vip in the city

High Line Open Studios

Through the 1990s, the main occupants of West Chelsea were gas stations, parking garages, and big-box warehouses. As the city’s real estate market heated up, art galleries priced out of SoHo began trickling in to the lower-rent spaces in this primarily industrial neighborhood, eventually forming a new gallery district in the far West 20s. Established galleries like Gagosian and Mary Boone shared the streets with smaller, emerging galleries and artists, all drawn to the large, lofty spaces with plenty of natural light. There are now a staggering 360 galleries in Chelsea, up from 124 just eight years ago.

(Such variety can be overwhelming. How to know what’s worth checking out on any given day? Our friend DB puts together a handy cribsheet of his recommendations.)

This weekend, High Line Open Studios presented the Chelsea High Line Open Studios Art Walk. For three days, the public had exclusive access to the private studios of artists and designers working within two adjoining warehouse buildings on West 26th Street — vertical “art malls,” where each floor was partitioned into several working studios and exhibition spaces.

Sunday afternoon, B and I picked up our maps at 508 West 26th street, and proceeded to the main building at 526 West 26th Street. An elevator operator ferried visitors between the floors where artists would announce their participation with event flyers posted in the hallway. Inside, the space had the feel of a converted office building, with long, fluorescent-lit corridors, cement floors and institutional grey-painted walls. The studios themselves varied widely in size and configuration, to say nothing about the artwork within: small and large-scale canvases, photographs, collages, sculptures, light installations, videos…

Over the course of the next couple of hours, we wandered through dozens of working studios, and had the opportunity to meet and talk with a few of the creators themselves, many of whom seemed both excited by all the attention, and rather unused to all the company.