Happy 2016

"May your coming year be filled with magic aand dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to makes some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself". ~ Neil Gaiman

Happy 2016 to us all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a time to pause and reflect on the beauty of life. 

May your holiday be filled with generosity of spirit so all can share in the harvest of the heart. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

NYC “The Big Apple” as model

“Constructing Manhattan from the Razor’s Edge” by Christina Lihan, consists of a series of stark-white paper cut-outs hanging diorama-style in striking, hard-angled and recognizable shapes. 

Representing many of NYC’s memorable buildings - including familiar landmarks at the Flatiron District and Madison Square - it is a magical simulated mini-skyline.

Happy Halloween!

This coming weekend we celebrate another turn of the Wheel of Life on October 31 - whatever it's called - Samhain, All Hallow's Eve or Halloween. 

188 Galerie window display for Halloween 2015

Whether celebrated traditionally or commercially, pagan or Christian, old or new world - the occasion marks the end of harvest season and is the harbinger of winter coming. 

So let us make hay and be jolly! Let's celebrate a fruitful bounty!

The Art of Washi

Washi is the Japanese word for the traditional papers made from the long inner fibers of three plants native to Japan  - kozo, mitsumata and gampi. 

The kozo plant (Broussonetia papyrifera) or paper mulberry bark is thick and strong. Its long, tough fibers produce durable, textured, stable papers that are the most commonly used in the making of Japanese paper or washi.

A craftsman makes washi paper at his workshop. (Hikaru Uchida)

89th Annual Feast of San Gennaro - Little Italy NYC

This annual feast is New York City's oldest, biggest and noisiest religious street festival - starting Thursday, September 10, continuing through Sunday, September 20, 2015. 

The Feast of San Gennaro opens every day at 11:30 a.m. and closes at 11:00 p.m. Sundays through Thursday's and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

cross pollinating catalysts in contemporary art

Tech tools and modern mobility connect and expand individuals outside ourselves and our lives in just about every imaginable aspect, immediately and increasingly.

Agnieszka Kurant, The End of Signature, 2015

As social media brings the virtual online world in touch and interactive for us all, so too does storytelling weave itself into contemporary art. 

At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue in New York City, on exhibit now until September 9 are over 100 works in diverse mediums by 48 international artists from its contemporary collection.

NYC Summer Extravaganza

In our last blog we mentioned Summer Streets, the annual New York City program that lets pedestrians and cyclists takeover major city streets – mostly from Park to Lafayette. 

Nearly seven miles of city streets from Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge are closed to vehicles for three Saturdays in August. 

sizzling summer greetings

Too lazy to leave home and face the heat of summer in the streets of New York City? There are worse things in life!

Too hot and bothered to bother with socials or visiting your friends and loved ones? Never mind!

Just send them one of our famous fun and frivolous greeting cards. A wide selection is available in store at 188 Galerie.

#lovewins

On June 26, 2015 the Supreme Court ruled that the US Constitution provides same-sex couples in all 50 states the right to marry. 

Two days later hundreds of thousands of people on Sunday [June 28] packed gay pride events from Chicago to New York City, Seattle to San Francisco, Sao Paolo to Belgrade with overall attendance swollen to millions in celebration of a freshly endorsed right to marry. 

Coney Island Posters

188 Galerie featured artists for the month of May are poster designers, Nate Cepis and Colin Smight. 

Nate is a designer and golfer from Philadelphia. Colin is a designer and singer of R&B from Los Angeles. They enjoy making stuff together. 

Their poster edition, inspired by summers in New York, focuses on ConeyIsland.

Live Collage @ 188 Galerie

On Wednesday, April 22nd Morgan Jesse Lappin founder of the Brooklyn Collage Collective, teamed up with Lizzie Gill of the BCC to deliver a Live Collage interactive session at 188 Galerie (at 188 Lafayette Street NYC).

cutting edge collage

With the new collage exhibition slated for April, 188 Galerie is inspired to share this piece on the history and technique as well as the art and craft of collage.

Collage is a visual art medium and expressive craft process of assembling varied materials to create a whole new piece. The term collage is derived from the French coller, meaning 'to glue.'

Collage emerged from the cubist gluing and pasting explorations of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, who in the beginning of the 20th century transformed the medium into a distinctive part of modern art.

Inside 188 Galerie

The start of 2015 was also the beginning of a new concept of business. 

188 Galerie @188galerie.com

188 Lafayette Street │New York, NY 10013 │800.809.9880

A gallery space that celebrates paper as an art form. 188 Galerie features artists who are inspired by paper as a powerful creative medium and source of artistic expression. 

In addition to exhibitions, the gallery has a select collection of artisanal cards, journals, stationery, and decorative sheets, carefully curated from around the world.