Huff and puff as much as you want, but New York Galleries are made of brick, fuck you very much Sandy.
If you don’t already know, Hurricane Sandy has severely hurt the New York art scene. Gotham has never experienced this kind of thing before (we’ve been flooded, but not to this degree). Everyone living here was taken by surprise when the Lower East Side and Chelsea gallery districts both got badly flooded. Artist studios in Gowanus and Greenpoint areas of Brooklyn were not only flooded, but the waters that filled their buildings are known for being severely polluted. What objects survived have to be handled carefully with gloved hands, and likely discarded as unusable. Sandy didn’t really throw a lot of rain at us, but the surge that came in from the ocean filled up gallery basements and went up as high as 5 feet in ground floor spaces.
Here are some links showing images of the damage wreaked by the storm:
ArtInfo: Hurricane Sandy Leaves Greenpoint Studios Wrecked, Destroying Years of Work
From art critic Jerry Saltz: Saltz’s Devastating Tour Through Chelsea’s Ruined Art Galleries
Hyperallergic’s multiple reports:
New York’s Art World Assessing Impact of Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy Report, 2 Days After
Hurricane Sandy Report, 3 Days After
Hurricane Sandy Report, 4 Days After
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