A few years ago, James Carrano worked as a bartender at a Midtown Houlihan’s, which he refers to as “The Corporation.” It was not his dream job.

“It was a bad company, but we met a lot of good people there,” Mr. Carrano said, relaxing in the SKINnY, a bar/art gallery he opened last October with partners Sean Jarrell and Dan Gaumond, both Houlihan’s refugees as well.

Sandwiched between Elegant Woolen & Silk and Rita’s Leather Fair on Orchard Street between Houston and Stanton, the bar’s location is representative of the changing culture of this Lower East Side community, where old-fashioned garment shops mix with funky clothing stores, hip music clubs, and hot restaurants.

“I love this neighborhood,” Mr. Carrano, 33, said enthusiastically. “Everybody’s trying to do something on their own. And it’s not the cookie-cutter thing; you’re going to get real quality work. Quality clothing, jewelry, wedding gowns, live music – you can get it all here. And pastrami.”

Indeed, right around the corner is the famous Katz’s Delicatessen.

“When we first moved in, I was surprised by how welcome we were,” Mr. Carrano said. “People who have been here for 20 or 25 years, minimum, they want to help us out. They like the fresh blood. They like what’s happening here. It’s good for them as well.”

“There are new customers coming to the neighborhood, and some of the older businesses have figured out ways to attract them,” said Joseph Cunin, executive director of the Lower East Side Business Improvement District. Mr. Cunin pointed out that with the success of such newer, trendy spots as the Slipper Room, the Landmark Sunshine Cinema, Epstein’s Bar, and the Rockwood Music Hall, long-established stores such as Economy Candy, which has been around since 1937, have also benefited.

“There are a lot more people around,” Mr. Cunin said.

Formerly the home of a club called Angel, the SKINnY is a long, narrow bar with a small upstairs lounge; the walls are lined with photographs and paintings from local artists. The SKINnY’s third art show, curated by Mr. Carrano, opened on St. Patrick’s Day.

Among the pieces in the latest exhibition, which will remain on view through May 14, are altered Polaroids by Gregory Testa; Dan Springer’s large, colorful portraits of such pop-culture icons as Johnny Rotten, Hugh Grant, Alice Cooper, and Quentin Tarantino; and Barret de Manzo’s dark, abstract “Bad Burb.”

For the first time, Mr. Carrano is also featuring the work of an established artist, award-winning illustrator Kenneth Francis Dewey, who was excited to be part of the burgeoning SKINnY scene.

“There should be more bars doing this,” Mr. Dewey said.

Mr. Dewey’s “Shadows and Reflections from Brooklyn,” a collage of subway scenes, hangs over the bar; scattered throughout are such quintessential New York images as “City Wall #1,” “Waterhose #1,” and “Hydrant #1.”

Born in Brooklyn, raised on Long Island, and currently living in Park Slope, Mr. Carrano includes his own art as well.

His works on canvas resemble still-life paintings, although they are actually photographs; he calls his method, which involves shining a light in a pitch-black room and leaving the shutter open for between eight and 12 minutes, “painting with a flashlight.” In the previous exhibit, Mr. Carrano featured pieces from his “Fear and Uncertainty” series, including “Fear of My Idols – The Hammer,” an avant-garde photo of a hammer, dedicated to Pop artist Jim Dine.

For the current show, Mr. Carrano has hung two of his huge 8-by-8-foot photographs on vinyl, “Father and Son” and “Drunken Silenous,” the latter based on Jusepe de Ribera’s famous 1628 etching.

Mr. Carrano says he fooled around with drawing as a kid but really got into art during high school in Shirley, Long Island, where an “amazing” art teacher changed his life.

“Once I started taking those high school courses, I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” he said.

He continued studying art at Syracuse University and began developing his unique methods in earnest about 10 years ago, with a special interest in Renaissance painting and the abstract expressionists of the 1950s and 1960s.

Mr. Carrano works very closely with the individual artists when putting together each show, seeking to create the right aesthetic in a room that was not built to display – and sell – art. All of the pieces are for sale.

“I’m trying to figure out how to help the art that is hanging here,” he said. “I want it to be a point of departure, not that it starts and ends here and that’s it.”

Mr. Jarrell, an actor when he’s not pouring drinks, is excited about the SKINnY’s prospects.

“The opportunity kind of came up and we were like, ‘We’re getting older; let’s try and get something started.’ I figured, I’m bartending anyway, so let’s see what happens,” he said.

Mr. Jarrell actually played a bartender in a production of Adam Perkins’s “That Men Do,” which was part of last summer’s Midtown International Theatre Festival.

Mr. Gaumond’s wife, Sharon, is an actress as well when she’s not helping out at the SKINnY or working at the Kevin St. James bar in the theater district. Mr. Jarrell’s wife, Emily, a fourth grade teacher in Chinatown, also pitches in, as does Mr. Carrano’s girlfriend, Kimm O’Connor, a modern dancer and instructor.

The three SKINnY partners got the name for the bar because they wanted it to be a place where “you’re getting the skinny, you’re getting the lowdown, you’re getting what’s new, what’s fresh,” Mr. Carrano said.

Future plans for the SKINnY include live local bands, movie screenings by New York filmmakers, and special Webcasts. Currently there’s a DJ on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

And in the meantime, there will be more art exhibitions.

“It’s going better than I hoped,” said Mr. Carrano, whose only recent disappointments have been fellow Syracuse alum Donovan McNabb’s Philadelphia Eagles losing in the Super Bowl and the Orangemen getting upset in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball championships. “The people like the art a lot. They walk around, they have discussions about it – whether they hate it, like it, whatever.”

The SKINnY’s current exhibit is on view through May 14, 174 Orchard St., 212-228-3668.