Hansel and Gretel Picture Garden Pocket Utopia

The Hansel and Gretel Picture Garden began as a daring activist project in a repurposed horse and buggy stall on West 20th Street. Founded in 2011 by two recent Harvard graduates, the space was created with the explicit intention of deconstructing the polished atmosphere of the nearby blue-chip galleries. These young artists were so committed to their vision that they lived in the back of the gallery to keep the project alive. They sought to dismantle the barriers between fine art and traditional craft, turning a gritty, industrial corner of Chelsea into a site for experimental, artist-run creation.