The best Brooklyn art galleries

A.I.R (Artists in Residence, Inc.) has deep roots in New York contemporary gallery scene. Not only was it one of Soho's very first galleries when it opened in 1972, but it was also one of the first artist-run, nonprofit dedicated to women artist in the United States. A.I.R has moved numerous times over the years—from Soho to Chelsea to its current Dumbo home—but it's always kept its feminist focus.

This space with an all-caps name is the New York branch of a gallery in Brussels, Belgium, and like the home office, the Brooklyn shop focuses on contemporary art by an international roster of young emerging artists with up-to-the-minute sensibilities.

The Brooklyn branch of the powerhouse gallery founded in 1985 by co-owners Lawrence R. Luhring and Roland J. Augustine is notable for being the only blue-chip operation of its kind in Bushwick. Like the home office in Chelsea Luhring Augustine Bushwick presents work by some of the leading names in contemporary art.

This Bushwick gallery, founded by artist-curators Elle Burchill and Andrea Monti in former auto parts shop in 2010, specializes in film, video, sound, digital and performance art (one particular standout in the last category was a 2011 event in which artist Marni Kotak gave birth to a child in the gallery). Microscope Gallery is also notable for showing the work of such pioneering figures of the 1960s and ’70s avant-garde as Jonas Mekas, George Maciunas and Michael Snow.

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An artist-run gallery and event space in Ocean Hill, Tomato Mouse was founded in 2012 and continues to offer exhibits, screenings, performances, music, workshops and more. Hours are limited to Fridays and Saturdays, but appointments are available. Open calls help unrepresented and emerging artists get their work shown in Brooklyn. 

While it may seem confusing, this Greenpoint gallery is actually located at 104 Green Street instead of at 106 Green as it’s name implies. It’s abbreviated hours—open for only five hours each Sunday–is necessitated by the fact that 106 Green serves as the living room of a ground floor apartment during the rest of the week. Nonetheless, this space founded in 2012 by artists Mitchell Wright, Ridley Howard and Holly Coulis, has become a noted player in Brooklyn’s emerging contemporary artist scene, especially since the appointment of independent curator Jon Lutz as the gallery’s director in 2016.

This Red Hook non-profit, founded in 2012 by artist Dustin Yellin, occupies a warehouse dating from 1866, that was once home to one of the country's largest ironworks. With 27,000 square feet and ceilings soaring 40 feet high, the space hosts a lively program of exhibitons, installations, performances, artist residences and classes.

Founded in 2011 by artist Lacey Fekishazy, Sardine is aptly name thanks to a space. There’s nothing fishy, though about it exhibitions which features merging and mid-career artists dedicated to art for art’s sake.