A local's guide to art life in downtown NYC.

The coolest art spaces with the warmest welcomes. Plus the neighborhood places where art locals go to eat, drink, shop, and relax.

The Specialists

Where distinct ideas, subcultures, or communities are championed.

ArtLower East Side

Bitforms

A stage for celebrating technology, not as a problem-solving tool, but as an artistic medium – in all its beauty and brilliance.

ArtLower East Side

Fridman Gallery

An open-arms gallery showing atmospheric paintings with spiritual vibes. Also home to the super cool experimental sound studio, New Ear Inc.

ArtLower East Side

LAAMS

Art, books, clothes, and records are floor to ceiling at this Orchard Street gallery, steeped in graffiti and skater vibes. Firmly by the neighborhood, for the neighborhood.

The Rising Stars

The doors you’ll want to walk through again and again.

ArtLower East Side

Blade Study

Escape the algorithm inside this tiny, but mighty, gallery for internet explorers, anime theorists, and meme mythmakers.

ArtLower East Side

Below Grand

In a display window and closet in a Chinese kitchen supply store on Orchard Street and a storefront on Allen Street, artist-and-curator rebels stage experimental shows that stretch art world rules.

ArtLower East Side

Entrance

The spirit of the zine and DIY maker-culture collides with exquisite taste in this sunny storefront gallery with basement on Ludlow Street.

ArtLower East Side

Foreign & Domestic

Process is worshipped in this bunker-like basement gallery, which champions local and international artists and the immigrant-powered spirit of the LES.

ArtChinatown

Management

Otherworldly, metaphysical works blur the boundaries between mysticism and philosophy on the fourth floor of a Chinatown office building.

Explore Art Life

Discover galleries, museums, and project spaces and fun stuff to do nearby the art on our Directory, which is organized as mapped walkable tours and experiences.

The Go-To's

The ones who’ve earned cult status. The doors you’ll want to walk through again and again.

ArtEast Village

Grey Art Museum

Global, diverse, and interdisciplinary exhibitions propel the conversation forward at NYU’s museum in history-drenched Cooper Square.

ArtLower East Side

56 HENRY

There’s a renegade spirit at play here. A feeling that the party is just about to get started. And it's infectious.

ArtLower East Side

Ramiken

Discover totemic, rigorous art made from unexpected materials (resin, glass, and guns). Black reflective glass windows outside enhance the mystery inside.

ArtLittle Italy

Company Gallery

Get immersed in utopian futures with feminist and queer art and artists at this graffiti-covered street-level gallery with subterranean speakeasy.

ArtEast Village

Karma Gallery

This gallery, bookstore, and publishing house is pioneering a genre. Enjoy gentle, slow art that invites you to pause and step back from the fast pace of life.