Croton Falls, New York • Since 2009
The Modern Classic
An independent studio and exhibition space, delivering a modern method to aquire and experience art.
Covered by The New York Times, Forbes, Smithsonian, TIME, the BBC, and the History Channel.
50+
Artists Shown
2009
founded
2
active projects
50mi
from nyc
AS SEEN IN
The New York Times
Forbes
Smithsonian
TIME
BBC
The New Yorker
Art In America
History Channel
News 12
AP
Westchester Magazine
Inspired by the energy of the studio, the language of industrial spaces, and the intimacy of collecting, Lift Trucks Art creates a setting where art can be encountered outside the sterile showroom. What began as a personal studio is evolving into an accessible environment where collectors can see new work, understand process, and experience art in a more immediate way.
As Pablo Picasso said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” That spirit runs through Lift Trucks Art. The project is built around movement, reinvention, and the belief that art should create a conversation with the materials, and imagination that produce it.
The idea took shape through Tom Christopher’s long-standing relationship with Galerie Tamenaga, with whom he has worked for more than 30 years across Japan, in addtion to his continued gallery representation in Europe and Beverly Hills.
During visits to Japan, Tom saw how deeply collectors valued craftsmanship—not only in painting, but in furniture, objects, sculpture, and design. There, art was not separated from exceptional objects. It lived beside them.
That insight became central to Lift Trucks Art, which reflects a deep admiration for Japanese craftsmanship and the concept of shokunin (the artisan’s spirit).
In Croton Falls, NY, new paintings by Tom Christopher are shown alongside classical foundry sculptures, industrial artifacts, and carefully selected objects. The pairings are intentional. They create a dialogue between materials, histories, and forms—inviting collectors to look more closely and experience the work in context.
Many of Tom Christopher’s paintings continue to travel to long-standing gallery partners in Europe, Japan, and Beverly Hills. Lift Trucks Art offers something different: a direct path for American collectors to encounter and acquire new work in New York, closer to the studio and closer to the process.
Unlike a traditional gallery, Lift Trucks Art is built around experience. It is a working ecosystem—part studio, part showroom, part evolving installation—where art is not simply displayed, but placed in conversation.
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“Tom Christopher has become to American painting what Count Basie or Duke Ellington became to American popular music.” –
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“ Oh George, here is the artist I was telling you about “ –
Mrs. Laura Bush, former First Lady of the United States
Dr. Louis Zona
Director & Chief Curator · The Butler Institute of American Art
The Showroom
Tom Christopher
Paintings and the foundry.
Born in Hollywood in 1952. BFA from Art Center College of Design. Moved to New York in 1981. Four decades of painting the city; bold color, urgent mark-making, the pull of Times Square and the streets of Manhattan. International gallery exhibitions in Paris, Germany, and Tokyo.
Tom Christopher is maintaining its 25-to-30-year relationship with exhibition spaces in Europe, Japan, and Beverly Hills. What has changed: American collectors now have a direct path to the new work. No intermediary. No art fair markup.
A studio visit is not a sales presentation. It is a conversation about why the work matters; what this art means, and what you are actually acquiring. That understanding becomes part of what you take home.
The New York Times, Forbes, the BBC, Smithsonian, TIME, The History Channel. Lift Trucks Art has been recognized by the institutions that define serious culture.
Press & Recognition
The New Yorker
“Monet had his water lilies and Tom Christopher has Times Square.”
On Tom Christopher’s paintings of New York City: four decades of expressionistic urban work, now available studio-direct from Lift Trucks Art in Croton Falls, NY.
On Tom Christopher’s paintings of New York City: four decades of expressionistic urban work, now available studio-direct from Lift Trucks Art in Croton Falls, NY.
ART IN AMERICA
David Ebony, Managing Editor of Art in America, attends an installation at Lift Trucks Project.
One of the most significant critical endorsements in American art journalism. June 2009: opening year of the studio space.
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE
“Tattooing Was Illegal in New York City Until 1997”
Forbes Magazine
“VR Art Reduces Need for Opioids in NY Hospital”
Coverage of Lift Trucks Art’s Virtual Reality Fine Art program, commissioned by Montefiore Medical Center. Tom Christopher’s first fine art VR commission; Google Tilt Brush technology used to diminish anxiety and pain in pediatric cancer patients.
Lift Trucks Art contributed to the “Tattooed New York” exhibition at the New-York Historical Society; the most significant survey of tattoo history in the city’s history. Smithsonian, TIME, the BBC, the New York Post, and The New Yorker all covered the show.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“A Curator Goes with Her Gut”
The Times covered “Cause and Affection,” an exhibition curated by Kara Lenkeit at Lift Trucks in Croton Falls; 20+ emerging artists, running June through September.
the new york times
“A Quirky Marriage of Art and Text”
Benjamin Genocchio’s review noted the space’s history: a former forklift factory near Croton Falls train station, now operating as artists’ studios and exhibition space. The Times sent photographer Librado Romero.
The New York Times
“A former industrial space has been transformed into a flexible exhibition and studio environment.”
Lift Trucks Art operates out of a repurposed forklift factory in Croton Falls, reflecting a broader trend of adaptive reuse in contemporary art spaces—where industrial sites become cultural infrastructure.
Halston Media
“Lift Trucks displays the works of Julie Garfield.”
The Times covered “Cause and Affection,” an exhibition curated by Kara Lenkeit at Lift Trucks in Croton Falls; 20+ emerging artists, running June through September.
NEWS 12 WESTCHESTER
“Take a sip of history with a side of inspiration in Croton Falls”
Television
ASSCOIATED PRESS
“The Brill Building Project”: Andy Hammerstein and Tom Christopher live-paint Times Square
Wire Service
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
Lift Trucks Curator Pam Hart Awarded NEA Grant
Grant – Institutional Recognition
About The Space
Built 1922.
A forklift factory.
Now this.
The building at 3 East Cross Street in Croton Falls was constructed in 1922 as a feed and grain store. In the 1940s, B. Hawley Smith transformed it into a forklift sales and repair operation employing 17 workers; those lift trucks gave this place its name. The floor once held 75+ forklifts, each averaging 8,000 pounds.
Now it holds paintings, sculpture, foundry objects, and the artists who made them. Situated in Westchester County, 50 miles north of Manhattan, in a town converting its 1906 train station, former lumber yard, old schoolhouse, and firehouse into cultural spaces.
“Yes — a real gallery like the old days back in Paris or the East Village or Goldsmiths in 1990s London. Real artists who make stuff.“
Founded
2009
Studio and Showroom opening
building
1922
Feed, grain, then forklifts
Location
50 miles
North of New York City
Hours
Fri-Sun
11am-5pm • Mon-Thu appt.
Exhibition History
2024
Art & Nature: Community Exhibition
Community celebrates art and nature at Lift Trucks Gallery, North Salem. Christian Lemesle surrealist painting exhibit. Opening 3–6pm.
Halston Media News
2017
Drive-By Gallery Feature
“See Art on the Go at This Drive-By Gallery,” featuring Mike Cockrill, Toby Rosser, and others. Large-scale work installed on the exterior of the Route 22 building.
WESTCHESTER MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2017
2017
Tattooed New York – New-York Historical Society
Lift Trucks Art contributed to the landmark tattoo history exhibition. Covered by Smithsonian, TIME, BBC, New York Post, The New Yorker, Forbes, and NYCGO.
7 Major Publications
2016
NEA Grant: Lift Trucks Curator
Curator Pam Hart awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant; institutional recognition of the space’s curatorial significance.
National Endowment for the Arts
2014
The Body Electric – Rico/Maresca Gallery
Curated by Margot Mifflin. Lift Trucks Art’s tattoo flash collection alongside works by Chuey Quintanar and Amanda Wachob. Featured in Inked Magazine and New York Observer.
Inked Magazine • NY Observer
2010
Ek-fre-ses
A quirky marriage of Art and Text.
The New York Times, Feb. 12
2010
The Unknowing Hand
A Story of Autism and Artistry. Art in America Managing Editor David Ebony in attendance.
Art in America
2009
Stefanelli-Hammerstein
Joe Stefanelli, last surviving second-generation Abstract Expressionist and associate of de Kooning, Pollock, and Motherwell: 20 oils, 18 watercolors. Andy Hammerstein III: 5 paintings, 20 drawings. October 10 to November 24
Halston Media News
2009
Opening: Lift Trucks Project
Opening day at the new studio and exhibition space on Rt. 22 in Croton Falls. Tom Christopher, artist and owner. Gary Lichtenstein, master printer and curator.
The New York Times • June 12, 2009
The Building’s Store
From forklifts to
fine art.
Over sixteen years of exhibitions, publications, grants, and television coverage have built something real. A place with a point of view, a history, and a reputation that no amount of Chelsea real estate money can manufacture.
The building has been here since 1922. Lift Trucks opened in 2009. In the time since: two New York Times features, coverage in Smithsonian and Forbes, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, an episode of American Pickers, and contributions to the most significant tattoo art exhibition in New York City’s history.
For Collectors
Years ago, artists who showed their own work carried a stigma. A studio showroom was called a vanity enterprise. That idea is over. High-end spaces in the United States are closing at a pace not seen in decades. Art fairs have become glorified flea markets; a booth at Art Miami runs $100,000 or more; that cost is factored into every price on every wall. You are paying for the booth, the shipping, the art fair staff, and the dealer margin. None of that is in the work.
You Are Not Being “Allowed” to Buy Something.
The old model: walk into an overpriced downtown gallery, be processed by a gallerist who controls access. The new model: come to the studio. Meet the person who made the work. See it in the space it was created. Decide for yourself what it is worth.
The Relationship Matters to Both Sides.
It is important to us to know where the work is going. Collectors should be able to take time; look slowly; ask the questions they actually want answered. Establishing a relationship with a new owner is meaningful to the artist and to the work.
A 25-Year International Record. Studio-Direct Access.
Tom Christopher has maintained gallery relationships in Paris, Germany, Tokyo, and Beverly Hills for 25 to 30 years. That record does not disappear when you buy directly. You are acquiring work with a proven international exhibition history; at the source.
“The cavalry is not coming.”
Tom Joyce, on artists waiting for a gallery to call
“I don’t see it as a collapse for the market but rather as a moment of transition — a cautious, more selective, smarter, more
flexible art market.”Kinsey Robb, Executive Director, Art Dealers Association of America (ArtNews, 2025)
“Birmelin’s paintings are brilliant in the way they confront us with a variety of urban spaces and surfaces. His approach represents tough-minded realism.”
Donald Kuspit, Artforum
“Real art for real people. Not art in an overhyped Chelsea box with atmospherically hyped prices. We own the building. We set the prices. The work is the work.“
Tom Christopher, Lift Trucks Art