Discovering Hidden City Art with Author Lori Zimmer
Art Hiding in New York by NYC-based author Lori Zimmer, has now one of two series under her belt— with her next publishing venture Art Hiding in Paris hitting bookstores next year. As a former gallerist, she finds beauty in the underrated and overlooked conditions of how art evolves within a city. So she goes to seek out and highlight these aspects in a remarkably creative way. We asked her a bit about her inspiration, her journey and how she got started in the art world.
Hi Lori! Tell us a little about you.
“I’ve spent the last 15 years working in and around the art world. While in grad school in New York (for art history and art business), I started working at a Chelsea gallery, which was at times very fun but mostly very boring. I was fired in 2009, and because I hated working for another person, have been doing my own thing since. That “thing” started with freelance writing that continued for ten years, soon followed by curating pop up shows and projects, then events, then lead to other things like artist representation and finally working for a law firm as an artist liaison to help artists fight copyright infringement cases. Somewhere in there I wrote three books as well. It sounds like a lot (ok sometimes it was TOO much), but everything was very interrelated and felt like natural extensions of what I was doing, with my own creativity and the network of artists I had built. The past few years, I’ve gotten away from working with living artists and instead have fallen in love with writing about art and art history, I’m my happiest writing somewhere in the city while watching the world go by, and I’m lucky enough to be paid for it.”
What inspired you to start your book journey?
“I keep mentioning “when I was fired”...but it really was the best thing to ever happen to me and the catalyst to create a life I wanted. So, when I was exploring and researching after that, i eventually turned it into a blog called Art Nerd New York, which I would insanely update daily. I never figured out how to monetize it, (I’m an ideas person), but years later I decided I was going to make it into a book. The original plan was to self publish it as the worst case scenario. I had published two other books with a small publisher called Rockport/Quarto previously, they had approached me and asked me to author The Art of Cardboard in 2015 (it barely sold) and The Art of Spray Paint in 2017 (it actually did well and pays me royalties, it was also translated into French and German), so I already had some experience. I somehow convinced Maria to finish an entire book with me, before approaching publishers (generally, you write a proposal with a sampling, but no, I needed to do it all haha). I sent it to an agent acquaintance, Lindsay Edgecombe at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency, just expecting her opinion on it and was shocked when she called me and said she wanted to represent it. She presented it to a few publishers, and we chose Running Press, an imprint of Hachette. It all happened VERY fast and it is not at all normal to luck out like we did, but we had a fucking awesome book so I should just take that for what it is. I am in love with how it came out, down to the end papers, and now I want to write a zillion books.”
What are some of your favorite spots around New York City lately?
“The pandemic has really changed what my favorite spots are, and graviated to a lot of places outdoors. Of course my favorite spot of all time, Lucky Strike, a brasserie in Soho I’d first gone to in 1999, closed because of the pandemic. I will always love Caffe Reggio on Macdougal, its been open since the 1920s, and has a 16th Century painting from the school of Caravaggio in it, as well as a 15th century bench that belonged to the de Medeci family (and its in my book!). Domino Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park are always a go to for the skyline views (especially with a bottle of wine at night).I ate at Il Posto Acconto so many times the past few months, it opened in the East Village in 1999 and still has that old school vibe, from a time when New York was still artsy and wild (and incredibly fresh Italian food). But my go-to place, where I am at least once every other week, is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Maybe it’s cliche to say that one of the most famous museums in the world is my favorite spot, but every time I’m there, I become so inspired and learn so much. I try to spend maybe just an hour at a time there, and really examine everything in one or two rooms. The collection is incredible and I learn something every time I’m there.”
What kinds of art do you find yourself most drawn to?
“I used to really be into immersive and experiential art, but the rise of instagrammy things like the Museum of Ice Cream and the whatever experience kind of changed that for me. With big budgets and corporate backing, those things can look really high tech, which kind of devalued all of the artists I knew trying to put together experiential art exhibitions with a shoe string budget. I’ve always been into art history, and now I am even more so. I like to think about it as seeing the world from an artist’s perspective at a certain time. I love the Surrealists and Cubists working in Paris, both their work and reading about their lifestyles of the Left Bank and cafe culture. I love Magritte. I’m drawn to female painters of this time, because they had a hell of a lot harder time than their male counterparts. I love Marie Laurencin, I love the Art Nouveau dancing of Loie Fuller, I love Louise Nevelson and Louise Bourgeois. I love sound installations. I love the room of dirt (Earth Room) in Soho by Walter de Maria that has been there since 1977. If I had to pick a favorite painting, just one, it would be The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymous Bosch. It blows my mind because its from 1510, and has all of these super fucked up creatures fucking with humans as god introduces Adam to Eve. I’m not religious, but this painting wants me to be.”
How did you get your start in the art world?
“I’d always been interested, but I was living in Philadelphia and working for the Chamber Orchestra. I loved it, but wanted more, so I applied for a graduate program at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and then everything just happened.
What do you feel were some of the most defining and memorable moments of your career so far? Getting fired. Learning to say no. Learning that doing things for free is a waste of time. I think many industries teach people to undervalue themselves, and I find it really ironic in the art world, considering how much a lot of art I was dealing with goes for. You can’t pay your rent with exposure, and I learned that asking for a proper wage/fee will only benefit you. On a personal level, everything changed for me in late 2018, I donated my left kidney to a friend, then two weeks later my father died (unrelated). I quickly learned who my real friends were, and who (in my career) was using me. I got more than a few phone calls and emails saying “I know you’re recovering, but can you write this for me” or “Sorry about your dad can you give me your contacts at so and so.” Honestly, this is probably also why I’ve become more enamored of book writing, I only really need to rely on myself and no one else can really get anything from me with it.”
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
“I hope I’ll be writing more books. I am currently filling this out from Paris, where I am working on the second book of the Art Hiding series. Art Hiding in Paris will be published in October of 2022 by Running Press, and I’m so excited. I hope to continue this series, but I also have a few long form book ideas kicking around. “
