6 Places to See Incredible Visual Art in New York City
New York City has long been a hub for artists and art lovers looking to engage in a community full of people who both appreciate great works from the past and support & encourage the next generation of creators. If you want to check out some incredible prints, paintings, sculptures, and more in the Big Apple, take a look at the six venues listed here. This video was made with Ezvid Wikimaker.
NYC Venues That Showcase Great Art
| Organization | Mission |
|---|---|
| Garth Greenan Gallery | Mount important exhibitions and maintain a high standard of integrity and connoisseurship |
| George Adams Gallery | Represent and regularly exhibit the work of both established and emerging artists |
| Pace Prints | Publish contemporary fine art prints and exhibit and offer for sale a wide variety of prints by contemporary artists from the 1960s to the present |
| Flag Art Foundation | Encourage the appreciation of contemporary art among a diverse audience through exhibitions, artist talks, workshops, and other programs |
| International Print Center New York | Promote the greater appreciation and understanding of the fine art print worldwide |
| Marc Straus Gallery | Identify and foster international talent and show older artists who have not for decades, or in some cases ever, been looked at in the proper light |
Arts Education in America
- 91% of Americans agree that the arts are "part of a well-rounded education"
- 93% to 94% believe that students in elementary, middle, and high school should receive an education in the arts
- 74% agree that the arts help students to perform better academically
- Nationally, more than 40% of secondary schools did not require arts courses for graduation for the 2009-2010 school year
- Federal funding for arts & humanities is around $250 million a year, while the National Science Foundation is funded at around the $5 billion mark
- Arts and music education programs are mandatory in countries that rank near the top for math and science test scores, like Japan, Hungary, and the Netherlands
- According to a nationwide study, 63% of eighth-graders took a music class, and 42% took a visual arts class
- Students in the Northeast were twice as likely (68%) to have taken a visual arts class than students in the South (35%)
- Students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, which is often used as a proxy to identify low-income students, scored an average of 26 points lower in music than those not eligible and 22 points lower in visual arts
- In the District of Columbia, 75% of white students took an art course, compared to 49% of black students
The Value Of The Arts In New York's Economy
According to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts, arts and cultural productions accounted for 7.8% of the total gross state product in New York in 2016. The table below compares the value added to the economy by arts to the value added by other sectors.
| Sector | Value Added |
|---|---|
| Arts & Cultural Production | $119,856,783,000 |
| Retail | $69,957,400,000 |
| Construction | $46,845,800,000 |
| Education Services | $33,821,600,000 |
| Transportation | $30,966,900,000 |
| Utilities | $21,117,900,000 |
| Agriculture & Forestry | $2,394,000,000 |
| Mining | $828,100,000 |
Why Art Is Important
In Depth
In the mid-twentieth century, New York supplanted Paris as the art capital of the world, providing a home to some of the era's most significant artists, curators, galleries, and museums. It's up for debate whether or not the city still holds that title, or indeed if such a distinction is tenable at all, but there's no question that the Big Apple still has much to offer aesthetes. The list below, presented in no particular order, presents six great venues to see art in NYC.
At #1, Garth Greenan Gallery is committed to mounting important exhibitions and maintaining a high standard of integrity and connoisseurship. It champions the work of established artists whose work deserves greater recognition, many of whom emerged during the 1960s and 1970s. By re-presenting and recontextualizing their work, the gallery questions the prevailing narrative of contemporary art history and encourages its revision. It represents around 20 makers of different generations, working in a variety of media.
Exhibits in the organization's storefront space showcase the work of Garth Greenan artists. Representatives also take these works on the road, to be sold and displayed at fairs and festivals, such as Art Basel Miami. A publications program makes art, and critical essays about it, available to the public in book form. Some major names represented here include the legendary African American painter Howardena Pindell and indigenous performer James Luna, who uses humor to disarm and confront spectators. Learn more by checking out an exhibition.
Learn more by checking out an exhibition.
#2 is The George Adams Gallery, which represents and regularly exhibits the work of both established and emerging artists. This New York institution took its current form in 1995, based initially in midtown before moving to its current Chelsea location in the new millennium. Having a long association with art from the San Francisco Bay Area, the gallery's program maintains a focus on furthering the appreciation of work from this region.
George Adams works with living artists and the estates of dead ones. Some of those represented by the gallery include Cuban painter and printmaker Luis Cruz Azaceta; Diane Edison, who paints and draws; and Bay Area-born artist Joan Brown. The gallery's exhibitions include solo shows, as well as group programs that expand upon particular styles or subject matter. Many of these events result in books and catalogues available to libraries and individual readers. Get a feel for the range of work on display by reading some reviews of shows hosted there.
Coming in at #3, Pace Prints is a publisher of contemporary fine art prints as well as a gallery that exhibits and offers for sale a wide variety of such objects by contemporary artists from the 1960s to the present. It comprises two exhibition spaces in Manhattan and workshops in a couple of different boroughs. The group reproduces work by a large number of significant figures, including abstract, multidisciplinary maker James Turrell, downtown legend Julian Schnabel, Korean minimalist Lee Ufan, and conceptualist master Sol LeWitt.
The group reproduces work by a large number of significant figures, including abstract, multidisciplinary maker James Turrell, downtown legend Julian Schnabel, Korean minimalist Lee Ufan, and conceptualist master Sol LeWitt.
The midtown gallery showcases work by up-and-coming artists working today and old masters. It also has a line of programming dedicated to African, Oceanic, and Asian art. The space in Chelsea is devoted to contemporary works. Pace's website offers a variety of related resources to the viewing public. These include a detailed glossary of printmaking terms, and a series of videos in which creatives discuss their thematic concerns and craft processes. Stay up to date with all of this institution's projects by subscribing to the mailing list.
For #4, we've got The Flag Art Foundation. Founded in 2008 by patron Glenn Fuhrman, the non-profit contemporary art institution encourages the appreciation of contemporary work among a diverse audience. It presents four to six exhibitions a year that include pieces by international established and emerging artists, borrowed from a variety of sources. The organization invites a broad range of creative individuals to curate shows. It works with artists to provide support and a platform to realize their own solo exhibitions.
Flag's approach works to foster dialogue around contemporary art. Activities include producing artist talks, workshops, and tours for school and museum groups. Based in the heart of Manhattan's Chelsea art district, the space and all related programming are free and open to the public. In conjunction with another institution, it sponsors a yearly 200,000 dollar unrestricted award to a contemporary maker chosen by a committee of curators and scholars. See what the foundation has to offer by attending an event.
Activities include producing artist talks, workshops, and tours for school and museum groups.
#5, International Print Center New York, works to ensure the innovative presentation of prints by emerging, established, national, and international artists. Chartered by the state in 1995, I.P.C.N.Y. commenced its first season at the turn of the millennium. Since, it has opened its own exhibition space in Chelsea with a juried show of contemporary prints, the first of more than 50 New Prints exhibitions that have been recognized by some of the region's most prestigious funders.
Gallery presentations include solo exhibitions and group shows that often feature a series of related workshops and lectures. The annual New Prints program displays significant new works in a variety of formats and techniques produced in the preceding twelve months, overseen by a jury of top names in the field. Online resources include the Map of Print World, a spatial directory of galleries and museums all over the world that focus on the same medium. Explore further by watching online video interviews and recordings from live engagements.
Finishing things up at #6, Marc Straus is a contemporary art gallery in the Lower East Side of New York, occupying a fully reconstructed four-story historical building on Grand Street. It identifies and fosters international talent, representing 20 artists from many different countries. Additionally, the gallery has taken a position of showing older artists who have not for decades, or in some cases ever, been seriously examined. Works first shown in the space have been acquired by major museums around the world.
Works first shown in the space have been acquired by major museums around the world.
Straus represents figures working across different disciplines, including sculptors like Rona Pondick and Chris Jones, painters Ulf Puder and Hermann Nitsch, and landscape photographer Thomas Bangsted. Outside of its home base, the gallery also exhibits at numerous art fairs, including major international events like Frieze and Masterpiece in London. Reviews of the gallery's programs regularly appear in magazines and industry news sources, such as Brooklyn Rail and Time Out New York. Satisfy your curiosity by taking in one of the current shows.
