Bowery - Smile, FriendsWithYou & Museum 52

Today, in honor of our official “launch,” head down to The Bowery! It is probably not the first place you’d think to look for art, which is the crux of Inspirational Lunch’s raison d'être. This city has so much to offer. Go off the beaten path and explore it!
 

Start with Museum 52 on 2nd St & Bowery. Their current exhibition, Leidy Celeste Nicole, is an appetizer sampler of drawings and paintings by Leidy Churchman, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer and Nicole Eisenman. (Mozzarella sticks not included.) Dupuy-Spencer’s paintings are dramatic representations of young artists’ disenfranchisement. Eisenman’s drawing and doodles present a sort of scattered diary across 15 years. And, Churchman gives us raw emotion in the form of a massive, abstract floor painting with an accompanying video of the process.

When the disillusionment becomes too much for you, seek asylum in Smile! at The Hole. This playful show by FriendsWithYou, of Rainbow City fame, is guaranteed to make you flash those pearly whites. From the twirling neon lights in the gallery's windows to the giggle sticks, Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III, the artists who make up FriendsWithYou, aim to fill your entire being with energy and light, and they succeeds on all fronts. They have been building a following since they formed their collective in 2002. Go now, so you can say you saw them when!

If you’re in a hurry, stop for nourishment at Think Coffee. Delicious lattes and sandwiches abound. If you have a little more time, stick with that cheerful feeling, and have lunch at The Smile. It’s a friendly little unpretentious general store and restaurant with an out-of-this-world roast beef sandwich on the lunch menu (among other things). Should you happen to stop in for dinner, get the roasted butternut squash salad with dandelion greens, and then stroll down The Bowery for After Hours: Murals on the Bowery. It's a group show of 18 murals on storefront gates presented during the Festival of Ideas for New City by the Art Production Fund and the New Museum. The murals have been up for two months and are coming down July 7th, so go ASAP!

Ingredients:

Venues: Museum 52; The Hole; Storefronts on the Bowery
Artists: Leidy Churchman; Celeste Dupuy-Spencer; Nicole Eisenman; FriendsWithYou; Judith Bernstein, Matthew Brannon, Ingrid Calame, Chris Dorland, Elmgreen & Dragset, Amy Granat, Mary Heilmann, Jacqueline Humphries, Deborah Kass and pulp, ink., Glenn Ligon, Adam McEwen, Barry McGee, Gary Simmons, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lawrence Weiner 

Streets: Bowery btw 2nd & Grand Sts 

Eats: Think Coffee; The Smile

Map: