show of 60 artists with works honoring inspirational women, “IRL: Investigating Reality” and internationally-celebrated group shows “UPRISE/ANGRY WOMEN,” and “ONE YEAR OF RESISTANCE” responding to the political climate in America.
James Cohan, who’s been planted in Chelsea since 2002, relocated its flagship gallery to a 2-level space at 48 Walker St. in Tribeca. Cohan said in an feature for ARTnews, “There’s a certain migration out of Chelsea heading into TriBeCa. For me, it’s very simple, in that I feel like I’d rather work for my artists than for my landlord.” James Cohan gallery represents a selection of contemporary international artists including China, Costa Rica, Ethiopia and more. In 2017, their exhibit with Israeli video artist Omer Fast titled “August” caused controversy with his installation depicting a walk-through of Chinese businesses. They maintain a second outpost in the Lower East Side at 291 Grand St. The gallery opened at their new Tribeca location with exhibit “Observations at Night” by Josiah McElheny on view through October 19th. James Cohan gallery will also celebrate its anniversary with a 20th Anniversary Exhibition from November 1st through December 20th, 2019.
High-profile Chelsea gallery Andrew Kreps migrated to 22 Cortlandt Alley with their latest exhibition that opened at the new location on September 6th, “Sanctuary 2” by Roe Ethridge. On view through November 2nd, “Sanctuary 2” by Ethridge focuses on the concept of sanctuary and its myriad definitions, the word’s political and personal dimensions – including the supposed insular refuge of artistic practice. Their location is just several feet away from the future location of another well known Chelsea gallery P.P.OW., who announced they will relocate to Tribeca in 2020 with a new address at 20 Cortlandt Alley. Kreps is also operating another space in Tribeca, 55 Walker, in collaboration with Bortolami (who’s located just down the street) and Kaufmann Repetto.
P.P.O.W. opened their first space at 216 East 10th st. in the 1980s, and has seen various relocations since then; first Soho and then Chelsea in 2002, where they remained until 2019, and finally Tribeca in the fall of 2020. P.P.O.W gallery is known for promoting the LGBTQ community and in 2012, the gallery founders received a Visual AIDS Vanguard Award for their HIV/AIDS advocacy in the art scene. Wendy Olsoff, one of the founders, is also a founding member of the Feminist Art Council of the Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
Canada New York also has a new Tribeca address at 60 Lispenard, neighboring The Untitled Space and Monica King Contemporary. Canada’s lease at their previous Chelsea location included a demolition clause, so the possibility of the move was never far-sighted. “There’s so much demolition and construction between the condos and the hotels, it’s gotten noisy and hard to deliver crates,” co-founder Phil Grauer said. Canada is currently showing “3Lakes,” an exhibition of new paintings by Xylor Jane, where, through coma and codes, the artist marks time in a resolutely un-straightforward way: hued dots and blended triangles are counted, stacked, shifted and overlaid; numerals written in binary code, a run of prime or palindromic numbers, and calendars and numbers of days alive are mapped, mirrored and flipped.
Just North of Canal Street are also a few art destinations not to be missed if you are heading to Tribeca to view the latest exhibitions, including Jeffrey Deitch at 18 Wooster St, Team Gallery at 83 Grand St, and The Drawing Center at 35 Wooster Street. The Drawing Center has just announced the forthcoming exhibition, “The Pencil Is a Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists,” which opens on October 11 and runs through January 5, will waive all admission charges due to an anonymous donation.
The Tribeca Gallery Roundup
Check out our inclusive map of Tribeca galleries below.
Andrew Kreps Gallery
22 Cortlandt Alley, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
ROE ETHRIDGE: Sanctuary 2
September 6 – November 2, 2019
Alexander and Bonin
47 Walker St
Current exhibits
Fernando Bryce: The Decade Review
September 6, 2019 – October 26, 2019
Tandem: Sofia Hultén and José Antonio Suárez Londoño
September 6, 2019 – October 26, 2019
apexart
291 Church St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
THE CRIMINAL TYPE
September 7 – October 26, 2019
*Open Call Winner
Artists Space
80 White St, New York, NY 10013
Art Project International
434 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Mariano Ferrante: New Work
September 12 – October 26, 2019
Barney Savage
87 Franklin St 2nd FL, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
DEBORA CHEYENNE: ENTRE VUES
September 6 – October 5, 2019
Block/AIM Artist Hub
80 White St 2nd flr, New York, NY 10013
Bortolami
39 Walker St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Juan Antonio Olivares: Naufragios
6 Sep – 19 Oct 2019
Canada
60 Lispenard St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibits
Xylor Jane: 3Lakes
September 7 – October 19, 2019
Sahar Khoury: Afterhours
September 7 – October 19, 2019
Chart
74 Franklin St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
MUSE BY SHONA MCANDREW
6 September – 2 November 2019
Cheryl Hazan Gallery
35 N. Moore Street New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Group Exhibition
Deb Lawrence | Cathy Choi | Carolina Sardi
September 12 – October 26, 2019
Denny Dimin Gallery
39 Lispenard St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Erin O’Keefe: Seeing Things
Sept. 6, 2019 – October 26, 2019
Hionas
356 Broadway, Chinatown, NY 10013
Upcoming exhibit
Amanda Church & John Franklin: BODY / object
October 12 – November 2, 2019
James Cohan
48 Walker St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Josiah McElheny: Observations at Night
Sept 6 – Oct 19, 2019
Jeffrey Deitch
18 Wooster St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Tokyo Pop Underground
September 14–November 2, 2019
Kaufmann Repetto
55 Walker St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Lily Van Der Stokker: exhibition of the medicines
Sept 6 – Oct 19, 2019
Kerry Schuss
73 Leonard St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Moki Cherry Ceramics & Collages
organized with Bob Nickas
September 6 – October 19, 2019
Launch F18
373 Broadway, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
DIDI ROJAS: YOU’RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE
September 7 – October 19, 2019
Luhring Augustine
17 White St. New York, NY 10012
Monica King Contemporary
39 Lispenard St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
APRIL MARTEN: FRANCES WASN’T A SAINT
6 September – 12 October 2019
New York Academy of Art
111 Franklin St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Artist-in-Residence Program in Leipzig
September 3 – October 27, 2019
NYA Art Center
7 Franklin Place
Current exhibit
Gray and Johnson Solo show
October 3rd – October 30th, 2019
Ortuzar Projects
9 White St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
KEY HIRAGA: WORKS 1958-1993
September 6 – November 9, 2019
P.P.O.W.
20 Cortlandt Alley (opening 2020)
PAGE (NYC)
368 Broadway #511, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
SHAUN MOTSI: en Brunaille
September 14 – November 3, 2019
Patrick Parrish
50 Lispenard St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Hanna Eshel: Painting & Sculpture 1960 to 1985
September 12 – October 19, 2019
Peter Freeman, Inc.
140 Grand St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Franz Erhard Walther: Migration of Forms 1956-2006
10 September – 26 October 2019
Postmasters
54 Franklin St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
DIANA COOPER: Sightings
September 7 – October 12, 2019
Queer Thoughts
373 Broadway, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Lucie Stahl: CRUDE
September 6 – October 26, 2019
R & Company
82 Franklin St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibits
CHAIRS BEYOND RIGHT & WRONG
10 September – 19 October 2019
MANHATTAN STUDIOLO BY ASHLEY HICKS
10 September – 19 October 2019
DACIA BY SERBAN IONESCU
16 September – 30 October 2019′
Sapar Contemporary
9 N Moore St, New York, NY 10013
Schiff Fine Art
45 White Street, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Tavares Strachan, Smalls
(from Hidden Histories series)
Soho Photo Gallery
15 White St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Ed Forti: Public Spaces – Private Moments
Sept. 9 – Sept. 28, 2019
Team Gallery
83 Grand St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Rollercoaster: Lili Jamail
September 5th – October 5th 2019
The Drawing Center
35 Wooster St, New York, NY 10013
Upcoming exhibit
The Pencil Is a Key
October 11 – January 5th, 2019
The Journal Gallery
45 White St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Tennis Elbow: Leo Gabin
September 28 – October 4th, 2019
The Untitled Space
45 Lispenard St, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
EXPOSED: Grace Graupe-Pillard & Robin Tewes
A Duo Exhibition Curated by Indira Cesarine
September 24 – October 26, 2019
Y2K Group
373 Broadway #518, New York, NY 10013
Current exhibit
Marcela Flórido | Gustavo Prado
September 14 – October 19, 2019
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