I’ve got 13 pieces up on the sweet bricky walls of Lolita Bar on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. A week or so earlier, the Times ran an article about the various art scenes of different New York neighborhoods, including a section about The Lowah:

“Among the art neighborhoods of Manhattan, the Lower East Side is by far the most picturesque. With its dusty synagogues, squeezed-together tenements, anarchist graffiti and shop signs in Yiddish, Spanish and Chinese, it’s a visual event whether you’re visiting galleries or not.

But the essence of a city is change, and this neighborhood is changing. The synagogues and signs are disappearing, along with the anarchist spirit and artist-friendly rents. Chic little bars and boutiques speak of rampant yuppification, although at the moment — and a sullen economy could prolong this — old and new are still trading places.”

(the whole article is here)

As I’ve been preparing for this show, I’ve been reading Richard Price‘s latest novel, “Lush Life,” set in the Lower East Side. I’d been on the NYPL waiting list for months, and boom, the book shows up just as I’m about to lug my canvases down there. Truly putting, as Flanders would say, the dink in coinky-dink, as it were. Synchronicity of some sort, I suppose. Good book, too. I saw Price read from it a few months ago at Summer Stage in Central Park. If you like “The Wire” (for which he wrote), you ought to check out his books, including “The Wanderers” and “Clockers” (both good flicks as well, but this guy is a pleasure to read, so doowit).

Anyway, back to the art. Join us on December 11 from 6-9 p.m. for the opening. We’ll be serving up pastrami and pickles and knishes, and Lolita has one of the best happy hours in town, daily from 5-8. Come for the art, stay for the $3 drinks and LES soul food!