On November 6th, 2015 hip-hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy hosted the opening of The Artists We Know. The Artists We Know is an exhibit that celebrates and previews the artwork created by a selection of well-known New York artists. These artists will be featured on the walls of the HGU:New York (a new hotel scheduled to open in the Nomad district of New York in winter 2016).
Gallery 151 and Alfa Development’s CEO, Mike Namer, whose work will also be showcased throughout the hotel, curated the artwork. Along with the Fab 5 Freddy, a handful of artists, whose work will be displayed throughout the hotel, include Evan Yee, Isaac Aden, Sebastian Piras, Justin Jay, John Platt, Melinda Hackett, and Arthur Cohen.
HGU New York, Alfa Development’s first ever hotel property is situated in New York City’s coveted NoMad district. The 90- room boutique hotel, expected to open early 2016, will offer guests a truly authentic New York City experience, showcasing the history of the 1905 Beaux-Arts Foundation and complimented by contemporary art with modern renovations and amenities.
We spoke with Gallery 151 and Alfa Development’s CEO, Mike Namer. Read what he had to say below:
Tell me how these pieces were chosen to go into the hotel.
We have a gallery, gallery 151 and everyone in this exhibit are artists that we have in our exhibitions. We wanted to take the best pieces that we had in our collection and bring it to the hotel. For the primary market, these are up and coming artists and some are actually very well known. Besides being contemporary art, we wanted it to be a little bit sexy, colorful and bring to the hotel new artists that you wouldn’t see in a hotel.
For your other hotel endeavors do you plan on using the same type of art and picking the same type of artists?
The gallery has been open now for over 8 years and it’s been very successful. I was an artist as well and one of the pieces here is mine. I picked it for the hotel and I felt it was appropriate but art has always been, our way of describing where we live which is downtown Manhattan. The rennaisance of the neighborhoods and the area we live in today. I want to recognize that, how art has been a moving force.
Tell us about the theme of the new hotel. What can visitors expect from it?
It’s a New York centric hotel. It’s about New York City, if you come to New York and want to feel like you’re in New York, you stay at our hotel. If you want to not feel like that you go to another hotel. What we’re trying to do is give the experience of what a hotel was like here in the 30s, 40s, and 50. We want to bring that experience in to our hotel. We are so well connected in New York that we do have the contemporary artists and writers and people can experience what it feels like to be in New York. That’s why we’re doing that. It’s layers of history, the rooms are very residential and the bathrooms were thought to be a pre-war bathrooms. Subway tiles, old sinks, big toilets, and people go in there and say , “oh this feels like New York.” It’s a pre war building so that’s what we’re trying to do.
DJ Miss Guy and DJ Ani Quinn were on the turntables, while guests sipped on signature cocktails by SVEDKA Vodka, Serpents Bite Whisky and URLO Wines.
[slideshow]Photo Credit: BFA.com / Leandro J.
