Installation, Can I Get a Witness, 2011

Joshua Abelow set out to create a personal, visual archive through his blog, “ART BLOG ART BLOG,” but within a year he was getting up to 900 hits a day from over 125 countries. Less than two years later, the blog has materialized into a physical, artist-run gallery space, ART BLOG ART BLOG, with nine independently curated exhibitions, open through October 29, in a donated space located in Chelsea at 508 West 26^th St, Floor 11.

“ART BLOG ART BLOG” (the blog) emerged in early 2010 as an important way for Abelow to build a community over the web and engage with artists in other cities. Now back in New York, Abelow maintains his blog as a diaristic visual journal, with daily posts including other artists’ work, book and album covers, posters, personal work and photographs, poems and quips, and more. I had a chance to sit down with Abelow, and the curators of the upcoming exhibition, “Can I Get a Witness?” to find out more about the project. Continue Reading More »

The Thingness of Color, installation, 2011, Dodge Gallery, New York, NY

We’ve made it through the winter, and on a warm spring day I let my gallery-legs thaw and took a stroll to see what LES had in store for me. I am happy to have wandered into a new space that I have noticed before, but looks like it will be a mainstay on Rivington, along with its neighbors, ElevenRivington and Thierry Goldberg. In a large, open space that was formerly a sausage factory, Dodge Gallery opened in September 2010 with a group show, Dramatus Personae, a group show that –aptly titled– presented the gallery’s roster of artists. Their sixth exhibition opens this Saturday with a solo show by Sheila Gallagher downstairs and a group show, The Thingness of Color, upstairs.

Continuing our Featured Gallery series, I was able to ask Founder/Director Kristen Dodge about the past, present and future of the gallery.

As a young gallery, you have already developed an impressive and intriguing roster. What was Dodge Gallery before you had a space on Rivington?
I’ve always known that I would open my own business and in fact, decided that it would be an art gallery before ever working at one. There’s something about the combination of business and art that was extremely appealing to me- addressing the two sides of my brain. But it wasn’t until I spent several years working under the guidance of Abigail Ross and eventually growing into the position of Director and establishing a creative partnership with her at the rotenberg gallery in Boston, when I realized that running a gallery is not only something I want to do, but it’s something I can do. I remember asking Sina Najafi at Cabinet Magazine, my first employer out of college, why he decided to start his own business and he said, “because I don’t want to work for anyone else.” I eventually landed in that same place and became my own boss. Continue Reading More »

Pam Lins, installation 2010

If you’ve been on an LES art crawl in the past few years, chances are you’ve been down Orchard Street. Galleries on this stretch include On Stellar Rays, Miguel Abreu, and Lisa Cooley, as well as recent neighbors like Untitled, who relocated from around the corner. It’s no secret that the LES gallery scene has been growing exponentially in the past five years. In fact, the neighborhood has produced a number of groundbreaking, must-see shows  featuring emerging and established artists alike.

Rachel Uffner Gallery has been a mainstay at 47 Orchard Street since 2008, after taking over the space formerly occupied by cooperative gallery Orchard. I appreciate the gallery’s curatorial program and am enthused by the range of artists and media represented. Opening with a solo exhibition by painter Roger White on September 20, 2008, Rachel Uffner Gallery celebrates a second solo exhibition by the same artist, on view through December 19, 2010.

Roger White, installation view

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