Wet Paint: Meet Manhattan’s Hottest New Gallery Hub, Dealer Hawks Office Supplies Online, & More Art-World Gossip

What '80s mega-artist was eating with an '80s mega-actress at The Odeon? Which Tribeca space is on the verge of closing? Read on for answers.

The Two Bridges neighborhood, Manhattan's next gallery hub. Photo: Flickr.

Every week, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a gossip column of original scoops reported and written by Nate Freeman. If you have a tip, email Nate at [email protected].

 

BRADY BACK IN THE NEW YORK GROOVE

When Bill Brady opened a gallery in the East Village in 2001, he found a space on Avenue B with an ATM out front and christened it ATM Gallery. The money machine fees paid half his rent. (Not a bad business model, actually.) The space gave early shows to such luminaries as Huma Bhabha, Eddie Martinez, and Tomoo Gokita. Eventually, he moved the space to Chelsea, in a building sans ATM machine, and then relocated to his native Kansas City, where he showed work by Jonas Wood, Korakrit Arunanondchai, and Katherine Bernhardt, among others. A few years back, Brady migrated to Miami, where he opened up a space in the small but gallery-stuffed area of Little River.

Bill Brady. (Photo by Christian Grattan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Now, Brady is making his return to New York, and once again it’s in a buzzy micro-neighborhood. Wet Paint can reveal that Brady’s new space, which will again be called ATM Gallery, will be at 54 Henry Street, in the middle of a block that’s quickly becoming its own little ecosystem within the already tiny Two Bridges neighborhood. Directly next door is 56 Henry, the space founded in 2015 by small-gallery powerhouse Ellie Rines. (On the other side of 54 Henry is a delightful cafe called Dreamers Coffee House. Get the lemonade spritz!)

Just two weeks ago, erstwhile Lower East Side stalwart Lyles & King ditched that hood and planted down at 21 Catherine Street, a block down from Rines and Brady’s galleries and a stone’s throw from Foxy Production, M 2 3, and Marinaro gallery. Stroll down Henry Street in the other direction and you’ll hit Situations, Fierman, and Jack Barrett; Boško Blagojević‘s wonderful space Svetlana is around the corner on Madison Street. It’s a really happening slice of downtown—totally distinct from Chinatown and the Lower East Side. (I’ll note here that your Wet Paint scribe is also a rent-paying Henry Street denizen.)

The future space of ATM Gallery, at 54 Henry Street. Photo courtesy Instagram.

The new ATM Gallery will open September 2, along many other spaces in the area. And while it goes without saying that all precautions must be taken if you venture out on that opening day—masks, distancing, sanitizer—it’s good to know that there’s a gallery opening in New York rather than closing. No news yet on whether we’ll see an actual ATM in the door this time around.

 

COOLEY OPENS CLOSING SALE

Some of the offerings that once graces Lisa Cooley Gallery. Photo courtesy Craigslist.

Do you want to own a piece of Lower East Side gallery history? Well, now you can. Lisa Cooley—the dealer who established an early Orchard Street beachhead in 2008 and moved to a former nightclub space on Norfolk Street before closing in 2016—is holding an online garage sale. A bunch of stuff that once graced one of the most beloved downtown art-world spots is up for grabs.

Lisa Cooley. Photo Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan.

Lisa Cooley. Photo Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan.

The Craigslist page is like a frozen snapshot of a long-lost gallery boom-time—among the offerings are five white fourth-generation iPads ($100 each); 15 Eames-style leather swivel chairs ($120 each); and an Anthro TAB40 Tablet charging cart ($500, but the thing retails for $1,500, so if the social-distancing era has got you hankering for a severe-looking device-charging black obelisk, you’ve come to the right place).

And if you want to make your own place feel more LES-circa-2014-chic, Wet Paint recommends the big oak desk that once was seen in the back room and now has a $350 price tag. Deal-seekers can also go after the space heater ($20); the clip-on LED desk lamp ($15); or the trash bins ($5). When reached by email, Cooley said the Craigslist page was indeed hers, but added a twist: Some of the stuff originally belonged to online auction site Paddle8, which occupied the Norfolk Street space after her. It’s all there on the Craigslist! Start buying.

 

POP QUIZ

We have some winners to congratulate! So, last week’s quiz asked readers to identify not only the artist of the two works, but also the two different artists who own them. Here’s the answer: the sculpture, Untitled (tire) (1986), and the drawing, Keep Trucking (1986), are both by John Dogg. Many guessers got that part right, and made some intrepid guesses about the identities of the owners—Damien Hirst? Olivier Mosset? Christopher Wool?

But alas, no. Richard Prince owns the sculpture, and Collier Schorr owns the drawing. Just two people got it right this week, so let’s give a hearty round of applause to the writer and critic Andrew Russeth and the Brussels-based collector Stijn Geerts.

Here’s this week’s clue. What is the artwork installed here in the home of a collecting couple, and which couple owns it?

Send guesses to [email protected]. Go ahead, take a stab—confidence, dear reader! Anyone who gets this right will get some serious bragging rights… as long as you brag from behind a mask after washing your hands.

 

WE HEAR…

The Dallas Museum of Art reopened today, and on August 30 will debut a show of new acquisitions, including recent purchases by Harold Ancart, Ann Craven, Sarah Crowner, Derek Fordjour, Rashid Johnson, Shara Hughes, Chris Ofili, Michael Williams, and more … Globetrotting building-buyer Aby Rosen has finally broken his silence on the presidential election and announced that he will support Biden/Harris 2020 … Monica King Contemporary, the Tribeca space opened just last year by the eponymous Kasmin and Pace vet, is on verge of closing after King’s landlord refused to budge on a rent deal … Elysia Borowy-Reeder, who was fired by MOCAD after dozens of former staffers alleged racial insensitivity, has lawyered up and hired the prominent Detroit attorney Melvin Butch Hollowell to rep her as she strikes back at the museum for what she claims was unfair treatment … Loïc Gouzer is taking a week off from his auction app Fair Warning to go fishing …

 

SPOTTED

Bella taking Lucien’s pic. Photo courtesy Instagram.

*** Bella Hadid at the Parrish Museum of Art in the Hamptons on the opening day of Lucien Smith’s new show “Southampton Suite” *** The artist Chivas Clem posting pictures of an Artforum rolodex from 1994, showing the addresses of Louise Bourgeois, Martin Kippenberger, and many other artists—but only five restaurant phone numbers, for the only restaurants in Manhattan that mattered: The Odeon, Indochine, Pastis, Bar Pitti, and Da Silvano *** New York dealer Jose Martos with artist Kayode Ojo at Lucien to discuss the artist’s upcoming show, which opens at Martos Gallery in September—while artist Jamian Juliano-Villani had drinks at the outdoor set-up as well *** Robert Longo dining at a two-top at The Odeon with the actress Gina Gershon ***

PARTING SHOT  


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