Now it's not just downtown moving uptown: London's Gallery Eight has joined forces with Faction Art Projects to open a new 4,000-square-foot space in Central Harlem. The collaborative gallery joins a growing list of big art-world names–including Elizabeth Dee and Gavin Brown–that have decamped or expanded to larger new uptown homes.
Located on the west end of Harlem's historic Striver's Row, the gallery's massive glass windows reveal its art to all who pass by on Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Right now it's an eye-catching mix, from Enrique Gomez de Molina's glamorous taxidermy to Marc Dennis's lush, flower-filled canvases.
The connecting thread of the first show, "All That You Have Is Your Soul" (through March 10), is that all 17 artists have some sort of ties to Cuba (a few like Ernesto Pujol were born there, while others have more distant roots). Nevertheless, the exhibit celebrates the group's diversity. The artists are of different ages, genders, sexualities and races, and tell a range of stories using various mediums.
The gallery, which opened at the beginning of this month, is keenly aware of its new neighborhood. It already hosted a local welcoming party and has plans for an upcoming exhibition that, according to a NY1 report, will only feature artists who live and work above 110th Street.
Faction Art Projects is open Wed–Sun.
