You enter through a nondescript door in far west Chelsea. Ascend some stairs. Wind your way down a hallway. Open another door.
Inside is a woman. She’s naked. And she has a vintage diving bell on her head.
No, you’re not in the latest incarnation of Sleep No More — you’re in the new mini gallery of NYC artist/photographer Victor Spinelli.
Unless you hate cool art and beautiful, mostly naked women, you’re about to buy some stuff.
The woman with the diving bell: “Diver Up!”, Spinelli’s most famous work, familiar to many a New Yorker.
Perhaps not so familiar: a litany of Spinelli’s other work, from artfully erotic black-and-white prints to painted canvases to images exposed on sheets of aluminum. The one up top? “Double Diver Up!”, on display for the first time ever.
Plus: an assemblage of work from Spinelli’s artiste cronies, with expos rotating once every few weeks.
Think portraits painted via fingerprint on vinyl records by David Thomas, curvy silhouettes hidden among zebra stripes by Blake Emory — even one of Tim Bessell’s Andy Warhol surfboards (Ed. note: probably shouldn’t actually surf on that).
Spinelli himself? Friendly as the day is long.
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