LES gallery’s massage ruse duping dudes
A Lower East Side photo exhibit that has been set up as a fake massage parlor is attracting far more than art lovers — drawing flocks of horny guys who think it’s a real rubandtug joint.
The front door of the Shin Gallery at 66 Orchard St. is covered with signs touting 10minute “foot rubs’’ for $8 and 30minute “body rubs’’ for $24 — cheap even by seedy parlor standards.
Young Asian women in tight pants and high heels can be seen some days through the front window, lounging in a reception area adorned with fake pink and redd flowers and chipped pink floor tiles.
But this “massage parlor’’ is actually an art installation featuring the work of Japanese erotic photographer Nobuyoshi Araki and Viennese artist Rudolf Schwartzkogler, known for his gruesome, sexfueled depictions.
The ruse has drawn a stream of middleaged tourists and college students seeking some stimulation — and not the visual kind.
“We get at least 20 visitors a day. They’re all guys looking for a happy ending,” gallery assistant Sarah Malmude chuckled.
“They come in. We give them a brochure and say, ‘This is a gallery,’ ” explained Malmude, who keeps in character as a parlor receptionist by dressing in stiletto heels and leopardprint tights.
Some visitors “laugh and enjoy the show,” she said.
Others are just embarrassed.
“There was a group of college students who spent the whole time looking at the floor,’’ Malmude said.
Gallery owner Hong Gyu Shin, 25, said he’s seen older men walk in and “say, ‘Oh, cool,’ and just act like nothing happened.
“They just look around and pretend they’re innocent, and then they leave. It’s so funny.’’
The exhibit also features three fake rubdown rooms with black massage tables and a break area with a halfeaten bowl of microwaveable noodles on the table and a drying rack with lace underwear hung over it.
A construction worker repairing a gas main on Orchard Street walked in Monday and claimed not to be disappointed when he learned it was just an art exhibit — because he likes photography.
“I’m on my feet all day, so I’m big on foot massages,” said Brian, who wouldn’t give his last name. “I’m just looking for a massage.”
A young couple stopped by a few minutes later also claiming to want just a foot massage.
Malmude said even real massageparlor workers from the neighborhood have been duped.
“They walk by and shake their heads. They think the price is too low,” she said.