Media Contact:
Charlie Wong
gallery@hudsonstreetgallery.com
(617) 319-9205

New Art Space Opens in Boston’s Chinatown

Hudson Street Gallery Remembers and Redefines the Chinatown Experience

Boston, MA – August 25, 2008 – Hudson Street Gallery, a new urban art space in Boston’s Chinatown, announces its grand opening on September 6 in conjunction with the Asian Community Development Corporation’s Hudson Street Stories Project.

The Gallery first opened its doors at 18 Hudson Street on August 17 during the August Moon Festival with two shows: works by four contemporary urban photographers and a display of Hudson Street historical material from the Asian CDC. The gallery will hold its grand opening on Saturday, September 6, from 12 to 5. The artists and representatives of the Asian CDC will be present to greet visitors and discuss their work.

A quartet of local photographers – Jason Liu, Brian Matiash, Lee Cullivan and Jason Sundram – explores Boston and Chinatown with portraits, street scenes and cityscapes. Liu and Matiash employ the High Dynamic Range (HDR) digital technique to accentuate their urban visions while Cullivan and Sundram make portraits of Chinatown using faces and storefronts to explore the character of the neighborhood.

The Asian Community Development Corporation contributes historical photos of Chinatown, concentrating on Hudson Street and the destructive impact the building of the Central Artery had on the neighborhood and its people. One of these photos shows Reggie Wong on Hudson Street in the 1960s. Wong currently works in construction and is an active member of many Chinatown community organizations. As one of the organizers of the August Moon festivities, he was honored to discover his photo in the Hudson Street Gallery.

“We created the Hudson Street Gallery to honor the history and heritage of Chinatown and also to expand the appeal of Chinatown to visitors.” says Charlie Wong (no relation), Hudson Street Gallery’s owner, “so it was a great validation to have Reggie visit and tell us what growing up in Chinatown was like for him.”

Visitors to the gallery were entertained by Wong’s stories and interested to see contemporary images of the streets depicted in ACDC’s historical exhibit. “I didn’t expect to find a gallery in Chinatown, but it’s great to see art and also learn about the history of the neighborhood,” said Jacob Schachter of Forest Hills.

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About the Hudson Street Gallery

Hudson Street Gallery is an urban art space in Chinatown devoted to historical and contemporary art about the past present and future neighborhoods and peoples of Chinatown. Our mission is to honor the history and heritage of Chinatown and its immigrant communities while providing a home for contemporary artists to explore issues of geography, ethnicity and urbanism. We seek to bring new visitors to Chinatown from around Boston and to bring more contemporary and historical art and artists to Chinatown. Hudson Street Gallery welcomes artists and audiences from all parts of Boston and beyond and from all ages and walks of life.

The gallery is open at 18 Hudson Street Sundays 1-5 and by appointment. For more information, visit www.hudsonstreetgallery.com

Images of the Hudson Street Gallery

Images from the Artists

Jason Liu

Brian Matiash

Lee Cullivan

Jason Sundram

View Larger Map

As part of Hudson Street Gallery’s mission to support local artists, we opened our doors to the Boston Photo Mob Wednesday night to host one of their monthly meetups. The Boston Photo Mob is a collective of photographic artists and enthusiasts who share wisdom and inspiration around their common love of photography.

Once a month, a some of the mob gather at a different location to socialize and then explore the photographic opportunies of the neighborhood. Here you see a member of the mob in the Hudson Street Gallery and a photograph taken from beneath the Chinatown Gateway at the corner of the block. Hing Sing Bakery sits mistily on the left just above the photographer’s hand.

These photos were supplied by Jason Liu. Jason is a member of the Boston Photo Mob and has three works hanging at the Hudson Street Gallery.

If you have an event or seminar that you’d like to host at HSG, please send an email to gallery@hudsonstreetgallery.com.

Reggie’s reaction to the gallery was similar to others we’ve seen when they hear about us. Chinatown needs something fresh, but also something that looks proudly back on our heritage our friends in the neighborhood have said. I hope HSG has helped deliver some of that medicine.

Zookeepers and Economists like photography too! Here, guests Jake and Becky admire a photograph by Jason Liu. Both of these pictures were submitted by Brian Matiash, who’s photos are also on display at the HSG.

We hope to see you all again at our Grand Opening on the 6th!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39215332@N00/sets/72157606790269862/

Here is a great picture of our front door and all the peole coming in and out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39215332@N00/2771845727/in/set-72157606790269862/

Here is a picture showing the inside of the gallery!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39215332@N00/2772690138/in/set-72157606790269862/

About mid afternoon, I said to someone “we’re doing great for people, but to really, REALLY consider this opening a success, I’d like to sell something off the wall.” Well, we did it: by the end of the day we’d sold three 8×12 prints and Brian’s giant Storrow Drive picture! My guess was we had between 50 and 60 visitors, and there were basically no dead points through the day. We even had people wandering in right at 11am while we were still setting up!

The buzz was fantastic, and I heard many gallery visitors saying they would be sure to come back for the grand opening.

I see that Lee has already posted some content on his photostream, and that David has already blogged about the event.

Thank you to all the visitors who came to our opening! Please come back and see us at our Grand Opening and spread the word to your friends!

Charlie

Here is a time lapse taken by Lee: http://flickr.com/photos/leecullivan/2768113206/

Both groups finished at about 11pm.

Before opening, we still have to sweep, frame two more pieces and hang three, get a rug for the upper gallery, and generally spruce up.

Go team!

ACDC tour guides will also be directing visitors to Chinatown to our gallery during the August Moon festival!

Well, here’s to impulse art projects: Excelsior!

Wall 1: 9 feet (Jason)

Wall 2: 11 feet (Jason)

Wall 3: 10 feet (TBD)

Short walls: 4, 3 and 3 feet (TBD)

Wall 4: 14 feet (Brian)

Wall 5: 10 feet (left 6 feet to outlet, Brian, rest TBD)

Upper Gallery main wall, 3+2+9 feet (ACDC)

Upper Gallery back wall, 10 feet including windows, or 3+3 feet between (ACDC)