LES v. Chelsea

Chelsea feels old and stodgy. I think it's the architecture, big sans-serif fonts on the doors, which are tall and heavy and made of steel and glass, and the huge names. And even if I don't know the names of artists who are exhibiting, I feel like I should. I don't go to Chelsea that often, even though it's easily accessibly by the train. In my mind, and I know that this is a bad thing to have done, I've divided Chelsea vs. the Lower East Side into "irrelevant old stuff" vs. "what's interesting." Chelsea feels really inaccessible and institutional in comparison with the Lower East Side-- I can't imagine a show with a little fake tree on the top and a whole pet shop in a lower floor happening in Chelsea. I really think it's the architecture. And it's really clean and I feel out of place. I like the Lower East Side because of the architecture-- so many galleries are in tiny old storefronts and old apartments. But that's also what troubles me about the Lower East Side-- gentrification through arts. Part of the charm of the LES is its seediness, dirtyness. It seems "realer" than Chelsea. There are old Chinese people everywhere and also there are drug addicts. That is edgy. Edginess makes cool, cool plus art makes money and money makes no more edginess (edginess can no longer afford to be cool). I like the Lower East Side galleries because everyone seems to know each other and everyone is quite young-- everyone is young-gossipy, young-collaborative, and young-attitude-friendly/awkward. I don't know how Chelsea gallery dynamics work that much, really, and I probably am making overarching statements about LES that aren't true. 

this video has a title that has to do with the Lower East Side, and that's about it, unless you want to do some deep thinking I think (It can be fun). I like this song. 

Santigold - LES Artistes