Gallery 151 & HGU in The New York Times’ Travel
ART ON VIEW IN A NEW MANHATTAN HOTEL
Art is the focus at HGU, a hotel that is scheduled to open in early April in Manhattan’s Flatiron district. The HGU was originally the Hotel Grand Union, a Beaux-Arts property that was built in 1905. This incarnation, with 90 rooms, will also be influenced by Beaux-Art design and emphasize contemporary art — the property has partnered with Gallery 151 in Lower Manhattan to oversee rotating art installations in the hotel’s shared spaces and within each of the guest rooms. Works from both emerging and iconic names will be featured including pieces by the Brooklyn-born visual artist Fab 5 Freddy and the Italian-born painter Francesco Clemente. The Brooklyn-based artist Evan Yee is behind the installation in the lobby; called Mirror Mirror, the piece reflects the image of the person looking at it into a background that resembles what the scenery would have been like in 1905.