Reena Spaulings Fine Art

Reena Spaulings is not an artist or a gallerist. In fact, she’s not even a real person. She’s an artists’ alter ego. The lead character in a novel. And fictional frontwoman for this LES gallery started by Emily Sundblad and John Kelsey along with a collective of artist friends in 2003.

In the 2005 novel, Reena navigates post-9/11 New York in her 20s, ricocheting from museum guard to art-world “it” girl—and back again to anonymity. The narrative pulses with club-era energy and messy, ecstatic misadventures. The kind that could only happen in NYC.

When you step into the gallery’s airy and loft-like space, which overlooks Seward Park and Dimes Square, you enter a wild, cerebral, and seriously fun world.

Like the novel’s namesake, the artists who show at Reena Spaulings Fine Art are denizens of the downtown art scene. All are known for their rule-breaking, sensual, and DIY approach to making art. Think art on the ceiling, performance art on video loop, and sculpture built from found street materials.

You won’t find Reena at the gallery, but you might bump into Emily or John. Or maybe their kids, their dog, or the artists that make up the gallery’s ever-evolving family.