Chelsea Art Galleries — A Walking Tour
Chelsea lies at the cutting edge of New York City’s modern art scene. I took an afternoon to strut around some of the best Chelsea art galleries and get a taste of what’s going on in the art world today.
All you need is a camera, a hip get-up, and a whole lot of patience to get completely engrossed in New York City’s art scene. I took a day with my friend Jack to see all the art I could in the most modern city in America.
A Stroll Down West 24th St.
Let me begin by saying that I cannot believe how many art galleries New York City can fit into one tiny street (actually, I take that back — this is NYC, after all). But seriously, I could spend an entire day just walking up and down 24th St. between 10th and 11th Avenues and still not see everything the art galleries on that strip of cement have to offer. As soon as I stepped foot into that very first gallery, I was astonished at how long I had gone on living in New York City without knowing about all of these charming (and free!) hidden gems.
This street is teeming with over 15 miniature art galleries that you can just walk in and out of at your leisure — each one dedicated to the work of a different artist. Some collections lived in big, fancy studio spaces, and others were presented in what could have been a glorified garage. They were all organized similarly: the front desk of each gallery had a guest book filled with the signatures of visitors from all over the world, and each guest book was situated beside a flyer that gave some background information on the artist and what their collection was all about.
One of the highlights for me was Jeppe Hein’s collection at 303 Gallery, called “All We Need Is Inside.” Hein expanded the tiny size of the gallery space he was given by painting large blue lines on the wall, utilizing linear mirrors in the center of the room and hanging mirrors on the walls, each one inscribed with the title of the collection.
Another memorable one was Jessica Jackson Hutchins’ collection, “I Do Choose,” which felt like peeking in on the inside of a very empty, very artistic living room, a space filled with vintage couches that were dressed to function as beautiful pieces of art. We saw one gallery that had visual projections on the wall, an exhibition by David Maljkovic that stood out as the only piece of digital art we saw on the entire strip.
I have to say, though, that my favorite out of all the exhibits was Kim Dong Yoo’s “Living Together” exhibition at the Hasted Kraeutler gallery. Yoo’s show had abstract portraits of recognizable faces from throughout history hung in large, beautiful frames all over the white walls, including an abstracted painting of the Mona Lisa.
Pro tip: I would start on one side of the street and walk all the way down from 10th to 11th Ave., then cross to the other side, turn around, and walk back. This way, you’re sure to hit every gallery instead of having to zig-zag back and forth.
Gimme a Break!
After all that art, you’re going to need to sit down and stop staring at inanimate objects for a little while — trust me. And it just so happens that right next to 24th St.’s goldmine of artistic creativity lies my favorite park in all of New York City — the High Line! The minute I realized this, I let out a massive sigh of relief, made my way up the stairs to this beautiful park that hangs above the street, and plopped my artsy butt down on a bench-shaped slab of concrete to just relax for a moment or two.
We got off our feet for a bit to catch some rays and started making our way over to Melt Bakery, where we could grab a well-deserved sweet treat after a long morning of artistic gazing. I got a Red Velvet ice cream sandwich, and trust me when I say that it was exactly what I needed. I also had to keep my blood sugar going to get me through the rest of the day — after all, there was still the MoMA to take on.
Pro tip: Walk down to the High Line entrance at 23rd St. and 10th Ave., then walk the High Line uptown to get to Penn Station, where you can hop on the subway and easily get to the MoMA.
MoMA
The MoMA is definitely something to check off of your New York City bucket list, and it’s a museum that you simply can’t do all in one afternoon — but if you’re ambitious like me, you can certainly try! We set out to see all the cool exhibits the Museum of Modern Art is putting on, and I have to say that the Yoko Ono exhibit was definitely the coolest! After a couple hours, we decided that we’d had enough gallery-hopping for the day and that it was time to finally call it quits. There is no shame in knowing when enough is enough.
Pro tip: Don’t try to squeeze too much art-seeing into one day, because it can be exhausting! It’s not worth overexerting yourself if you’ll just be too tired to really appreciate the artwork.
That Was Fun!
Who knew that you could spend an entire day seeing the latest, greatest art in New York City for only $25? If you want to feel like a cultural pro, I would certainly suggest that locals and visitors alike soak up some culture by buzzing in and out of the Big Apple’s best art galleries. Oh, and it’s not a bad idea to take a date, either!
