I remember when I was in school, reading some interview in an issue of Artforum published from before I was born, where they were discussing this whole “MFA-thing”, which seemed to be pretty new at the time. And the artist – I can’t remember his name – said “Why should anyone go back to school? You should come downtown, open a storefront, and find your audience.” I was reading this in about 1996, at which point it seemed fairly impossible to just get out of school and open a storefront.

Well, all of that is changing now, isn’t it? And I’m so excited.

Retail, according to the people who broker space, is “getting knocked-out” of Manhattan. And so, it is the moment for artists to “come downtown, open a storefront, and find your audience.”

The Unlawful Darlings would love to come visit any artists who have started storefronts since September’s troubles. (Please comment below and leave your address if you could!!!!) In the meantime, we are excited to learn of new alternative spaces popping up around Downtown, away from that ghetto of art-finance on the West Side.

Tonight, we’re checking out 255Canal–“a private exhibition space, giving emerging artists the opportunity to independently exhibit their work in New York.” (They refer to themselves as being located in SoHo, but you can look at a map HERE and decide if you wouldn’t call that Chinatown.)

On view is “Matt Daws” by Jeremy Price. They are really paintings (Is that surprising?) so we’ll post more once we see them on a wall.