The area is rough and decaying, trucks rumble by and the streets are dusty and dirty. It seems to be just another semi-deserted warehouse district near the city center--an environment far removed from the refined, the cultural and the artistic. And it is precisely here that Boston's equivalent to Soho in its heyday has sprung up.

Attracted by cheap rents, huge, airy lofts, strong floors and large windows which provide ample national light, some 200 artists and several galleries have established themselves in the Fort Point Channel area cast of South Station, once Boston's wool district. An organic avant-garde alternative to staid Newbury Street, the art produced in this area tends to be more individual, radical and experimental than that found in more established galleries.

The three galleries on Congress Street reflect this attitude. Clustered on the upper floors of a warehouse, they are pointedly minimalist and unpretentious in decoration. Bare wooden floors, cavernous white rooms, a few spotlights, and a table or two exemplify this style. The resultant bright, light rooms are indicative of their fresh, breezy approach to art. "We are to cater to experimental art and to current issues rather that to work that is in any sense decorative," says Kate Nayduch, owner of Lopoukhine/Nayduch Gallery, adding, "One of the reasons we moved here was that we wanted to show large pictures. Space on Newbury Street is limited but we have virtually no limits here."

Nayduch is excited about the future prospects of the area. "it could be very big if the local public was a little more supportive but at the moment, they don't seem to care," she says, echoing a frequent complaint of gallery owners in the area.

Linda Huey, chief organizer of the Four Point Channel Art Community Action Group, is less sanguine about the future. Sitting in her spacious studio-loft on the sixth floor of an almost deserted warehouse, just blocks away from the galleries, the voices her fears about what she calls "the largest art community Boston has ever seen"; "Initially, all us artists were attracted to the cheap space and perfect artistic environment found in old commercial buildings--things you just don't find in non-commercial sites. All we wanted to do was quietly work on our art by ourselves without being disturbed, We didn't want publicity what would attract people to the cheep rents. We wanted to keep a low profile."

Unfortunately, such a situation could not last. Boston Wharf, the owners of the area, realised they had a large piece of land almost in the center of the city, and they plan to develop the area. "If this area is built up and rents rine, the art community will disappear," warns Huey, adding "Boston is a cultural city and it should preserve its cultural resources."

Hucy feels that the artists' presence spurred the development plane. "I don't ware this area to become what Soho is," she says. "Just look what happened there. After the artists moved in, the area became enough after. Rents went up and poorer artiest were forced to move out. More commercial types like advertising executives moved in, and the area became more and more sophisticated and slick. Well, I don't want to move to a slummy section of town just became developers like the areas where artists stay. Artists are being used as pawns in the property development game. To move my studio at this stage would set me back a couple of years--it just isn't fair for us to have to go."

Larry Maglott, another artists in the area, voiced similar complaints about the current situation. "Working people are being displaced by economic pressures. The neighborhood is changing. It's happening right now, and this will ultimately be to the detriment of the city because soon all the artists will leave."

Despite all these worries, artists in the area seem to be enjoying the experience of living in and forming an artistic communicaty. Sitting in the heart of the area and looking out over the warehouse rooftops, Hucy pronounces, "It's very exciting. I love being a part of this."