Reena Spaulings Fine Art

Who is Reena Spaulings?

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

The couple didn’t know what to call it at first, and, they say, they just couldn’t name it after themselves. Back then, John was part of an art-fashion-film collaborative called the Bernadette Corporation, working on a novel collectively-authored by 150 people. The main character’s name? Reena Spaulings.

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

Some members of the group began showing work under her name, mostly just for fun. But something unexpected happened. Working under a name that belonged to no one brought a surprising sense of freedom. The next step felt obvious: name the gallery Reena. In part to carry on the project. In part to continue with the playful disorientation of anonymity.

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 a rule-breaking, sensual, and DIY approach to making art. Think art on the ceiling, performance on video look, and sculpture built from found street materials.

When you step into the gallery’s airy and loft-like space, which overlooks Seward Park and Dimes Square, you enter a wild, cerebral, serious world. You won’t find Reena at the gallery, but you might just bump into Emily or John. Or maybe their kids, their dog or the artists that make up the gallery’s ever-evolving family.