The Art of the Pour: Guide to New Yorks Art Bar Scene;Can Rome's Art Scene Have Another Renaissance?

The art world is a convivial place, and often an evening of shuttling from one gallery opening
to another is followed by a mass sojourn to the neighborhood watering hole to compare notes,
gossip, and flirt. While any bar will do in a pinch, one type of venue rises above the rest:
the art bar. Scattered through art
scenes around the world, and often invisible to the uninitiated, these bars—epitomized by
dealer/artist Gavin Brown's late and lamented Passerby in West Chelsea—exist as clubby
insider hangouts that generally were conceived
to cater to specific art cliques.

These bars flourish in ecosystems like New York's Lower East Side, an area rich in both artists and
art scenes, but they tend to be transient ventures: with a few notable exceptions, they exist only
until the artists/owners in question become too successful, win residencies elsewhere, or get bored
(or broke)
. Artspace's Dylan Kerr bravely donned his David Attenborough hat to seek out the specimens that are
thriving right now.

GHOST

GHOSTLocation: 132A Eldridge Street
Associated Artists: The graffiti writer-turned-street-artist Moody (aka Mutz) has a few pieces
inside, including his well-known Coca-Cola ad riff, along with a dolphin-themed mural by
BK FOXX outside. The mural changes on a bimonthly basis and has featured works by Sweet Toof,
Lady Pink, and several more.
Concept: Located directly across the street from Woodward Gallery, it serves as both a bar
and a project space focusing on street art.
Clientele: Hard to say, since when we went in at 8 p.m. on a Thursday it was just us and
the bartender (who was easily the nicest and most personable individual we encountered all night).
Signature Drink: Lots of good cocktails; we were intrigued by the “Seasonal Shrub,” which
uses fruits preserved in vinegar and sugar—a colonial American tradition, apparently—as the
basis for a rotating cast of drinks.
Decor: Interesting juxtaposition of street-art cheekiness with red velvet curtains, roses,
and candles.
Playlist: Nondescript lite rock.
Anonymous Quote: “She literally willed herself to live... that's so dope.”

FIG. 19Location: 96 Orchard
Concept: Owned and operated by dancers (think Performa, not Rockette), they specialize in
late-night DJ sets on the weekends and decent food and drink the rest of the time.
Associated Artists: Owners Jessie Gold and Elizabeth Hart are artists in their own right, and
they’ve done installations for some of the nearby galleries with fellow artists like Lucky
DeBellevue and Daphne Fitzpatrick.
Clientele: Fairly standard LES bar crowd: quietly drunk, with skinny jeans and baggy vintage
sweaters.
Signature Drink: Known for their cocktails; I liked the “Ginger Rogers,” made with tequila,
fresh lime juice, and house-made ginger syrup.
Decor: The bricks, lighting, and brightly patterned bar top do a lot of the aesthetic work,
along with the Naomi Fisher mural on the back wall. Other touches include a victrola, a
disco ball, and cut flowers.
Playlist: Good disco.
Anonymous Quote: “Oh my god, I’m sending this to all four of my friends.”

Fig. 19Location: 21 Essex
Concept: A slightly younger, more contemporary update of the Max Fish “for-artists-by-artists”
bar model, Beverly’s is especially cool because it actually curates exhibitions in the
space—and elsewhere, since it's become a favorite bar for art fairs like Mexico City's
Material to import.
Associated Artists: Owned and operated by the artist Dan Sutti, the bar has had shows with
Artie Vierkant, Em Rooney, Christina Tufiño, and a bunch more cool young artists.
The exhibitions change fairly regularly.
Clientele: Often described along the lines of “soul-crushingly hip,” the place is usually
packed and super fun despite totally living up to this reputation. I have dim memories of
actually dancing here, which is maybe the most effusive praise I can give a bar.
Signature Drink: Beverly’s is made for the beer & shot combo.
Decor: Besides the (mostly video) art, pink neon and pineapples. One fond recollection is of
their fog machine blasting vapor, which made the smoke detector go off, which made the
bartender poke it with a stick until it stopped. This happened several times.
Playlist: Loud dance hits from the ‘80s and contemporary hip-hop.
Anonymous Quote: “I’ve been praying that someone would put on ‘Rhythm of the Night’ for like
45 minutes.”

Location: 87 Rivington
Concept: Speakeasy located in the back of the Lodge Gallery; a bouncer sits at the door of the
otherwise standard white-cube space, which you have to walk through to a semi-hidden door
revealing the dimly lit and far more ornate bar in the back.
Associated Artists: We walked through a group show featuring George Boorujy, Lori Nix, Kate Clark,
Doung Young, and more on our way to the bar. There were a few prints on the walls in the bar,

including an interesting de Kooning, but for the most part the art seemed confined to the
gallery space.
Clientele: Well-dressed couples (think polos and loafers), fitting the overall vibe of the space.
Signature Drink: Their most notable offering might be the prosecco they have on tap.
Decor: Speakeasy chic, with brick walls offset by crystal chandeliers, taxidermied critters
, marble tabletops, and glass display cases filled with candles and ephemera.
Playlist: Dad rock.
Anonymous Quote: “It’s 9:40 p.m. and I already have too many boyfriends.”

MAX FISHLocation: 120 Orchard
Concept: Started in 1989 by the artist Ulli Rimkus as a retreat for the rough-and-ready residents

of the still-sketchy Lower East Side, Max Fish’s original location on Ludlow was a fixture of the
Manhattan art scene until it closed in July 2013. While the new location on Orchard can't
completely fill that void, it
nonetheless preserves much of the original’s charm.
Associated Artists: Many over the years, including Kiki Smith, Tom Otterness, and Shepard Fairey.
Clientele: By far the most mixed crowd of the night, with plenty of ear gauges and Hawaiian shirts
to go around.
Signature Drink: Cheap beer, baby.
Decor: Eclectic to say the least; unclear where the art ends and the kitsch begins, but we like
it that way. The pool table and pinball machines seemed popular.
Playlist: Punk and reggae.
Anonymous Quote: “Did you just compare your love life to Vietnam

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Rome. The Caput Mundi. The ancient seat of the Republic, then the empire, then the
church, which gave us the Renaissance. “You must serve her,” Marcus Licinius Crassus
declaimed in Stanley Kubrik’s Spartacus. “You must abase yourself before her. You
must grovel at her feet. You must... love her.”

But while for centuries Rome maintained hegemony over both temporal affairs and the e
xalted arts, in recent times its creative denizens have found themselves living in a
museum of previous accomplishments, forced to wallow nostalgically in the pomp of
the past—an attitude exemplified by Paolo
Sorrentino’s film The Great Beauty. Now, however, there seems to be a new drive
to reinvigorate the city’s art scene by turning the spotlight to the contemporary

moment. These efforts came refreshingly into flower over the
weekend with the debut of GRANPALAZZO, a new pop-up event that took place in the
prestigious countryside premises of Zagarolo’s 16-century Palazzo Rospigliosi,
just outside of Rome.

A detour from pessimism about the city’s cultural vitality, GRANPALAZZO set out to


demonstrate the will of professionals in the Roman art scene to make the city a hub
for contemporary art in Italy—though one rooted in the city's glorious cultural history.
(The palazzo itself, once owned by the Cardinal
Ludovico Ludovisi, is distinguished by its elegant domed ceilings and frescos of

hunting scenes, the Battle of Lepanto, and other august subjects.) “We all love
Rome,” says Paola Capata, the owner of Monitor Gallery, who
co-founded the event with curator Ilaria Gianni, gallerist Federica Schiavo, and



the events manager Delfo Durante. “We decided to be committed to the city, and to
give it everything we have to offer.”

3The exterior of the palazzo

Above all, GRANPALAZZO was a recognition of the fact that Rome, against all odds, has been
evolving as an increasingly potent draw for the international contemporary art scene. Artists,
curators, and other tastemakers are lured to the city by glamorous residency programs in
institutions such as the American Academy


in Rome, the French Academy, and the British School at Rome—often with collectors in tow. Now,
eight years after Gagosian opened an outpost in Rome (primarily to cater to Cy Twombly, who
lived outside the city),
the dealer Gavin Brown has also announced plans to bring his vanguard-leading gallery to
Trastevere. The city’s art scene, in other words, is slowly starting to take part in the
international artistic discourse.

Overall, though, the infrastructure remains largely absent, and the galleries are

mostly young—the kind that you see in the emerging “spotlight” sections in art fairs.
The key players, inaugurated in the mid-2000s, include the galleries Monitor, T293,
Lorcan O’Neill, and Federica Schiavo; the
magazines/publishing houses NERO and cura; and the newspapers Exibart and Artribune.

The city has also benefited from the launch of new private art initiatives, such as
Matèria Gallery and the Fondazione per l’Arte Contemporanea. The former was opened a
few months ago by the Roman photographer Niccolò Fano in the once-working-class
neighborhood of San Lorenzo to feature a program of
photography and printing-related exhibitions. The latter, located in Mandrione, is a
foundation established last fall by a young Rome-based collector couple Ilaria Bozzi
and Flavio Ferri to present site-specific
installations. Both spaces are away from the city’s noisy historical center, and a
short distance from the streets of Pigneto, the city’s equivalent of Williamsburg.

2An installation view of the show

It’s in this emergent context that GRANPALAZZO is rooted—and the fluidity of the scene
could be read in the nature of the pop-up event itself, which refused to define itself

as either an exhibition, a pop-up event, or a cosy small-scale fair. Featuring 18 artists
brought by the same number of galleries,
“GRANPALAZZO is a new and different experience,” Capata explains. “It was first conceived
as an art show, and all the artists involved were supported by their own galleries to
realize and show the works. The artworks were all
for sale, and collectors could interact directly with the galleries over the course of the

weekend in order to ask questions and make potentially deals in a smooth and relaxed way,
without the pressure that normally you
find at art fairs.”

Visitors encountered that laid-back atmosphere already in the silent and peaceful walk from
the ancient gates of the village of Zagarolo to Palazzo Rospigliosi, a road distinguished
by views of the forested valley that leads down to the town, as well as flower-decorated
alleyways running off the path. Two fuchsia
drapes bearing GRANPALAZZO’s logo hung down from the central windows of the palazzo’s façade

to a greet new arrivals, and on Saturday morning a crowd of curious locals—accustomed to
visiting the palace for seasonal
wine events and village feasts—mixed with the black-clad jet-setters of the art world.

“Why are all these people speaking English in Zagarolo?” may have been a question running
\ through the heads of locals, and the answer could be found in the multinational spectrum
of the galleries taking part in the event, most of which flew in from abroad. Participants
included the Zürich-based gallery BolteLang (which
featured the sculptor Vanessa Billy), London’s Josh Lilley Gallery (Benedetto Pietromarchi),

Amsterdam’s Stigter van Doesburg (Amalia Pica), and Karlsruhe’s Weingrüll (Sascha Pohle).
Among the Italian exhibitors

were the Milan-based Zero… (Giorgio Andreotta Calò), P420 from Bologna (Riccardo Baruzzi), and
Galleria Tiziana Di Caro of Naples (Damir Oćko).

1Another installation view

“We chose among some of the most interesting, serious, and consistent artists and galleries in the
contemporary art scene,” says Ilaria Gianni, the co-founding curator. Walking around GRANPALAZZO,

one could perceive an electric buzz in the air—the happy mood of likeminded talents brought
together by a common cause.
Asked why she was drawn to take part in the event, Ilaria Leoni, of the fledgling nomadic gallery
Ermes, she said, “We immediately embraced the project because of our high regard for the quality
of the initiative
and its organizers.”

More than a conventional fair, where the drive for sales can obscure the art behind dollar signs
, GRANPALAZZO genuinely gave the impression of a site-specific exhibition project where commerce
took the back seat—and with each room hosting just one or two installations, the dealers were
free to wander around chatting
and meeting people here and there. Clearly, the participants were embracing the basic marketing
concept that building strong relationships between buyers and sellers is a more successful
long-term strategy than the hard sell.

processionA procession participating in a performance by Tomaso De Luca's outside GRANPALAZZO

“The great thing about GRANPALAZZO is that a curator has worked with all of the artists and
the galleries involved to establish a relationship based on an intimate viewing experience
and promoting a conversation,” said Josh Lilley, owner at the eponymous gallery in the
London’s Fitzrovia neighborhood. The art scene
of Rome, and Italy more broadly, felt newly relevant after touring the event. Its general vibe
of sprezzatura was a potent part of its charm. As Capata says, “It was really important to us
that our public appreciate the

cosy and intimate dimension of our project, framed in a really different way compared to all
the other contemporary art events around the world.”