Gowanus, Brooklyn

On Saturday I went to the area around the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, a neglected industrial corridor between the leafy residential neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens and Park Slope. As is typical in New York, artists have infiltrated the loft buildings and warehouses, either renting studios or living semi-legally as long as they can get away with it.

Artist’s studio beneath the elevated subway

I was there for the Annual Gowanus Artists Studio Tour (A.G.A.S.T.), and specifically to visit Hilary Lorenz, an artist I have known and admired for a number of years. Here’s one of her recent pieces:

White Water Washed • Hilary Lorenz
30″ x 22″ Intaglio and archival digital print 2006

It is astonishing how many artists there are in New York despite the constant struggle for affordable work space. There were about 150 showing their work for the tour, highly talented individuals working mostly under the radar, that is, not represented by the major commercial galleries in the city.

Third Avenue

9th Street

9th Street

The Gowanus Canal area is definitely on the radar of the real estate developers, however, and its days as a gritty urban gray zone may be numbered. For the moment, it remains in suspended animation–a hodgepodge of industrial buildings, row houses, vacant lots, a taxi depot, a new tourist hotel, an Islamic school, a Macintosh repair shop, artists’ studios, a Lowes Home Improvement store, and so on. Along Fourth Avenue, out of scale, architecturally uninspiring condo projects mark the lower reaches of Park Slope.

Third Avenue