The Tiki will Never Die- 2005-2010

Welcome to art.les.nyc studios. 

This is a archival website of this once infamous hot spot on the Lower East side of Manhattan. From 2005 to 2010.

During that exciting and creative period, Aaron M Thompson
(Artist), Gaby Savransky (Musician) and Mark Lepage (Rock Critic/Writer) hosted 30 events in this underground labyrinth of Light and Art nestled in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. They say if you build it, they will come – and  come they did, flocking to the space as the trio welcomed and created a
community of Artists, Performers, Writers and Musicians, as well as offering After School Painting programs for local neighborhood kids. It was a magical time in the Lower East Side, and this website assembles the entire photography and video collection of art.les.nyc studios created during its five year existence.

Working and living amid the ferment of the Lower East Side of New York, visual artist- Aaron M Thompson is a new incarnation of the “artist engagé”, reflecting, affecting and critiquing the culture and politics of our conflicted, climactic times.  War, death, censorship, sexuality, dreams, rock’n’roll – Thompson’s workchallenges our perceptions of these major issues.
Thompson created art.les.nyc studios to be an inspirational environment for this type of creativity. Hosting, staging and mounting the work of a committed,
kaleidoscopic array of other Artists alongside his own pieces, he strove to push the envelope in all mediums. He staged multiple group and solo exhibits in  art.les.nyc studios, his unique outdoor urban art space, featuring mural paintings, sculpture, mixed media and artistic illumination.

 

Before Trader Joe’s, Target, and Marshall’s bleached out and suburbanized the
real estate of the neighborhood, the rough-hewn, edgy “LES” was a hotbed of
creativity and talent, home to Artists of all stripes for decades. Waves of trendy, trust-funder gentrification over recent years have altered the Lower East Side, turning it into a whitewashed capitalist ghost of its former self. Devoid of creativity and color, it has become the transient home of young professionals instead of the stomping ground of young creatives.

You can preview and purchase:  art.les.nyc studios: a retrospective (2005-2010) by Aaron Thompson and Mark Lepage on Blurb.com just click the photo below:

 
Click this image for Ebook

If you have any photo’s from art.les.nyc long ago. Please share with us! Email us at: [email protected].

We will post them to our Facebook page and add them to our archive (with given photo credit). Thanks!