Starving Artists on the Lower East Side

A thick layer of graffiti coats the Mars Bar, where the tags feel as retro as the New Wave glass-block windows. In the late eighties, it was a "denizen of artists, drunks, freaks, junkies and musicians," where painters such as Jim Sizelove got their start. Today, the seedy dive continues to showcase art that one survival guide says ranges from the "hilariously bad (a big, striped paper mache penis), to the thought provoking (a large light-up sign that reads "Free drinks tomorrow!" Alas, tomorrow never comes. Get it?), to the reasonably good (or maybe it just seems that way after a few drinks)."

The bar helped to open up the conversation of what constitutes art. While New York City Pulse may have said, "a compromise between art and graffiti covers the interior and exterior walls," the popularity of the recent Spring Street murals and overflow of books on the subject of street art are helping to close the gap between the so-called "compromise." Among the best-selling books about New York graffiti are Graffiti NYC, by Hugo Martinez and Antonio Zaya; Subway Art, by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant; and Autograf: New York City's Graffiti Writers, by Stephen Powers.

What continues to make the Mars Bar particularly unique is that it features art both inside and outside of the club. The mural on the First Street wall outside the bar changes periodically, and the standout fragment of the current mural is the would-be street sign labeled "L.E.S." that relates that the painting encapsulates—or at least tries to—life on the Lower East Side. However, with the rapidly changing demographics of the LES, it's hard to truly define the neighborhood these days. The fluorescent colors of the mural seem to bemoan yesteryear's punks who are being bludgeoned out of the neighborhood; while the more classical cubist references usher in the wealthy downtown crowd that makes slumming hip.

A few paces west, past the wall art, one hits the new luxury apartment complex, the Avalon Bowery Place. "It's time to indulge in Manhattan living—the way you always dreamt it would be," boasts the website. Once ripe with boarded-up establishments and yes, graffiti, the neighborhood typified "bleak failure"; now property is going for "$95 to $115 per square foot," according to one source. It would seem the artists will be of the starving variety if they want to live in the Lower East Side these days. As forums pessimistically speculate that the demise of the Mars Bar isn't far behind that of CBGB's, it's tempting to say that homogenization will replace creativity and that murals like the one outside of the Mars Bar will no longer be relevant.

However, there is still an outpouring of art in the Lower East Side. Here's a brief selection:

The New York Times says the New Museum of Contemporary Art at 235 Bowery, "inspire[s] so much confidence in the future." Expected to open next year (construction began in 2005), the 60000-square-foot museum will greatly contribute to the downtown arts scene with its galleries, Zenith Media Lounge, educational floor, and roof terrace. The website boasts, "Our building project is already catalyzing the transformation of the fabled Bowery."

Like the Mars Bar, the Bowery Poetry Club joins art with music and literature and lots of coffee. The Art Wall there, which is independently curated, changes every two months.

Rivington Arms, located at 4 East 2nd Street, has the aptly titled exhibit Cabin Fever until February 24. Then, March 9 through April 7, Darren Bader's as = poaching the poachers will show.

The Lower East Side is people-oriented, and Cuchifritos is a gallery with a focus "on contemporary art as it relates to community, social issues, and public space." Located at Essex Street Market (120 Essex St.), it is a Program of the Artists Alliance Inc. From now until March 7, there is an exhibit that examines the work of two artists with the same name, Marcy Freedman.

Meanwhile, The Village Voice is calling Giant Robot New York, "Best New Gallery/store For Big Kids Who Still Like To Play With Toys." Giant Robot New York is located at 437 E. Ninth Street. James Kochalka's cutesy Little Paintings are on display through March 14.

Besides the various venues that showcase art, there are artists like Marion Wilson, who brings art to the streets. The conceptual artist has paired with people at the Bowery Mission to create works that are a social commentary on homelessness. One of her most-talked-about pieces speaks on the neighborhood, according to gallery owner Cheryl Pelavin: "Wilson constructed a fantastic, colorful pushcart, called This Store Too, a paean both to the pushcarts that dotted turn-of-the-century Lower East Side New York and to Claes Oldenburg's famous Store, created some forty-five years earlier."

While the neighborhood might be changing, the Lower East Side is still a thriving arts community. You just have to sell a lot more paintings to live there.