Map by Jason Lee

Every gallery here has opened since the start of 2008, and all are exhibiting art that’s startling, affecting, or just plain fun. Since most (though not all) of them show emerging artists, the barriers to buying—financial and otherwise—are low. If you like what you see, you just may be able to take it home.

Downtown

Jonathan VanDyke at Scaramouche.   (Photo: Courtesy of Scaramouche, NY)

1. Scaramouche
53 Stanton St.; 212-228-2229
Stand back! This little gallery’s first fall opens with Jonathan VanDyke’s minimalist sculptures rigged to spurt out brightly colored paint (through November 1).

2. *Sue Scott
1 Rivington St., second fl. 212-358-8767
Scott’s sizable space, known for group shows and curatorial projects, is presenting an installation by Franklin Evans, who has transformed the gallery into a weird riff on his own studio (through October 24).

3. Nicelle Beauchene
163 Eldridge St. 212-375-8043
Beauchene—who represents a nice mix of emerging and emerged artists—is showing Brooklynite Rachel Foullon’s wall-mounted sculptures of cedar and stained fabric, evoking the textures and details of life in rural America.

4. *Rachel Uffner
47 Orchard St.; 212-274-0064
Uffner’s September opening for Sara Greenberger Rafferty—who’s showing her murky manipulated portraits of seventies comedians through October 25—was packed to the rafters. A definite up-and-comer.

5. *Lisa Cooley Fine Art
34 Orchard St. 212-680-0564
Cooley represents a small crop of eclectic (and critically well-received) artists, and with the exception of a Texan and one West Coaster, all are local. Up now: a two-man show by painters Jon Pestoni and Zak Prekop (through October 18).

6. Collette Blanchard
26 Clinton St.; 917-639-3912
Blanchard made a splash last October with “Belle du Jour” (images of the female figure as imagined by E. V. Day, Mickalene Thomas, Shinique Smith, and others). Feminism is on the roster this fall, too, with Nancy Friedemann’s unexpectedly dramatic enamel paintings of lace and embroidery—a confluence of traditionally male and female media (through October 26).

7. Satori
164 Stanton St.; 646-896-1075
Like Blanchard, Satori is farther east than most local spaces, and both are worth the trek. This month, see one of the area’s few sculpture shows: Benjamin S. Jones’s wooden models inspired by not-so-stable urban architecture and planning (through October 18).

Lilla LoCurto at Sloan Fine Art.   (Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Sloan Fine Art Gallery)

8. Sloan Fine Art
128 Rivington St. 212-477-1140
Alix Sloan worked as a private art dealer in Los Angeles before opening here in 2008. In November, look for a series of anthropomorphic digital animations and prints by Lilla LoCurto and Bill Outcault, which look like high-tech medical illustrations run amok.