One Special Visit

ne










Some encounters are more touching and memorable than others.

On a crisp day in January I had the honor to meet Korean artist Sook Jin Jo. Actually it were two days, a Saturday afternoon and a Sunday morning.

New York citizen for over 20 years, she is a big fish in the art scene here as well as in Korea. Seldom did I met such a philosophically and theoretically profound person in the creative profession (being not a theory expert I deem myself competent to say it ;)). And such a humble.

In her peaceful studio and home in the heart of Chelsea, with her kitties and to some Edward Elgar, we talked about being an immigrant, of women's status in Korea of the 80ies and of today, about how her neighbourhood in NYC has changed its face over the years.

She must have a bold spirit as she has grown beyond the conditions set down by her biography - which basically were not a bed of roses: being an Asian female artist, in none of the conventional art disciplines, being progressive in a then very backward society, facing financial difficulties when settling down in this city.

And the food? We had a lot.

Bagels with salmon tatar, black kaviar, goat cream cheese and Roumanian eggplant salad that I brought from Russ & Daughters.

Steemed yam. Peanut butter ice cream with berries and biscotti.

TTeokguk, Japchae, Kimchi Jeon and of course Kimchi.

galleries at west 26th st

According to online database www.artfacts.net, there are 956 private galleries in NYC. Taking the non-listed institutions into account, that would amount to over 1000. That's why it's not possible for anybody to catch a glimpse of the majority of them, also regarding the fact that gallery hours are not compatible with office hours.

So Saturdays, if not slept away completely, are the only chances to take a stroll.

I started slowly: with a single street in Westchelsea to see a group exhibition featuring the Korean-American artist Sook Jin Jo... to find it closed. It didn't matter as there was still too much to see.

Thanks to the enormous density of showcases in each respective neighborhood here, a gallery tour doesn't demand as much endurance as in other cities, where the time to arrive at one normally exceeds the time you spend in it. In some buildings you just have to get to the next floor or pass through a door to hit a different realm.

I learned later that it has not been more than a decade since this desolate spot of Manhattan turned into the the world's most important landscape for contemporary art.

What stands out right at the beginning is that here more than ever each gallery has its own distinct style and interior design.

Here are some snapshots including a lithograph by Willem de Kooning at Mary Ryan Gallery.