The art gallery, which at one point operated a bookstore and three exhibition spaces, has closed its last East Village locations.
Art dealer and publisher Brendan Dugan debuted Karma at 188 E. Second St. between Avenue A and Avenue B (above) in November 2016. A smaller gallery arrived later at 172 E. Second St. (That space is now Holographic Studios.)
Karma Books opened in April 2018 at 136 E. Third St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, and closed in April 2025.
They've also recently left 22 E. Second St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery after nearly five years. (H/T Garth).
As for 22 E. Second St., Willard Morgan started the Ideal Glass Studios, an artist-run film & TV production studio, here in 2004 ... and the Second Street building was in use as a gallery and art collective.
Morgan, who still owns the building, runs Ideal Glass Studios from a location on West Eighth Street.
As for Karma, they debuted their flagship New York location in the 10,000-square-foot ground floor of the old Otis Elevator Company Building on West 26th Street last summer. They also have an outpost in Los Angeles.
8 comments:
Too bad Karma painted out the old school Ideal Glass sign that had been there for decades and removed any character from the building with the flat black paint.
Right? It was such a good sign with such good patina. Sigh.
One could even arguing that the closing was...karma for that. It's such a dead space on the street now, on an otherwise pretty active and charming block.
Sorry to see Karma go they had great art exhibits that I used to go see all the time. They had a positive impact on this neighborhood.
What a loss for the neighborhood. It was great to pop in to the 188 E 2 St gallery, not knowing what to expect, but knowing the strong curation would make it worth a visit.
Oh yeah the sign! Had forgotten but I always enjoyed it and, yes, it’s removal was a disappointment.
They are a major art gallery competitor now in Chelsea . Not your friendly east village art book publisher . You've manifested into Whi you really are.like karma man. When are they opening the Gstaad satellite ?
Ughhhh, I remember shortly after they painted over the Ideal Glass sign, a douchebro in a baseball cap was standing outside talking to two fawning younger women in heels, scoffing, "People are pissed about a 20-year-old sign!" Um, it was way older than 20, my dude. Thanks for making an amazing space look like every bland faux-urban bad-art outpost in suburban Wisconsin.
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