by Julie D. Andrews
It’s Thursday night, and the time is ripe for hitting up a few gallery openings. Not in Chelsea this week, but right here on the Upper East Side. On this night, two exhibitions – one painting, one sculpture – take place within a few Madison Avenue blocks of each other, a somewhat rare double-header occurrence.
“The volume of people is the most noticeable thing that’s different up here,” says Emily Bishop, gallery manager at Flowers (1000 Madison Avenue between 77th & 78th). “Chelsea openings are great fun. But there, it can be harder to look at the work. Openings on the Upper East Side offer a different experience,” she says.
British Glenys Barton, who was born in 1944 and studied at the Royal College of Art in London is showing recent sculptures at Flowers tonight and American Joan Griswold, who was born in 1954 and studied at the Paris American Academy, is unveiling a collection of new oil paintings at Hoorn-Ashby Gallery (766 Madison Avenue).
Just after 6:00 p.m. at Flowers, a smattering of art spectators scrutinizes the sculptures that are perched throughout on sparkling-white wooden blocks. Some viewers poke in and out briefly, while others gather around the artist, asking questions and gesturing with hands clasped firmly around wine glasses.
The sculptures on display are mostly ceramic, while a few are fashioned in bronze, and were produced in the past few years. What is remarkable about the human head sculptures is that while the faces at front are fully detailed, every feature chiseled to perfection, the sculptures are as flat as a flat-screen TV in width, and smooth and featureless at back.
“I didn’t know her work before this exhibit,” says Andrei Petrov, an emerging New York artist who works out of a studio on the Lower East Side and attended the show.
“She expresses herself in different scales, from the life-size to the minute, and in multiple forms. I like how she doesn’t limit herself and adapts the material to fit her ideas. I’d almost like to touch the large figures on the wall in that piece … what’s it called?” he asks the man next to him, pointing. “That’s it. ‘Almost Touching,’” says Petrov.
Indeed, this piece takes firm hold of viewers. Involving a series of miniature ceramic human figures – with arms outstretched but not connected – stuck to the wall to form a large rectangle, it is captivating. Hanging just to the left of the gallery entrance, it’s one of the first eye-popping pieces in this loft-like, brilliantly white gallery with its planked hardwood floors and 12-foot-high ceilings.
But, buyer beware. “Almost Touching” was quite a challenge to install, says Gallery Assistant Ben Porter, who is bartending this night and spent a few arduous hours earlier in the day installing the work.
A few of the busts look familiar. There’s Michael Stipe’s likeness carved out of ceramic. The bust is glaring white with only a thin line of turquoise running around the almond-shaped eyes. The blue on white combination is striking.
And, no fewer than three sculptures of Golden Globe winning Bill Nighy appear in the exhibit. Visions of him playing a washed-up rock star in the movie “Love Actually,” (Richard Curtis, 2003) snapping his fingers and swaying in a chair singing “I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. Christmas is all around us,” run through my mind.
The sculptures of Nighy seen here in Barton’s work, though, are darker, connecting him more closely to the role he played in the movie “Enduring Love,” the dark psychological suspense thriller directed by Roger Michell. Glenys Barton was commissioned for the 2004 film in which her sculpture is central to the main characters, played by Nighy and Daniel Craig, and Samantha Morton.
A stunning turquoise-blue sculpture of Craig, better known as the new, rough-around-the-edges James Bond, glows from one corner of the gallery.
“We’re from London, originally, and have been in business 37 years,” says Matthew Flowers looking dapper – clad in a suit and tie – and tall – standing well more than six feet high.
“In 2003 we relocated here. We’ve really enjoyed being on the Upper East Side,” says Flowers, an amicable host who is greeting guests on arrival, inviting them to a glass of wine, and introducing them to artist-in-residence Glenys Barton.
“Ceramic is an unusual medium for a contemporary artist to work in,” says Gallery Manager Bishop.
The collection will be sold piece by piece, though prices were not displayed at the opening. To inquire about a specific work, it’s best to stop by in person or give a call to the gallery. |
| | After getting a dose of sculpture, it was time to head down Madison Avenue, further into the heart of Upper East Side before the clock struck 8:00 p.m. Just past Frederick’s Madison, I see a small sign reading Hoorn-Ashby Gallery and ring the bell.
Half way up the narrow and bland staircase, I’m drawn to the boisterous chatter overflowing from the gallery.
To be sure, Mary-Claire Barton, gallery director, knows how to throw a party. Ehem, I mean a gallery opening. It’s a full, full house. |  | | Walking into this gallery is akin to going home. It has a traditional and comfortably familiar feel to it. It vibrates an invitingly warm and friendly demeanor. The air is warm, the lighting evening-calm low. The walls are slathered with a rich, burgundy red hue. Lush oriental rugs cover the hardwood floors. Dishes of baby carrots sit on an antique-looking mahogany desk. Men wearing striped oxford shirts talk with women donning neatly-coiffed hair dos and sophisticated-but-casual frocks. |  | | Clusters of people fill every crevice of the gallery space that comprises three connected rooms. They nosh on meaty hor’deurves culled from the silver trays proffered in front of them. Everyone smiles brightly as they sip chardonnay from plastic cups, caught under the paintings’ spell.
Who says the Chelsea galleries are more fun? It appears that these gallery openings-cum-fetes are the best-kept Upper East Side secret.
“People buy art so they can bring it home … where they have parakeets, and dogs, and grandchildren. Where there is life. They should feel comfortable and at home when they are buying it,” says Gallery Director Mary-Claire Barton.
In the middle of the room stands Joan Griswold wearing a long, flowing skirt. “It’s like a light switch goes on,” she says, of what it’s like to see her new paintings hanging for the first time in this packed gallery.
“It’s just like having a little sunlight fall on them,” says Griswold. “When the paintings are on the easel, they can look somehow bland and general. But, this,” she says, sweeping her hand around, “This is the life that I intended for them,” said Griswold.
Her eyes sparkle. And why shouldn’t they? They have come out in droves. To admire the new works of the painter they adore. | | It’s remarkable that Griswold created this collection of 40 paintings in just one year.
“I use a loose brush stroke,” she says. “So, I can’t labor over it too much or the canvas could get muddy. I have to keep it quick and light.”
When asked what her favorite piece in the collection is, said Griswold, “The painting in the far corner in the front of the gallery.”
Later, I peek at the number on the small circular sticker next to that painting. Number 39. It’s entitled, “Annie’s Room,” and comes at a price tag of $18,000. |  | | A complete price list is available for the taking. On it, paintings range from $1,800 to $20,000. For young professional looking to delve into a first painting investment, Joan Griswold’s work presents an affordable, not to mention attractive, option.
Come 8:15 p.m., the gallery employees sweep people gently toward the door.
Usually at a gallery opening, there is a piece that strikes you viscerally, all but calling out to you by name. Before leaving, I go back to the 48x40 red, orange, yellow canvas one more time. The crowd funnels out rapidly, but I want to remember what standing in front of this painting, number 37, is like.
On my way out the door, I glance at the visitor’s book.
“So Vibrant! Vivid! Love it!” is written in ink letters.
Yes, that about sums it up.
When asked how she amassed such a hefty crowd to the opening, says Mary-Claire Barton, “I send the invitations. And, they come. It’s the artist. I’ve been showing her work for 18 years,” says Mary-Claire Barton whose gallery has been an Upper East Side fixture since 1991.
“In her painted interiors and exteriors you look and feel that there have been human beings in those rooms, but you don’t see them. She focuses on geometric shapes, and light. The art feels natural,” she says.
At a spout of show-and-tell the following day, I show a friend the treasures I had come upon the night before. I hand over the postcard. I was pleased that the painting I was drawn to most, entitled “Open” was one of the two made into a postcard (now, I had a copy of the painting to tack onto the bulletin board.) This was one of those canvases you see every once in a while – a canvas you would physically jump into if you could, one that’s a pleasure just to look at.
“You fell in love with this painting, didn’t you?” asked the friend after my breath and energy had been exhausted from describing the power of the canvas, which of course the postcard could not do justice.
Still holding the image and looking at it spellbound, I grin and laugh lightly: “Why, yes, I guess I did.”
The lure of the opening is that the work you’ll see is fresh, and you’re among the first to see it. If you’re buying, you get first dibs. There are discoveries – likes and dislikes, attractions and revulsions. The opening’s promise is that if you go, it’s likely that some or other work of art will rattle you in some way. In the market for art? Go back the next day for the buy and schlep the canvas home before the masses even see it. |
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Flowers Gallery
1000 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212-439-1700 | The Glenys Barton show runs through February 17. Upcoming Shows: February 6 - Eduardo Paolozzi, Sculptures;
February 15 - Jiro Osuga, Paintings |
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Hoorn-Ashby Gallery
766 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212-628-3199 | The Joan Griswold show runs through February 5. Upcoming Shows: February 8 - Polly McCaffrey, Recent Paintings; March 1 - James Harrington, From Gutenberg to Laptops. |
To find more upcoming Upper East Side gallery openings, check out our Events section.
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