Olivia Smith's Guide to New York City

Portrait of Olivia Smith with one of Ken Lum’s Language Paintings

Olivia Smith is the co-founder and director of Magenta Plains, a contemporary art gallery in the Chinatown district of New York City.

The gallery represents notable artists including Rachel Rossin, Ebecho Muslimova and the Stan VanDerBeek Archive and the 149 Canal Street address is familiar to many in the New York art scene as enduring art real estate with a legacy of galleries, past and present in the neighbourhood.

Magenta Plains will celebrate their 10 year anniversary to coincide with Art Week, 11 – 17 May 2026, when they will present three solo exhibitions across three floors by gallery artists Jane Swavely, Ken Lum, and Stan VanDerBeek.

Image credits: (1) Ebecho Muslimova, Fatebe Io Stalled, 2024, Oil on canvas, 72 x 72 in (2) Installation view, Ebecho Muslimova & Maria Lassnig, Magenta Plains, New York, NY, 2025 (3) Installation view, Rachel Rossin, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY. Courtesy of the Guggenheim Museum. Photo- Scott Rudd (4) Installation view, The Salon by NADA, with Rachel Rossin, Magenta Plains, Paris, FR, 2024. Photography by Nicolas Brasseur (5) Stan VanDerBeek, Moirage, 1967, 16mm film and Digital transfer, color, sound, 9-21 min, Edition of 6 plus 2 artist's proofs. (6) Installation view, Stan VanDerBeek- The Culture Intercom, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA, 2011. Image courtesy the MIT List Visual Arts Center and the Stan VanDerBeek Archive.

With her experience as a practicing artist, Smith fosters and maintains strong relationships with the gallery artists, with a specific interest in conceptual and socially-engaged art. Magenta Plains regularly places their artist’s works in major institutional collections internationally, and you’re likely to find her presenting at an art fair near you.

Art Guides World spoke to Smith ahead of Frieze Art Fair New York 2026 to get her tips and insights into what we should pay attention to – and where we should drink good wine while in NYC. Thank you Olivia!

☉ Can you recommend three art institutions that keep you engaged? 

Just west on Canal Street from Magenta Plains is our neighbor, Triple Canopy: a nonprofit magazine that publishes digital art, essays, and fiction. They support unorthodox, genre-defying artists in the development of projects that advance the role of artists as public thinkers, and their annual symposium gathers artists, writers, performers, and researchers to address the role of culture in responding to our contemporary critical issues.

The programming and constant expansion of Amant in Brooklyn always intrigues me. Amant is a non-collecting institution with a robust artist residency program and corresponding campus in Siena, Italy (one of my favorite places!). Their restaurant Zoli has Pierre Huyghe aquariums!

My local downtown spot is the re-opened New Museum which just doubled its footprint. I think I’ve seen almost every show there for the past ten years since I live a few blocks away. The museum is also opening a restaurant headed up by chef and artist collaboration extraordinaire Julia Sherman.

☉ As well as a gallerist, you’re a wine connoisseur. Can you please share your top wine bars, especially any situated close to art haunts?

Parcelle on Division Street is my weeknight go-to after gallery openings on Henry Street. Order the Envínate, Garnacha Tintorera 'Albahra.'

Bridges, which is just down the Bowery from Magenta Plains, has an incredible list of both macerated and sparkling wines (including Ancestral, Pét-Nat, Traditional Method, and Champagne!).

I love the wine program at Tolo in Dimes Square so when I heard that the sommelier recently went to Stars, a new spot in the East Village a few blocks from The Swiss Institute, I got excited!

The best Happy Hour is at People’s, an evening club and art salon in a residential Greenwich Village townhouse setting. Formerly the historic Downtown Gallery (founded 1926), People's features a rotation of contemporary works by emerging artists curated by my good friend Anne Parke!

When I need to plan a fun evening for guests visiting town, I take them to The Drawing Center and then to La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels and order the “Mystery Wine." If you guess the grape variety, region, and producer correctly, you win the entire bottle!

Image credits: (1) Portrait of Olivia Smith with works by Jane Swavely (2, 3, 4) Installation view, Jane Swavely – Paintings, Magenta Plains, New York, NY 2024 (5) Ken Lum, I Know I Know and (6) Ken Lum, Breathing (inhale) – both 1994–2022, Chromogenic print, vinyl on aluminum 76 x 102 x 2 in (7) Ken Lum, America at Night, 2021, canon LED curable inks, mirror, aluminum, 72 x 72 in (8, 9) Installation view, Ken Lum, Magenta Plains, New York, NY 2022 (10) Stan VanDerBeek, Untitled (Fax Mural- Raised Fist), 1970, collage, paint and carbon transfer paper, 15 panels, each 8 1/2 x 14 in (11, 12) Installation view, Stan VanDerBeek- Transmissions, Magenta Plains, New York, NY 2024.

 ☉ What is on the calendar this year for the gallery and beyond during art week?

I won’t be missing Esther—a boutique, alternative art fair spearheaded by Margot Samel at the Estonian House. I’m also excited to visit the Independent, which will be held at a new location on South Street (Pier 36) this year. It’s a few minutes walking to Corlears Hook Park waterfront, which was just completely rebuilt. I’ll grab a glass of wine at Ernesto’s on my way home!

We are celebrating our ten year anniversary as a gallery, presenting three represented artists: Jane Swavely, Ken Lum, and the Stan VanDerBeek Archive.

New paintings and pastels on paper by Jane Swavely follow her recent exhibitions at Kaufmann Repetto in Milan and at the Currier Museum in New Hampshire. Ken Lum’s exhibition is a return to painting, reflecting on his renowned series of Language Paintings from the 1980s, and newly restored film by Stan VanDerBeek will be screened alongside silkscreens from the 1970s. Exhibitions will continue until June 20, 2026.

When we opened in 2016, everyone said it was “the absolute worst year to open a gallery,” which is funny now because the art world has had a lot of tough years since then with the pandemic, politics, wars, and market downturn. In 2022 we tripled our exhibition space and have been programming nonstop as well as announcing new artist representations. We are built to last and aim to surprise and delight.

While Magenta Plains is not participating in a New York City fair during this week, we will participate in Art Basel Switzerland this June with a curated group concept of new artworks by gallery artists Jennifer Bolande and Liza Lacroix, alongside Josephine Meckseper. The presentation involves questioning expectations around gender and the body through the vernacular of commercials and advertising, and explores the female experience as one of both a site of reflection and power struggle.