LES Galleries Reaction

For the fourth class field trip, we visited the Lower East Side Galleries and took a look at some of the work of up and coming artists. We visited the Bosi contemporary gallery, Untitled gallery and the McKenzie fine arts gallery among a few others. In comparison to the Chelsea galleries we visited a few weeks ago, the LES galleries were smaller in size and seemed to display more photographs and sculptures than paintings. The Bosi gallery had specific pieces displayed on televisions and projectors as well as framed pictures and it only had two paintings. The McKenzie fine arts gallery out the few that we visited was the only one that specifically displayed paintings, it was the most similar to the galleries in Chelsea. The Untitled gallery mainly displayed sculptures and also had two paintings that hung from the ceiling, one in the entrance of the gallery and one in the main display area. I noticed in the LES galleries that there was much less works of art in terms of quantity. It seemed as if the designers of the LES galleries wanted the viewers to take more time observing each individual piece. One thing both sets of galleries did have in common, was the use of the same white walls to display the art. It seems that the white walls help bring out the colors and the design of the art work to grab the viewers attention. The Chelsea galleries all seemed to be themed, and mainly displayed paintings of specific known artists. The LES galleries may have been displaying the work of one artist but the art was not limited to only paintings. Overall the galleries on either side of lower Manhattan had some similarities and some differences. They both seemed to cater to different people, the LES galleries had a newer, bolder approach in the art and photographs that were displayed in comparison to the highly themed paintings displayed in the Chelsea galleries. Being able to visit the galleries has definitely expanded my thoughts and understanding of how art is sold and how artists make a profit.