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Dear gallery tour friends, I’m using my huge amount of free time to share with you two things that are important to me. One is my prediction of what the contemporary art world will be like after the pandemic is over. The second is a very personal sharing of my life that’s actually quite positive. I hope you’re faring as well as possible in these scary times. This will likely be the final mass emailing I’ll send out until gallery tours can resume. But I’ll read and reply to any emails you send me in the mean time, even months from now.

Based on my 18 years of leading gallery tours and artist studio tours in the world’s epicenter for contemporary art, and from remembering exactly how the 2008 Great Recession impacted the gallery world, here’s what I think will happen to the art scene after the pandemic ends.

1. Ninety-nine percent of artists and gallery owners will survive the pandemic, as will the rest of the world, and just about everyone in the art world will continue to live in major cities, including and especially New York.

2. No art will be destroyed by the pandemic, unlike during other natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy that flooded dozens of Chelsea galleries and hundreds of Brooklyn artist studios, destroying a considerable amount of art. This time, all art will remain intact.

3. A huge amount of new art will be made during the pandemic, as a large number of visual artists living in cities will have more free time, after (sadly) losing their day jobs. The longer they’re unemployed, the more time they’ll have for making art. Artist studios happen to be the very model for “social distancing,” as almost all visual artists work alone in a mid-size rented room with a door that closes, or from home. So it’s very SAFE for visual artists to create art throughout the pandemic. Visual artists (as well as writers) are among the most “solitary” of all types of artists and will face relatively little disruption in making their art during our time of social distancing, as compared to more “gregarious” artists such as actors, directors, musicians, choreographers, and the like, who need to assemble and collaborate in groups to make their art.

4. I think the large majority of NYC galleries will re-open, even while facing severe financial difficulties. During the 2008 Great Recession, around 7% of NYC galleries went out of business, probably a low number compared with other small business closures that year. While I expect that the “Depression” of 2020 will be worse than the Recession of 2008, galleries all over the city have been selling their art online even as their doors are closed. In fact, only a small percentage of sales are made from gallery “walk-ins” anyway. Galleries have an extensive list of previous art buyers, and a lot of their sales happen online. Of course, most art buyers currently have severely depleted financial portfolios due to the stock market crash, and museums are losing tons of money from shuttering their doors, both of which will make it much harder for galleries to sell art for at least a year or two. Nevertheless……

5. Gallery owners LOVE what they do for a living. As business people, gallery owners have chosen to make money in an arena that is perpetually volatile and risky, because of how very interesting art and artists are. More predictable businesses (like selling shoes or phones or groceries) are of no interest to them, so they’re going to stick with the dealing of art if they possibly can. Dozens of internationally renowned NYC galleries have very deep pockets, and they’re going to be just fine. Many other gallery owners will struggle but use their years of experience and expertise, along with their extensive list of previous art buyers, to make it through the tough times to come, and maybe even flourish again sooner rather than later. Even some of the ones who don’t make it through the end of the year will be back eventually, as selling art is in their blood.

6. Art by women and by young people of color will continue its upward trajectory in galleries. The most important recent change in the international art scene is that art by women has finally been selling well, as is art by young people of color. It’s no longer considered a “bad investment” to buy art by these people, and in fact art buyers now recognize their brilliance and monetary worth. While art sales as a whole will decline steeply for all kinds of artists in the coming months — male, female, White, Black, Latino, Asian, you name it — the trend of exhibiting more female artists and more young artists of color will continue, especially now that around half the city’s gallery owners are women.

7. We may eventually see an INCREASE of galleries in certain neighborhoods, due to lower rents. The 2008 Recession happened just as the Lower East Side was on its way to becoming the 2nd largest and most important gallery area in the world (next to Chelsea). While the Recession did result in around a 6-month pause in gallery construction there, by 2010 the Lower East Side roared back to become the 150-gallery behemoth that it is today. One thing that helped was that the financial crisis lowered real estate prices substantially, giving more gallery start-ups the chance to establish themselves. I predict that as commercial rents inevitably fall during the upcoming “Depression,” eager new gallery owners are bound to take advantage of this opportunity, particularly in an area like Tribeca, which just before the pandemic was the city’s major buzz for its rapid increase of galleries, and consists of fabulous century-old architecture, whose rents are now going to be lower.

Anyway, those are my predictions.

Now, to get personal. Two things:

One thing I will NEVER take for granted again, as long as I live, is the joy of gathering in groups, as we did and will continue to do again on gallery tours, and for so many other occasions. I could have chosen a solitary profession, such as art scholar or art critic, but instead I relish and thrive in my very social occupation of leading tours. I love speaking about art to a live group of people, and watching and hearing everyone react to the art, especially when it’s provocative or gorgeous or in other ways exciting.

And now for my recent coming out. I bring this up not only as part of my personal journey of self-acceptance and liberation, but also to benefit other people who may be feeling something similar, and haven’t been able to put a name to it. Here it is: I’m gender-free, meaning I don’t identify as a man or a woman. It’s not that I’ve “become” gender-free, it’s that I’ve been that way from birth and only recently began to realize it and personally identify with what it means.

Growing up, I had zero interest in what boys around me liked to do: contact sports, war games, toy trucks, fishing, fighting, and all that, which unfortunately made me a social outcast. Neither was I interested in girl-specific activities like dolls, dress-up, and cheerleading, and I never once felt myself to be girl. Instead, I liked activities enjoyed equally by both genders, such as reading, playing board games, and strolling in nature. As an adult, I gravitated naturally toward gender neutral occupations, first my teaching career and now gallery tours.

I don’t act the way men do, and I don’t vote the way most of them do. I’m turned off by “man food” like steak and pork chops, so 40 years ago I became a vegetarian. I’m a strident feminist, so my values, political and otherwise, are much closer to the values of women than men. Yet, I don’t feel like a woman either, I just don’t. Neither am I transgender, as these people have a very strong attachment to gender.

Don’t worry, nothing about me will change — not my name or manner or clothing or anything else, other than my now being able to give you a strikingly fresh perspective whenever gender issues come up in the art I take you to see.

I know I look like a guy, which I can’t help, due to my genes. But my genes also made me gender-free on the inside, which is WAY more important than the superficial stuff on the outside.

Most other gender-free people call themselves “non-binary,” a term I find a bit cold and abstract, so I prefer the term “gender-free” to describe my identity, evoking a joyous freedom and liberation from gender. Suddenly my life makes sense. I only wish I had figured this out long ago.

You can continue referring to me as “he,” for now, until I find a better word, because the pronoun “they” that many non-binary people use feels too impersonal to apply to me. And I still identify as gay, with just a minor adjustment: I’m a gay person, not a gay man.

If this topic ever comes up with your friends or family or anyone else, please tell them you know a gender-free person, and say anything you want about me. Spread the word so that others may benefit from their own self-realizations.

I can’t wait to see you again as part of a lovely large gathering, inside a gallery. Until then, my best wishes to you and your loved ones.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York Gallery Tours
www.nygallerytours.com

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The reason for the limitation is that artist studios are considerably smaller than galleries, some studios barely accommodating 25 people, which was the number of registrants before the tours sold out.  Fortunately, other studios are larger, some accommodating 35+ people.

How to be admitted as a “Walk-In”:
1. Show up ten minutes early to the meeting place, 77 Morgan Ave. near Harrison Place. Note: this weekend the L-train (nearest station to the tour is Morgan Ave. Station) is running every 20 minutes, so give yourself extra travel time.
2, Pay me (Rafael Risemberg) admission of $29 cash per person.  There’s no limit on how many Walk-Ins will be admitted.

The important limitation:
1. The “Pre-Registered” and the “Walk-Ins” will travel throughout the tour together.  However, as we enter each of the 7 artist studios that are officially part of the tour, the Pre-Registered people will enter first, while the Walk-Ins (you) wait in the hallway. Once the Pre-Registered are inside the studio, I will determine whether there is space in each studio for others. Depending on the size of the studio, there may be room for anywhere from zero to several of the Walk-Ins to enter.
2. Please understand that my determination is final and non-negotiable.
3. For Walk-Ins who cannot enter a given studio, you can stand by the open door and, hopefully, look inside and, hopefully, hear my conversation with the artist. Please understand that I cannot guarantee that you can see or hear this part.  Walk-Ins closest to the open door will see and hear more.
4. When the Pre-Registered people and I leave for the next studio, Walk-Ins in the hallway can enter the previous studio, see all the artwork, tools, and supplies, and talk to the artist themselves. You will have received directions to the next stop so you can rejoin the group.
5. This process will repeat for each of the 7 studio visits.

But the news gets better!
While our tour will officially visit 7 studios, there will be DOZENS of other artist studios not part of the tour that are next door to or down the hall from each of my official visits, and you can also enter those studios and talk to those artists, who are there because it’s a special “open studios” day. Plus, some Pre-Registered people will likely enter and spend time at some of those studios not on the tour, leaving more spots available for Walk-Ins to enter the 7 official studios on the tour, along with the rest of the group.  It’s even possible (thought I can’t say likely) that you’ll get to enter just about all 7 studios along with the Pre-Registered.  It depends on the sizes of the studios, and the number of Walk-Ins who show up.

You don’t need to let me know in advance whether you want to attend as a Walk-In, and there’s no way to pay online. Just show up with $29 cash per person to 77 Morgan Ave. near Harrison Place (the meeting place noted on my website and in my emails), and you’ll DEFINITELY get in.

Please let me know if you have questions.  I look forward to seeing you on your next tour!

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D., Director
New York Gallery Tours
tour@nygallerytours.com
www.nygallerytours.com

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In my opinion: not even close.  Not yet, anyway.  For the foreseeable future, Chelsea will reign as king.  Though I do feel strongly that the Lower East Side is a fantastically wonderful and fast-rising alternative, and you’ll see for yourself if you attend my first Lower East Side gallery tour of the new season on Sat. Sept. 26.

The Crains article used as its justification for the claim of world’s epicenter that Chelsea is down to 300 galleries, from a peak of 360, while the Lower East Side is now up to 225 galleries, a gap that is narrowing by the month.  While I do believe those numbers are roughly accurate, and the trend of Chelsea declining and Lower East Side increasing in numbers is certainly true, from my count Crains has overestimated the number of L.E.S. galleries by about 75 galleries.  And its claim that DUMBO Brooklyn has 10% of the city’s galleries is a wild overestimation, casting doubts about the entire article.

Yes, Crains is right that some galleries are leaving Chelsea because of the off-putting real estate market.  However, it’s only the lower-performing galleries that are leaving Chelsea, while many gallery “giants” such as Gagosian, Pace, and David Zwirner have recently added MORE gallery spaces in Chelsea.

In the Lower East Side, there are almost no “giants,” and the handful of “giants” that are there tend to have a small satellite space in the L.E.S., while keeping a much larger space in Chelsea, with Marlborough and Lehman Maupin galleries being two prime examples.  Chelsea consists of dozens of long-established internationally renowned galleries with very large industrial spaces, whereas Lower East Side consists mostly of young, first-time gallery owners showing art in small-to-medium sized spaces.  The L.E.S., which has always been a residential neighborhood, just doesn’t have the large industrial spaces that tempted name galleries to move to West Chelsea (at the time not even zoned for residences) a couple of decades ago.

Numbers of galleries just isn’t a good indication of “epicenter.”  I suggest instead we compare the two neighborhoods using either total square footage of gallery space, or total art sales (two measurements that are much harder to come by than number of galleries), and I’d say Chelsea would be the winner by 100-to-1 or even more.

Which is not to say that I’m not wild about the Lower East Side.  In some ways it’s my “favorite” gallery neighborhood, where I get to discover young, fresh talent and enjoy seeing these artists and their corresponding gallery owners take more risks.  But is the L.E.S. the best tour I lead?  Not yet.  And is it the world’s epicenter?  I’d call it second in the world, surpassing neighborhoods in London and Berlin, and that’s not bad.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D., Director
New York Gallery Tours

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The amount of creativity that gets unleashed in the coming week will be staggering.  No city in human history, let alone a single 10-block neighborhood, has been the home to as many galleries, and as many high quality ones, as Chelsea.  More than 95% of the art exhibited will be brand new, some of it on the very cutting edge, befitting Chelsea’s reputation as the planet’s taste-setter, for better or worse, in contemporary art.

I am setting myself an almost impossible logistical task: visiting just about all 200 Chelsea openings between now and my first “Best Exhibits” gallery tour of the season on Sat. Sept. 12.  No other tour director or guide visits nearly this many shows in preparing for their tours—they have their favorite blue-chip galleries that they take their groups to time and time again, regardless of the quality of exhibits that particular week, and then supplement them with whatever few shows have buzz.  But I discovered years ago that unless I visit everything in advance, and then make decisions accordingly, my groups miss out on some of the most extraordinary exhibits of the season.  It’s a lot more legwork, but I’m convinced it’s the reason I am the only person (as far as I know) who makes a full-time living leading gallery tours in New York.

To complicate things further for my first-of-season tour, the large bulk of exhibits will open on just two days: Thursday and Friday.  The operative phrase those two days is “run, don’t walk.”  I’ll wear my most comfortable sneakers and scamper for hours from gallery to gallery.  Yes, it’s as comical as it sounds.

By the close of the day on Friday I will discover that even with all my hustling I will come up short of my goal.  Therefore, I will be back at the galleries at 10 AM on Saturday morning—the day of my tour—and visit whatever shows I missed.  I’ll race back home (luckily, I live just 15 minutes away) to make further entries in my computer, then narrow down my tour itinerary to what I consider to be the top 7 exhibits, and print enough copies for my participants.

All that remains is making a mad dash back to the tour’s meeting place on W. 26th St., taking a minute to breathe, and then greeting each attendee with a most tranquil smile.  “Great to see you!  How was your summer?”  Oh yeah, and then leading two very intense two-hour tours that day.

Why do I do this to myself?  Why not just wait another week to hold my first-of-season tour, and therefore give myself more prep time?  The fact is, it has been close to 3 months since my end-of-season gallery tour last June.  I’ve had more than enough time to relax, and I’m raring to go.  Also, I can’t stomach NOT leading a tour on the first Saturday that there are sure to be so many extraordinary exhibits up.  Let the new season begin!

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York GalleryTours

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Galleries are fully air conditioned in the summer, and there are always a number of extraordinary exhibits then to make for a remarkable experience.  Unlike scheduled tours, where you’re always part of a larger group, on a private tour you control exactly how many people you want to comprise the group.  Naturally, there’s a lot more personal interaction on a private tour between participants and the tour director (myself).

Please e-mail me to set up an extraordinary private tour!

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D., Director
New York Gallery Tours

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Other than Chelsea and the Lower East Side, which have so many galleries per neighborhood that I schedule tours there automatically every month, for other neighborhoods I wait until enough good exhibits have opened to ensure I have a quality tour.  That’s exactly what’s happened for my UES tour this coming week.

I will say this: the Upper East Side is legendary for its gallery spaces, a good number of which are in mansions and townhouses.  On my June 13 tour, 3 galleries are in mansions, 2 are in townhouses, and the remaining 2 are in more average spaces.  I never choose exhibits based on the gallery spaces, but only on the art that they’re showing.  And in this case, it happens to be a higher percentage of extraordinary spaces than usual.

Highlights of this tour: (1) a French artist’s innovative paintings that look spectacular in their opulent mansion gallery, (2) two artists in their 20s showing eye-popping experimental photography and video, and (3) a rising-star British artist’s imaginative large-scale portrait sculptures, in the world’s wealthiest gallery.  We’ll visit 7 fascinating shows in total.

Farewell Upper East Side mansions, at least until the Fall.

Rafael Risemberg, Director
New York Gallery Tours

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Midtown also happens to be New York City’s first-ever neighborhood with a concentration of galleries, beginning around a century ago.  Soho, Chelsea, Brooklyn and the rest are relative newcomers.  And Midtown has remained an important hub for gallery art this entire time.  Lately, though, as real estate prices continue to rise in Chelsea, especially with the advent of the High Line and the Whitney Museum, galleries are looking for less expensive rents, and some are moving to Midtown.  Who would guess that Midtown’s rents would be lower than Chelsea’s?  After all, Midtown is one of the city’s wealthiest business districts, and the whole reason Chelsea became the world’s center for contemporary art was its relatively cheap real estate.

Well, times change.  Chelsea is now fashionable and pricey, and Midtown, while still expensive, apparently beats Chelsea these days price-wise, hence the galleries migrating there from Chelsea.  One thing that helps lower costs is that the Midtown skyscrapers galleries are all located above street-level.  It’s just the opposite of high-rise residences, where the upper floors command the highest prices.  And there’s a bonus: the views of the city that the galleries provide.

Here are the highlights of my May 16 Skyscrapers gallery tour: (1) a celebrated Israeli artist’s large-scale paintings that look astonishingly photographic, (2) a Luxembourg artist’s beautiful, thought-provoking videos, and (3) transcendent new sculptures by one of the world’s most important living female artists.  These are just 3 of 7 fascinating shows you’ll visit.

Enjoy the art – enjoy the little walking – enjoy the view.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D., Director
New York Gallery Tours

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Highlights of my Soho tour on Sat. April 18: (1) exuberant paintings by singer Annie Lennox’s 22 year-old daughter, who is taking the art world by storm, (2) an Italian artist’s startling and innovative sculptures that a N.Y. Times art critic called “riotous” and “radical,” and (3) a riveting assemblage of controversial artworks that have been banned & censored by museums in recent years. These are just 3 of 7 fascinating shows.

I love that this tour will be both fun AND controversial.  It means there’s something for everyone.  It’s a testament to the diversity of art in contemporary galleries that going from one space to the next sometimes means a radical shift in consciousness.  I suppose the same thing can happen when going from one floor of a museum to another, when the exhibits are so different.

The show I’m particularly excited to share with the group is the controversial one.  A curator had the brilliant idea to amass artworks that were banned or censored by various museums worldwide.  And you’ll be seeing the original artworks themselves.  A lot, but not all, is about sex.  And a lot, but not all of that, is homoerotic in nature.  There’s still such a deep-seated animosity all over the world against gay people (like me), so even the expression of queerness in a public space is taboo.  On the other hand, it’s thrilling to have so much sexy homoerotic art – and high-quality art at that – in one space.

The medium in this controversial art show is quite diverse: painting, photography, video, sculpture, fabric art, you name it.  One segment of this show consists of artworks that were in a museum and literally vandalized while on display, leaving to its removal.  The works are still intact, if beaten up.  And perhaps they’re even more interesting as damaged works.

But there’s going to be plenty of fun whimsy on this tour as well, exemplified by an Italian artist’s design pieces – tables, chairs, chests of drawers, etc. – that are made of the wildest materials imaginable.  Some of it has a deeper or political meaning, but most of it is just wildly amusing.

There probably won’t be another Soho gallery tour for 6 or more months, so take advantage of this one!

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D., Director
New York Gallery Tours

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