In many cities, not only New York, art galleries tend to be centrally located in one region all clustered together. On first thought, this does not seem like a good idea because it is putting competition right next door, however the art world works differently than that of the corporate, chainstore type world. While it would be unreasonable for all of the cities fast food restaurants to concentrate themselves in one location, this clustering works for the Art world. The reason it works is because it becomes a center, a community of artists and their dealers. When art galleries first began opening in SoHo, it was because the artist population already lived there, and it was more profitable to move to where the center of the art universe resided, hence the influx of galleries moving into SoHo. However, with this rise in activity, the previously lax nature of SoHo, with their lowered rent, became more populated and thus the rent increased with the crowds, causing more artists to once again move to a cheaper neighborhood where they could continue their work. Once museums such as the Guggenheim expanded into SoHo, the area was no longer just an artist community, but also brought in crows of people and tourists coming to catch a glimpse of the next big art star.
Guggenheim in SoHo
For this reason, the art center in Manhattan moved to Chelsea, which was similar to SoHo before the influx of galleries and people. This however, was not a small, long-term move,but rather a sudden change that seemingly happened overnight. Soon after the artists moved to lower rent apartments and work spaces in Chelsea, the galleries followed them,demonstrating the same trend that changed SoHo into the art center of NYC in the 1980s. However, now it seems as though the trend that forced galleries to move from SoHo to Chelsea might be taking place again. By moving a the Whitney Museum of American Art from the Upper East Side to Chelsea, the same outcome will probably happen again. The rent and foot traffic will increase in Chelsea to the point where the artists and galleries move yet again to another part of Manhattan, such as the Lower East Side, or possibly out to even cheaper areas off of the island.
On this website one can see the sheer amount of galleries in Chelsea, as opposed to other locations. SoHo doesn’t even have it’s own category on the website, whereas Chelsea does, and then is further divided by galleries on each specific street.
http://art-collecting.com/galleries_ny.htm
This article discusses Chelsea’s art scene, and how it continues to grow:
http://themidtowngazette.com/2011/10/chelsea-galleries-remain-strong-despite-development/
Gallery in Chelsea
Gallery in SoHo
