Zito Studio Gallery, Lower East Side, NYC 2002

Zito Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

Zito Gallery Storefront on Ludlow Street, LES

in front of Zito Studio Gallery 2006

Zito Studio gallery, 122 Ludlow, 2004

Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

Old School.

Early 2000s at ZSG on Ludlow St.

The skinniest photo you will ever find of this guy – all jacked up on raw food, yoga and green juice at the time.

The shop transitioning from red to black paintjob… slowly…

Sidewalk display at ZSG 2003

Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

Zito painting a portrait of Deanie Wheeler live at Zito Studio gallery

The entryway to ZSG 2006

The studio on Ludlow Street in action

with freshly painted floor!

Ludlow Street, Lower East Side 2004

Commissioned to paint a client as Napoleon

Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

Artist Antony Zito at his gallery on Ludlow St.

Zito Studio gallery, 122 Ludlow Street NYC

Cell phones have arrived – 2005

early to mid 2000s

Rockin the stripes, Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

spilling onto the street as usual

The Absurdist Dinner Party at ZSG was quite a memorable event.

the opening of an exhibition at ZSG early 2000s

Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

Zito welded this with an extra fork and handlebars for the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island

Sitting Bull on US Map, oil on found map, Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

Peace pipe smoking…

Zito gallery Closing Night, Ludlow Street, NYC

Serenading the nice people on Ludlow Street

The mad kids of Infinity SS making gruesome sounds at the ZSG Closing event.

The one and only Carlucci, legendary LES artist, at the closing party for the gallery.

Zito has horse-headed Martians in effect.

Reid paley trio playing live at Zito Studio Gallery 2006

The party on the sidewalk filled the block.

a bit of the action happening on the streets, stilts and all.

The crowd assembles for the final night

Body graffiti by Kimberly Hauer

ZSG Closing Party was billed as “One Last Anti-Gentrification Freakout”

If you don’t know Red Bastard look him up!

“One Last Anti-Gentrification Freakout”, Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

Kim Hauer, Primitivo and Theresa Byrnes, “One Last Anti-Gentrification Freakout”, Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

Designed by Chickinman, “One Last Anti-Gentrification Freakout”, Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

My dear friend Nicole Laemmle, co-founder or 4heads non-profit

“One Last Anti-Gentrification Freakout”, Zito Studio Gallery on Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, NYC

The darkened storefront when the nearby streetlight blew out … it used to light the front window perfectly

Graffiti that appeared after ZSG closing in 2006

Zito Studio Gallery, Lower East Side, NYC 2002 – 2006

Zito Studio Gallery was located at 122 Ludlow Street between Delancey and Rivington. In direct response to the flight from New York caused by the attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001, Zito decided this was the time to really drop roots and he rented a storefront for $1375 a month on Ludlow Street. There he hung out his shingle and began painting portraits of people in the neighborhood on objects and materials scrounged from their streets. His classical, expressionist portraits, slapped with ease onto these odd canvases, became an essential part of the cultural landscape of the Lower East Side in the early 2000s. Zito Gallery became a meeting place, a clubhouse, where neighborhood people could feel free to drop in at any time, sit on the couch, shoot the breeze, and spin records. Many times Zito would be busily working away on a portrait or painting the walls for the next exhibition.

Gentrification Arrives…

All the while, as he worked on his paintings and welcomed the people of his neighborhood inside, the streets around this idyllic storefront were undergoing a drastic change. Entire city blocks would be leveled to the ground almost overnight and the dirty, ornate, historic tenement buildings that made up all the flavor of this legendary neighborhood would give way to glossy, impersonal, corporate high-rises. Where once stood the sign for a humble dive bar, a massive backlit bank logo now glared across the street at the residents. Zito Studio Gallery closed on August 31, 2002, and on that very night the Lower East Side was treated to a wildly memorable evening at what Zito promoted as “One Last Anti-Gentrification Freakout” – his closing party on Ludlow Street. The party filled the block until the wee hours of the morning with costumed revelers honoring the demise of yet another neighborhood outpost. The Lower East Side would forever be changed from that point on. There would be no turning back to the once vibrant, creative, diverse, and colorful neighborhood that was Manhattan’s Lower East Side.