Art Gallery much?

Yantra , 2010
mixed fabrics and sequins on canvas
64 x 63 in.

Trolling the streets of Chelsea on a cold, slushy, icy, rainy ( insert correct weather condition here ) on a Thursday night may not seem the ideal way to begin the evening, but I soon learned that wet, cold and open to anything is actually the optimal state for attending gallery openings.

Installation View
"Karma Cash & Carry" exhibition at Tyler Rollins Fine Art

Chelsea in the 20′s around 11th Avenue is packed with gallery spaces, and it’s remarkably easy to find openings on weekend nights usually on Thursdays between 6 and 9 p.m. Warm and cheerfully lit, these openings present the perfect escape-the-cold atmosphere, complete with free wine and the opportunity to culture yourself.

A long-time favorite of mine is Tyler Rollins Fine Art Gallery on 529 W 20th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues.

Installation View 2
"Karma Cash & Carry" exhibition at Tyler Rollins Fine Art

Their upcoming exhibit is Agus Suwage’s The End is Just Beginning is The End opening on March 3rd, opening reception on March 10th @ 6pm on, you guessed right, a Thursday of course.

I am looking forward to it since I have lately found myself very much attracted to contemporary art from emergent areas in the Southeast and Southwest Asia and I have a thing for skulls :-)

Beautiful Dead #2, 2010
oil, acrylic, and gold leaf on zinc
27 1/2 x 36 in. (70 x 92 cm)

So go ahead and do some gallery hopping for the sake of art if not for free wine, lively conversation and the satisfied feeling of having done something worth snobbishly slipping into conversation at the party you continue to when the galleries close at 9 :-)

Let’s face it, “wine at gallery openings” sounds so much better than “shots at Whiskey Tavern,” right?