DM Contemporary, a gallery in Mill Neck, Long Island, where I am represented, has opened a private viewing space in Manhattan. The new space is located in suddenly chic lower Park Avenue (the Gansevoort Park Hotel will open across the street in a few months). Owner Doris Mukabaa moved in the art before any of the furniture, so the opening on Sunday afternoon offered an all-eyes-on-the-art installation with natural light and a few strategically placed incandescents.
The exhibition is open by appointment through Saturday. Call the gallery at 516-922-3552 if you'd like to see the show. Here, let me take you on a little tour:
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Two spolvero drawings by Mary Judge, visible by the lamp pole above
Karen Margolis, Indeterminate, cut-and-stitched abaca; Luis Castro wood sculpture, Untitled
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Facing the main gallery and east gallery from entry: Jackie Battenfield Frail Strings, acrylic on canvas, foreground; Nancy Manter and David Headly paintings in foreshortened view; Mary Judge drawings; Louise P. Sloane painting
A closer look at Nancy Manter's Chattermarks #1, with a view in the opposite direction
Above, from left: Karen Schiff, Untitled (Triptych), acrylic and mixed media; Isabel Bigelow, Tree-Blue, oil on panel; Jerry Marksohn, City with a Sole, archival digital photograph
Below, we'll turn left at the Bigelow painting to enter the west gallery. In foreground, Eung Ho Park, I'm Looking at You-Prickly Gaze 1, mixed media on bottle caps on panel
From left: Babe Shapiro, Spring and All, string and acrylic on board; Tamiko Kawata Sculpture for Corner, rubber bands, acrylic on tube; White Silence and Echo and White Water Reflection, both rubber bands, acrylic on canvas
Below: Tomomi Ono, Milky Way, monoprint lithograph, mixed media
Most work shown is from 2009
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. . . And a Last Chance
Slippery When Wet, on view at Metaphor Contemporary Art in Brooklyn since mid- September, will close this Sunday, November 22. Eighteen of my Silk Road paintings, all with an aqueous palette, are part of the show. A larger work, Vicolo, is on view in the upstairs mezzanine. I wrote about the show here and here but go see it for yourself. Work is by Suzan Batu, Susan Homer, Nancy Manter, Andrew Mockler, Don Muchow, Peter Schroth and myself.
In a party mood? A Brooklyn-wide gallery hop will take place that weekend. Metaphor is planning a final reception party on Sunday. The gallery's Open House Reception will be from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. (though the gallery will open at noon).
"We will have refreshments and thought it would be a good day for the artists to invite friends," says gallery director Rene Lynch. So...consider yourself invited. I should be there around 4:00. Hope to see you!
Joanne Mattera: Installation view of 18 Silk Road paintings, each encaustic on panel, 12 x 12 inches
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17 comments:
I am concerned about this "by appointment only" policy. To my mind, it creates a sense of pressure to buy, as if the dealer were saying, "Don't bother wasting my time by showing up unless you're prepared to make a purchase." Sorry if that's a mistaken impression, but that's the way I read it.
First, how about allowing me to savor an exhibition opportunity? I hate it when the first comment is a negative. Jeez.
Second, dealers, like artists, are finding new ways to be in business. In a private space such as this, located in a residential building, "By appointment" means several things:
. The address is not listed, so an interested viewer must call the gallery for info. It's a safety and logistical issue
. In terms of time, the dealer is there only when when interested viewers wish to see the work
. This arrangement is not to pressure you to buy but simply to see the work in a more intimate setting at a mutually convenient time
It would be a shame if you wanted to see the work but didn't because you felt pressure. I say, make the appointment.
Finally, I added info about te closing party at Metaphor Contemporary this coming Sunday, November 22, since Larry posted his comment. No appointment required. Come on down!
Sorry I didn't get here first, Joanne, because I wanted to say what a good-looking show and very nice space it is. I think it sounds like a fine idea and who objects to having their work in yet another venue? And thanks for introducing me to the term "spolvero". I liked Mary Judge's work a lot and the one-offness explains why it has such an interesting look.
it is a fragile thing to feel pressed. mayge the guy just needed a personal invitation.
Not at all. And if my comment appeared "negative," it was about the situation and not any of the artists. Even if the residence is private, I felt put off by the suggestion that I had to make an appointment. It makes me feel as if I'm being screened somehow.
Sorry I even brought it up.
Congratulations, Joanne. Jacquie Littlejohn did a similar move with her gallery to a private location and you're right, it's not meant to be intimidating. She has also partnered with another gallerist to do shows on the upper east side that was also in a residential neighborhood and I did have the feeling that I was at the wrong address until I saw alot of familiar faces heading in to see the show. Say hi to Barbara Andrus, if you see her. We met Mary Judge when she had her show at the Aldrich Museum in CT- nice to see her drawings and nice to see Jackie Battenfield's work- wow you are in with an impressive collection and a very dedicated gallerist as well. Your work looks divine!
Will try to see your show in Brooklyn on Saturday while we're in NYC. Hope it is a big success. Best of luck to you!
Reading all this again, I see I over-reacted yesterday and I apologize to Joanne and anyone else whom I offended. It looks like an interesting show.
Joanne, these look beautiful, and my overall impression of the situation is positive. Where once, I might have felt put off about the appointment thing, these days, I read it as a graceful adaptation to tougher times. Currently, I'm in meetings with a local guy who has a huge untenanted space in my neighborhood to discuss opening it up for exhibitions & artists events. One of the biggest issues we have to hammer out is the business of keeping open hours.
Somebody has to sit the place; and when it is open, you have to pay for heat, light and security; and when you are in a new/unfamiliar location, street traffic may not be enough to warrant keeping the doors wide open all day everyday.
Congratulations on all your exhibitions. (Your opening photo is is divinely serene—I could take that whole wall away with me)
Really fine work; wish I could see it person. Looking forward to researching these artists. Thanks for another great post!
The show looks gorgeous! But did I miss the Sunday opening? I'm confused.
Just for more feedback and to add my $2 (inflation), I tend to not call and make appointments either; I just feel more comfortable dropping in on my own schedule and possibly anonymously. But I understand the many reasons why the appointment-only thing is sometimes necessary. Congrats Joanne for yet another show you are in!
Not to imply that I'm hounded by autograph-seekers and paparazzi if I go anywhere non-anonymously, but you just don't know in advance if you're going to want to pop in and out in a hurry, without having a conversation with the gallery people, although having seen these images, clearly this show warrants a nice long look.
A thought: like you did at the Metaphor space that weekend, maybe one or two of the artists in the show could host an "opening" on an evening or a weekend day and invite their mailing list. I know this changes things for the artist in that you would be playing more of an active role than you might normally want, but I bet someone in that group of artists would be into it. I would go.
Oriane,
I like your ideas. Despite the many negative aspects of the current economy, one of the good thing to happen is that we have more options for showing and selling. Since this is a new private space, though, I'm going to leave it to DM Contemporary to set the direction of how it wants to go.
Since I began the responses with a less than auspicious opening, let me try to make amends by bringing it to a more satisfying ending. In my own defense, I have experienced times when I felt dealers were pressuring me to buy when I was not yet ready, and so that was in the back of my mind when I wrote my first comment. It turns out that with Doris Mukabaa I had no grounds for apprehension. I left a message Friday afternoon, got a call Saturday morning, and was soon on my way to Manhattan for a mid-afternoon appointment in what appeared to be a very new and clean apartment building near the hotel under construction on a side stret near Park Avenue South. The beautiful and clean apartment was set up ideally as a gallery, and I knew after the first five minutes that Doris was someone with whom I could feel entirely comfortable. It would have been a little uncomfortable if I didn’t care for the work I saw, but although not all the pieces interested me equally, there were at least 5 or 6 artists on display whom I would like to pursue and several within my price range. (Along with several I particularly liked that I can’t afford, such as two amazing large wood sculptures by Lita Kelmenson that you just see a glimpse of in JM’s photographs.) That’s a pretty high average, considering that many times I have found only 1 or 2 artists in a gallery’s program to really interest me. But in many ways Doris’s taste seems very close to my own, and we had a very nice conversation that made the 45 minutes speed right by. I certainly hope to have a chance to see some further work by her artists (though at the Long Island location, which is much closer to my home), and if all works out to acquire one or more pieces for my own little collection.
But I could not get to Brooklyn this afternoon, sorry.
Larry,
I'm so glad you made the trip. Doris is indeed lovely, and I agree that she has an interesting program.
Your message here is a nice, positive bookend to the opener. Thanks.
Beautiful works, beautiful setting.
I saw these in person the other day, and I have to say, they are really beautiful, very pleasurable to look at. I felt my thoughts becoming clarified just by contemplating their transparencies and colors. The images in the computer don't communicate their luminosity.
Joanne, I think your work is amazing and i would love to come to an upcoming show. Keep up the good work I gain ideas for my own work from you and you definitely inspire me. I have been working on my own blog recently just trying to get critiqued on some of my pieces and get my work out there. The link is JwolffsCenteroftheArts.wordpress.com
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