Notes on Soho
Richard Kostelanetz
In my memoir SoHo: The Rise and Fall of an
Artists’ Colony (Routledge), I conjectured that the South-Houston neighborhood
would survive as an art-exhibition venue only if the artists remaining in SoHo
made their own galleries, perhaps in their own lofts, much as they did before
the professional gallerists invaded. The practical obstacle to this vision, I
conjectured, is that their own lofts had, like mine, become too cluttered with
the work of decades.
What happened instead, I now realize, was the
creation of new galleries within SoHo itself, customarily in the ground-floor
retail spaces that can no longer be rented to slick retailers. Probably the
most auspicious so far has been the (147) Wooster Arts Space in the space
previously occupied by Rene “I Am the Best Artist” (Modica), who was an
important SoHo celebrity until he was evicted a few summers ago. The second
exhibition of several women, curated by Joyce Kozloff, consists mostly of SoHo
veterans who are as good as they ever were—Judith Henry, Jeannie Crosby, Ann
Messner, Julia Randall, Mira Schor and Barbara Zucker. The single strongest
piece comes from Henry, who was better–known to be as an expert commercial book
designer. Concerned with walking, it comes in three complimentary parts—a
videotape, three books of photographs, and a wall mural.
My suspicion now is that the SoHo groundfloor
leases are coming up for renewal, many retailers will be vacating, no longer
able to afford the extravagant rents, and leaving behind large empty spaces
that landlords would sooner rent month by month to art galleries (by nature a
portable biz) than keep empty, leaving behind in Soho proper a
catch–as–catch–can exhibition scene reminiscent of decades ago (the late 1960s,
to be exact).
