Art Between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges
Last updated May 13, 2026
Call it Chinatown. Call it Two Bridges.
The neighborhood just west of the Manhattan Bridge in Lower Manhattan has long taken in newcomers without letting go of itself.
Subways rumble over the bridge on East Broadway and Henry Street. The wind whips up from the East River and down Monroe Street. The streets bustle with Buddhist temples, Chinese markets, snaking noodle shoplines, cash-for-gold stores, and a gamut of some of New York’s most exciting places to eat and drink.
Art seems inevitable in a place like this. Galleries are tucked inside office buildings and vintage malls, nestled into tenement storefronts with iron-lace fire escapes, and set alongside housing projects closer to the waterfront.
Ideas that might get rejected elsewhere are embraced. The work is emerging, experimental, and unafraid to take a swing. You’ll feel like you’re discovering something first.
Let’s get started.
GalleryChinatown
56 HENRY
56 Henry is the emotionally charged anchor of Henry Street’s art community. Openings are like a block party. The exhibitions, sharp, funny, and sometimes devastating, capture the messy, confessional texture of creative life right now.
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GalleryChinatown
Long Story Short
A big-hearted, storefront gallery where locals linger on the benches outside and rising artists explore imagined realms inside.
View Venue
GalleryChinatown
Lyles & King
Artists use beauty to make room for awe and still let the truth slip in one of Chinatown’s most expansive galleries.
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GalleryChinatown
Lubov
On the edge of Chinatown, a true inheritor of the scrappy Downtown ethos has zero interest in behaving.
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GalleryChinatown
Management
Otherworldly, metaphysical works blur the boundaries between mysticism and philosophy on the fourth floor of a Chinatown office building.
View Venue
MuseumLower East Side
Museum at Eldridge Street
Be immersed in the Jewish history of the Lower East Side in this tenderly restored synagogue, where downtown artists weave the neighborhood’s past into shows and the building itself.
View VenueCall it Chinatown. Call it Two Bridges.
The neighborhood just west of the Manhattan Bridge in Lower Manhattan has long taken in newcomers without letting go of itself.
Subways rumble over the bridge on East Broadway and Henry Street. The wind whips up from the East River and down Monroe Street. The streets bustle with Buddhist temples, Chinese markets, snaking noodle shoplines, cash-for-gold stores, and a gamut of some of New York’s most exciting places to eat and drink.
Art seems inevitable in a place like this. Galleries are tucked inside office buildings and vintage malls, nestled into tenement storefronts with iron-lace fire escapes, and set alongside housing projects closer to the waterfront.
Ideas that might get rejected elsewhere are embraced. The work is emerging, experimental, and unafraid to take a swing. You’ll feel like you’re discovering something first.
Let’s get started.
GalleryChinatown
56 HENRY
56 Henry is the emotionally charged anchor of Henry Street’s art community. Openings are like a block party. The exhibitions, sharp, funny, and sometimes devastating, capture the messy, confessional texture of creative life right now.
GalleryChinatown
Long Story Short
A big-hearted, storefront gallery where locals linger on the benches outside and rising artists explore imagined realms inside.
GalleryChinatown
Lyles & King
Artists use beauty to make room for awe and still let the truth slip in one of Chinatown’s most expansive galleries.
GalleryChinatown
Lubov
On the edge of Chinatown, a true inheritor of the scrappy Downtown ethos has zero interest in behaving.
GalleryChinatown
Management
Otherworldly, metaphysical works blur the boundaries between mysticism and philosophy on the fourth floor of a Chinatown office building.
MuseumLower East Side
Museum at Eldridge Street
Be immersed in the Jewish history of the Lower East Side in this tenderly restored synagogue, where downtown artists weave the neighborhood’s past into shows and the building itself.
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