This morning while going over a list I made of art-exhibitions I wish to visit this summer, I realized something. In the past, while visiting art galleries in Connecticut, I have always taken note of the neighborhoods and towns they are located in. Contrary to museums, galleries thrive on art-sales, and location is everything when trying to attract the right art-buyers. As a result, most art galleries in Connecticut tend to be located in upper-class neighborhoods, where dropping large sums of money on a painting is no big deal.
So I decided to do a search on the web for Contemporary art gallery to see if a listing of locations would come up. Wikipedia was the first to appear on the google search engine with the following information under districts:
Art districts
Galleries tend to cluster in certain neighborhoods within cosmopolitan cities for economic and practical reasons, mainly that it is possible for the buyers and general public to view more art if they can travel by foot. In the past galleries have tended to cluster in neighborhoods with affordable real-estate due to the unprofitable nature of the business. However, in the 21st century art galleries are strongly associated with the process of gentrification, and prime real estate for Chelsea galleries is not affordable for unprofitable galleries. Generally, cities that have less centralized art districts are faring poorly in terms of market share.
List of art districts by area name, city and country
USA
- Chelsea, 57th Street, Upper East Side and Madison Avenue, SoHo, Lower East Side, TriBeCa, and Dumbo, and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City.
- West Loop, Chicago.
- Downtown Arts and Museum District, The Railyard District and Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
- East End & West End, Commercial Street, Bradford Street, Provincetown, Massachusetts
List of art districts by area name, city and country
USA
- Chelsea, 57th Street, Upper East Side and Madison Avenue, SoHo, Lower East Side, TriBeCa, and Dumbo, and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City.
- West Loop, Chicago.
- Downtown Arts and Museum District, The Railyard District and Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
- East End & West End, Commercial Street, Bradford Street, Provincetown, Massachusetts
Fairfield County, Connecticut, is known for its upper-class life style, expensive restaurants, boutiques and art-galleries. However, in comparison to larger cities such as New York, relatively small locales like Greenwich, New Canaan, Norwalk, Westport or Fairfield are often over-looked, such as in the Wikipedia post.
Needless to say, there are thousands of contemporary art galleries in the United States, most of which are not listed on Wikipedia. Hopefully, other art lovers who see their cities and towns missing from the list will be inspired to add to this post.
If so, then please consider adding it so another fellow art hunter may take a visit.
Happy editing!
