Originally founded by Adriaan Van Der Plas in Gramercy Park, NYC in the 1980's, Van Der Plas Gallery is an established art gallery now located in the Lower East Side of NYC.​Van Der Plas Gallery brings the lost histories of the Lower East Side and East Village art scene back to life. Fusing Contemporary, Outsider, and Street Art, the gallery is a sanctuary for artists seeking to channel the authentic, unabashed creativity that has blossomed in the neighborhood for generations. By celebrating its important heritage and building upon its foundations, Van Der Plas fosters a community committed to the artists ingrained in the very fabric of the Lower East Side. While engaging with the important history, Van Der Plas seeks to promote art that lives outside of the traditional canon. Home to artists willing to explore unconventional modes of creativity, the gallery represents artists such as Al Diaz, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s partner in graffiti, a notorious downtown art-world scamp and ‘Van Gogh of the East Village,’ Kevin Wendall, aka. “FA-Q”, and subway-card collagist and Artista de la Calle Juan Carlos Pinto. Work by institutional artists is also an area of focus for the gallery, representing the evocative and sensuous works of Frank Boccio and John Tursi from the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. Other gallery artists include Argentine art brute and neo-expressionist Alejandro Caiazza and the ever-quirky, autobiographical Canadian multi-media artist Jason McLean. A special group exhibition series titled ‘All Art+’ provides a platform for promising emerging artists to present in a themed exhibition. Van Der Plas Gallery is located on Orchard Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and is open from 11am-6pm Wednesday-Saturday.