Unedited flash art interview for May 2008

What are you currently working on?
.how to have a gallery and a life
.nikki de st. phalle
.autodidacts 1970 - 2000
.a suite of six prints of Isabella Kirkland's TAXA series
.comprehensive Nancy Shaver catalog
.article about how commodification has ruined art 1980 - 2005

Do you believe the Lower East Side has a certain spirit or style?
If so, how does it differ from the rest of New York?
Certainly it differs from the other neighborhoods that now house the ny art worlds, though it is close in feel to what the east village and soho were in the mid to late 80s. In terms of present day art hoods in NY, it is less homogenized and has a wide wider range of business and residences. People live, work, and play here, it is not just for shopping.. Like most of dwntwn nyc, things are a bit more free and realistic. There's a fair amount of blurring going on. The lack of concentration of galleries gives you time to think and reflect between seeing exhibition. And there is a little bit of a rawness left to the neighborhood, which is generally a refreshing grind against money.

How has the Lower East Side changed in the last year?
Yes considerably, don't know yet if it's for the better or worse. The skyline and storefronts have chic-ed up. Being part of a gentrification, as they name it, is a frightening thing. Tho I'm interested in blending in, not standing out or changing. But with art comes money and money changes everything and most everybody.

How do you think the presence of the New Museum impacts on the Lower East Side art community, which until recently has mainly consisted of artists and young galleries?
Like any larger scaled museum, considerably. It's a magnet. It will draw people to the les who would not otherwise visit.