Soho (sometimes capitalized as SoHo) is a neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, which is downtown in New York. I had the pleasure of walking around a lot of area on my recent trip there. It isn't a very large space compared to the city as a whole, but there's a lot in it.
Since the late 20th century the area has been making a strong comeback from a low point it reached after the 19th century concluded and the center of the city continued to move uptown. Even before that time, the dramatic change in the character and nature of the neighborhood drove out a lot of the middle class. By the 1880s and 90s Soho had lost 25% of its population. This reduced the price of property as lumber and textile companies, trade smiths, manufacturers, companies commercially selling dry-goods, and publishers moved in. After World War II ended in 1945, a lot of manufacturing and textile companies moved back down South. This left a lot of empty industrial buildings. Some of the buildings were repurposed as warehouses and printing plants; others were torn down to make way for parking lots and repair garages. By the 1950s it was known as Hell's Hundred Acres because of the little factories and sweatshops people were packed into to work, as well as the industrial wasteland-look it had taken on over the years.
The district didn't start to make a comeback until the 1960s when artists started to move into the area. Buildings with tall ceilings, a lot of windows, and lofts above them made for the perfect studio spaces. The new influx of people coming in brought back other businesses. Artists and other creative people in the area made it a go-to destination. This interest in the area on a larger-than-local scale brought in chain stores and larger companies with more money to invest in the district.
Today Soho is a very interesting and nice place to visit. There are hotels, stone-paved side streets, studios, galleries, coffee shops, book stores, chain stores from national and international companies, and boutique shops with all different kinds of stuff. There's also some murals, some graffiti, and some great architecture.
This was my first time visiting Soho, but I had known for some time hearing from different sources that it was an area with a lot of artists and interesting places to visit. Being called an artist, it was pretty coincidental that it went with my last name, so I always like to joke around and say it's my kingdom or that it was named after my family. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the area actually gets its name from an acronym because the area is South of Houston St. What I didn't mention is that a similarly artistic and eclectic section of London's West End shares the same name is also what gave rise to the use of the name in New York. I plan on visiting that Soho too someday.
FOUR and someone else wrote their name in the dust on the windows on the top floor.
Soho boasts one of the largest collections of cast-iron architecture in New York. So much so that most of the area is included in what is now the preserved Cast-Iron Historic District, as designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Today it's considered one of the country's national historic landmarks. The Cast-Iron District consists of 26 blocks with about 500 buildings between them. As the name suggests, these buildings have architectural elements in which cast-iron plays an important role. The style and means of building were popular during the Industrial Revolution when cast-iron was cheap and steel had yet to be invented. The most apparent cast-iron features are the facades and fire escapes on the front and backs of the buildings, but a lot of the main framework in the buildings is cast-iron as well. Neo-classical and Romanesque architecture influenced the more decorative side of the buildings' design.
One day it won't be a joke, and I really will have business in the area. The next time I come back I'm bringing finished work, sketchbooks, some painting stuff, and expansion plans. Business will be the name of the game.
Among my future goals is becoming a Soho House member. Soho House is a global social club for people in the creative industries. Their membership is incredibly private. New members are put up for membership by current members to be approved by a board of members higher up. You can also apply to be a member. To maintain "the right balance of people," members are often purged from the group. I've seen a lot of talented people, so I'd be lying to myself if I thought I deserved to be a member before some of these other people. At least at this point in time. However, anyone who knows me knows that even though I hit some setbacks and my work isn't were it could be, nothing comes before my artwork in my life. Not to mention most of my last name's out front, on their other locations, on the website, and the business cards. It seems like it would be really fitting, like it was meant to be.
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| photo credit: Soho House New York's Twitter (@sohohousenyc) |
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| photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza |
A really cool door and doorway.
One of the things I would like to do as soon as my other, older work is finally completed. It's nice to see advertising done in a more traditional manner again.
Street art starring Jonathan Banks.
More than half of the galleries I went to were closed. Sunday was not the best day to pick for gallery-hopping.
Thankfully I found a few decent ones that were open. I didn't take pictures in the galleries. Usually they don't let you, and in some of the galleries the work wasn't worth photographing. I wasn't there to be inspired visually anyway. I'm always open to inspiration of course, but that wasn't my main reason for wanting to go in. I already have a lot of ideas for artwork, and I'm in the process of getting better with what I know as well as expanding the different mediums and styles I use. It's the business end of the art world that I know very little about.
I mostly wanted to know things like how much the artists were charging for different work made in different sizes in different mediums, or how the consistency of how much they sold affected the price of their work.
You should go see the work for yourself anyway. There's a big difference between seeing a photograph and seeing the work in person.
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| photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza |
The Drawing Center is an interesting gallery and studio space to visit.
Artwork by Louise Despont (Instagram @louisedespont), on what looked like connected accounting sheets from a lot of years ago.
There were more than these two. These were just my favorites. The more rounded of the shapes remind me of sacred geometry, which is the use of geometric shapes and proportions in a more aesthetic and symbolic sense rather than a practical or mathematical sense.
Free form texture and depth made with line variance. The same technique builds up the images seen in block prints, etchings, and some lithographs.
These were sort of interesting if your'e into Dadaist and more Modernist work. I wasn't holding back though, I had to crack a joke about that completely black page in the middle on the bottom row. I have no idea what compelled you to hang that up, because nobody's seeing anything in it but a black rectangle. Even the one on the far right in that same row is an unreadable ink smudge. There's no point to typography if you can't read or even see any of the type. You might as well hang up plain sheets of black construction paper. I'm not about making fun of people's work, but I will call you out if you don't even try or really go in the opposite direction and try to take concepts into literal nothingness and irrelevance. I'm just being honest. I don't hold anyone to a standard I don't already hold myself to, and I don't expect anything less from anyone else. Free free to send your harshest critiques my way.
Graphic design: fonts, logos, and graphics.
I'm all about that sassy ass.
They had a really old binder with different fonts.
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| photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza |
A gallery dedicated entirely to horses, and not just any horses.
From their website: "SDD's mission is to promote Soho, NY as a premier destination for world-renowned design and to preserve Soho's unique history as a global center for creativity." Done and done. Soho Life for life. Of course, it could use some work from the Soho himself.
Sometimes it's hard to tell whether something's a commissioned mural, street art, or graffiti. They're all pretty great regardless of what kind of artist did the work or who gave permission.
NoMo SoHo is another upscale hotel with additional features.
They don't have exclusive membership though, so I was able to go inside and check it out.
They have a really nice bar setup.
Their sunroom dining space.
To be more specific, the stone-paved streets are Belgian blocks, which are often confused with cobblestones. The blocks have a cobbled appearance, but are smoother, flatter, and more uniform in in their rectangular shape.
Posting bills anyway.
Soho Thai
Wear and tear and still there.
Sohotel
A selfie with Soho behind me.
The tall buildings in the far back make up the Financial District. A little bit of the low area in front of them is Tribeca. Soho is in front of that, but above the diagonal bar coming downward toward my neck.
If you lean back far enough, 5th and 7th Ave form an "A" with Washington Square Park crossing the two. Soho is right in the middle making up the top triangle of the "A" just past the park and the university next to it.
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| photo credit: Carolyn Sohoza |
I'll be back soon, Soho, and we'll make some great things happen.
And that's Soho for you.
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