Cheap rented studios on the Lower East Side became instant art environments

Evidence

The Store, by contrast, was a smash that (unlike the Doom Show) made history. Located at 107 East Second Street in a space Oldenburg had rented as a studio, Ray Gun Mfg. Co., for the past six months, The Store was part Orchard Street notions shop, part luncheonette, and part Avenue D bodega complete with Puerto Rican votive candles, selling everything from hot dogs and gooey slices of pie to sneakers and frocks, souvenirs and watches, all made of chicken wire and painted plaster, at prices ranging from 34.99 (toy ray gun) to 899.95 (free-standing bride mannequin). — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 228

Categorization

• SEED: The 34.99-to-899.95 fake-merchandise price range and the chicken-wire bodega materials are concrete texture for an essay on art-as-bohemian-storefront.