Orchard St - Traffic Circle, Urban Soul, Displaced Person

Did you see that article in last weekend’s Times about Orchard Street? It was once literally an orchard on a 300-arce farm. Now, it’s a “grittier,” mellower SoHo with $3.00 cups of coffee and three million dollar “lofty-type one-bedrooms” on the horizon. Talk about the American Dream realized! Of course, since you read this blog, you’re already familiar with the fantastic gallery offerings on the strip. Go this weekend for your last chance to see Anne Morgan Spalter’s Traffic Circle at Stephan Stoyanov/Luxe Gallery! Spalter was a pioneer in new-media arts, and this is her first solo show in NYC. If you find yourself as mesmerized as I am by her kaleidoscopic videos of taxis on Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Center at night, you can watch them again and again on her YouTube channel. Hooray for new-media!! 

Before the spinning images start to make you dizzy, grab a cup of Blue Bottle Coffee from Lost Weekend NYC and head to BOSIDAMJANOVIC for Urban Soul. Photographer Marinella Paolini offers you highly selective, intimate portraits of striking architecture. Her artistry is in the precision of the light and angles in the exact moments captured. No matter how many times you’ve been to the Getty Museum in LA, for example, you might have never seen it this way before. Luckily, Paolini careful eye has captured it for you.

Round out the Orchard Street picture with a stop at the Tenement Museum or just grab a taste of the times with a little lox and schmear from Russ & Daughters (nobody does smoked fish better). As you nosh, look around. This was once farmland? Come on!

Bonus: After tonight’s opening, you can further explore urbanization, displacement and cultural growth via The Displaced Person at Invisible-Exports. 

Ingredients:

Venues: Stephan Stoyanov/Luxe, BOSIDAMJANOVIC, Invisible-Exports

Artists: Anne Morgan Spalter, Marinella Paolini, Ron Athey, Walt Cassidy, Jesse Aron Green, Geof Oppenheimer, Sue Williams

Streets: Orchard Street, Houston - Division

Eats: Lost Weekend NYC, Russ & Daughters

Map: