“The whole thing is part of the experience, right? I’m inviting you into my personal space.”
A fixture in the downtown set, Zhu is well-versed in his city’s art scene. He opened the gallery last fall, and has used it as a launchpad to spotlight his community — a “game changer,” as he calls it — all while keeping a tender, homegrown-sensibility. “I’m definitely one of those people when I’m asked what I do, I always stutter a bit,” he admits. At 29, he’s already got a handful of titles under his belt – artist, skater, curator, organizer, cultural consultant and on opening nights, chef. Now, “gallerist” joins the list.
Zhu’s multihyphenate streak can be traced back to his East Village roots, something he calls “catching the tail end of a really great time,” the final years of a subcultural heyday. A native New Yorker, much of what he stands for, and is, can be credited to a teenagehood sculpted by the chaos and characters of lower Manhattan, and gaining this early sense of independence would prove formative to his future artistic endeavors.
“For me, skating is so integral to the way that I view things,” explains Zhu, once a regular, then employee and now a brand consultant at Supreme. “I don’t think many people cover as much ground as skateboarders do.” The community-centered outlook that drives much of his to his work today, comes from bearing witness to the full spectrum of textures the city’s people and places have to offer, and the camaraderie shared between the skaters of Tompkins Square Park, a historic crossroads of punks, poets, artists and musicians. When the park’s beloved asphalt came under threat in 2019, Zhu played a prominent role in rallying skaters and neighbors to defend the space that had raised them.
“Rather than feeling displaced in your own city, do your part to create a space that feels true to yourself and your community,” he says. “I try not to be too pessimistic, although it’s hard at times. It’s a big reason why I started the gallery.”
