apexart 291 church street new york, ny 10013 t: 212.431.5270 [email protected] www.apexart.org apexart is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization and does not engage in sales or sales-related activities. apexart is a registered trademark. apexart’s program supporters past and present include The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Buhl Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Spencer Brownstone, The Greenwich Collection Ltd., William Talbott Hillman Foundation/Affirmation Arts Fund, the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, the Fifth Floor Foundation, the Consulate General of Israel in New York, the Kenneth A. Cowin Foundation, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and public funds from the Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

You can support what we do at apexart.org/support.php apexart © 2019 ISBN: 978-1-946416-27-8

Should we save the brochures? Tell us - apexart.org/printornot

cover image: Carl Glassman, Staple Street, 1994, Digital print, 30 x 19 in The Show curated by Carl Glassman and April Koral December 5 - December 21, 2019

Max Blagg Donna Ferrato Carl Glassman Marc Kaczmarek Susan Rosenberg Jones Allan Tannenbaum

apexart - nyc Opponents blasted the idea (#WeKnowWhoWeAre) and and (#WeKnowWhoWeAre) idea the blasted Opponents Quarter. Cathedral as known neighborhood a in project that “Tribeca” would be the year last name announcing after of developer Belfast a a concurred large redevelopment community,” international the with “resonates name The Los Angeles designer about his new necklace, the Tribeca. a said it,” to feel happening and hip ultra-cool, an has “It those numberswouldbetoday. restaurant 1,000 what Imagine stories. than news and columns gossip more reviews, in “trendy” as described bars, neighborhood the found to 1998 in back search artists computer rap name. the adopting Most and were yachts and bracelets brand. racehorses global from a everything becoming already was Tribeca before, decade a Nearly surprised. been have shouldn’t I event. It annual the of place the was longer no Tribeca two. the merged she’d that her to occurred have to not seemed It the filmfestival,orTribeca,neighborhood?” Tribeca, about talking you “Are naively. asked I “Wait,” Tribeca. Tribeca this, Tribeca that. Tribeca, Tribeca, Tribeca. in the then director of the interviewed festival I for our Festival, upcoming Film coverage Tribeca the of life the in Early The Tribeca Show Tribeca, The Tribeca Trib 1927, Archivalprint,30.5 x24in was theevent.Thebrand. . Here and there she would mention mention would she there and Here . The Trib ’s ’s acquired over a lifetime, are in stark contrast to the the to contrast stark in are lifetime, neighborhood’s airylofts. a over acquired lifestyle. Tribeca possessions with the crowded often apartments, of homey Their idea common the from far spaces living veer their and subjects Her Plaza. in Independence development, residents rise high longtime middle-income of formerly Tribeca’s empathetic, and intense both Susan RosenbergJones on JayStreet. Halloween— for figure—even menacing a empty Street, Leonard otherwise and dark a on woman solitary a Street, Church on scene beach-like a Tribeca: for one unexpected an seems image every Nearly glamour. over grit with sides has resulted in two books. Her affection for the always eye to a body of work on the neighborhood’s street life that Photographer glamour. across and glitz on focus provides media neighborhood insistent the defying decades, the the show of views the divergent poet, and diverse local one and photographers Tribeca-based long-time five of perspectives the Through Rather, itseekstode-brandit. The Tribeca Show wealth andcelebrity,do#WeKnowWhoWeAre? Given the real Tribeca’s over-hyped reputation for trendiness, historic heartofBelfast!” dramatically. Quarter/The Cathedral CQ, are last/We not will name “The intoned he Tribeca!” not are “We verse. in Council City the before argument his presented even one Donna Ferrato, Nobu DonnaFerrato , 2008,Digitalprint,22x17in does not try to define the neighborhood. ’s ’s Building 1 brings a quirky and sardonic presents portraits, presentsportraits, annual tradition of honoring the winter solstice with writing a new poem. Each year he hangs copies of the poem from a clothesline that he strings between trees in Tribeca Park: an offering to neighbors and passersby, much like the poem that he hangs in apexart’s gallery for this exhibition.

And then there are the show’s archival photos, reminders of the din of different times, like the clatter of wagon wheels on cobblestone streets or the deafening roar of the el above. Such images, so far from the neighborhood we now know, nevertheless recall the area’s evolving past as visual context to the Tribeca of today.

As a photographer I have been chronicling the neighborhood Carl Glassman, 60 Hudson St. Protest, 2000, Digital print, 20 x 13 in in The Tribeca Trib for the past 25 years. When April Koral and The El Stops at Franklin Street, 1928, Archival print, 14.5 x 9.1 in I launched the paper in September 1994, we couldn’t have Allan Tannenbaum, who moved into the raw space of his foreseen that the neighborhood was on the cusp of a new era landmarking—saving, really—of large swaths of the 19th Duane Street loft 45 years ago, provides a rare and humorous and a freshly refinished reputation. Although already largely century industrial landscape that architecturally defines the view of Tribeca’s plebeian commerce of the 1970s. “Bargain” residential, many warehouses and other industrial buildings neighborhood. stores with names like Dr. Schlock’s and Mashugana Dave’s still dotted the landscape, yet to be turned into today’s palace- scream out to passersby, “Last Call!” “New Items Daily” priced lofts. Pigeons resided where the rich and powerful now It was that preservation that certainly helped turn the area and “Best Prices.” That’s hardly the look of today’s Tribeca, live. into one of the country’s richest zip codes. As Forbes gushed though here and there, on and , their last year, Tribeca “boasts one of the world’s largest collections distant cousins survive. Our first major stories chronicled the public review—and often of Neo-Grec designs and wrought-iron facades, in loft-style heated debate—that accompanied rezoning proposals to low-rises that real estate investors from around the globe Another Tribeca pioneer, Marc Kaczmarek, settled in allow, “as of right,” new retail and residential conversions of covet.” his Walker Street loft in 1974. Through the use of tone the old buildings and accelerated new apartment construction. manipulation, he shows the neighborhood in fresh and For all its presumed panache, and despite its Carters, Swifts unfamiliar ways, giving a lustrous beauty to the area’s muted With the social and economic landscape changing around us, and Timberlakes, Tribeca remains in many ways the same streetscape and challenging the way we see the everyday. and the burgeoning family population that came with it, the small town-in-a-big-city kind of place that in 1994 felt like the Trib’s stories and photos remained focused on the unglamorous perfect place to start a local paper. Newsweek may headline Marc Kaczmarek, Canal St. Station, 2010, Digital print, 9 x 12 in Max Blagg’s contribution takes the form of a commissioned yet vital life of the community. The photographs here convey “The 7 Best Places to Spot A Celebrity In Tribeca,” as it did poem dedicated to the neighborhood. As a poet who has a wide-ranging sample of what makes up an ill-defined last April, promising readers that they might bump grocery part of Tribeca, as are the celebrity sightings, weeklong film lived in Tribeca for over 40 years, Blagg has developed an sense of place—from the last day of a local coffee shop to a carts with Meg Ryan at Whole Foods. And yes, big money is festival hubbub and the rest. summer evening of dancing on a Hudson River Pier, and many moments in between. Hardly momentous, but meaningful to But is that all we are? The Tribeca Show means to say no. our readers. Like any famous location, there is a reality behind the legend. Often, those stories have highlighted the residents truly The artists in the show remind us that a broad spectrum of deserving of boldface attention. Step into any local park— life is missing from the area’s reputation. It is through their , , Tribeca Park, Canal eyes, and through their decades in the neighborhood, that Park, Finn Square, or Bogardus Garden (now under major we can come closer to seeing the true community called reconstruction). Play minigolf or volleyball on Pier 25. Take a Tribeca. free kayak ride from the Downtown Boathouse or go on an Art & Culture Night tour of local galleries. One way or another, each came about thanks to a few dedicated local volunteers —Carl Glassman who took it upon themselves to help elevate the neighborhood into a community. Carl Glassman and April Koral Dedicated volunteers, too, did the painstaking historical Invited Curator Exhibition Allan Tannenbaum, Mashugana Dave of Chambers Street, 1977, Digital print, 24 x 17.3 in research on neighborhood buildings that led to the city’s Susan Rosenberg Jones, Josephine and Joseph, 2012, Digital print, 24 x 17.3 in © apexart 2019