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Sandy’s impact on us has been inconsequential relative to the devastation that Chelsea has suffered. Patton and I were there yesterday walking from gallery to gallery offering our services, and finally ending up at Printed Matter. Witnessing the damage was sickening and surreal, but seeing the steady efforts to salvage and restore business were encouraging, and honestly remarkable. The toughest part is the loss of art and archives. Art business from non-profits to galleries all perform a public service and possess a part of history that needs to be protected and preserved. |
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Dumbo Art Center area.
In Sandy’s wake, NY Arts has caught up with a number of galleries and artists and curators. In particular, Klaus Biesenbach of P.S. 1 has been on a campaign to spread the word.
“On November 3 we had more than 100 volunteers and many truckloads of supplies to distribute. The volunteers did an amazing job helping residents to clean out their flooded houses and distribute blankets and meals and water. We are planning another rally this Saturday at 10am at 4 west 54th street. Right now, we need generators, gasoline, flashlights, clorox bleach to prevent mold, gas or propane powered heat lamps and cleaning products like sponges, mops, contractor bags and brooms. But most of all we also need volunteers, commitment, and awareness.” Below is a video that two artists made on Saturday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olForyqALZ4&feature=youtu.be
Meanwhile in the LES we caught up with Kristen Dodge from Dodge Gallery. “We were unable to access our gallery until November 2 when power was restored, and today we can confirm that nothing has been damaged. For us, the storm’s only impact was being forced to suspend business and postpone our exhibitions which were due to open tonight, and will now open Saturday, November 10. Our staff is all safe.
Sandy’s impact on us has been inconsequential relative to the devastation that Chelsea has suffered. Patton and I were there yesterday walking from gallery to gallery offering our services, and finally ending up at Printed Matter. Witnessing the damage was sickening and surreal, but seeing the steady efforts to salvage and restore business were encouraging, and honestly remarkable. The toughest part is the loss of art and archives. Art business from non-profits to galleries all perform a public service and possess a part of history that needs to be protected and preserved.”
Writer, artist and gallerist Leah Oates of Station Independent Projects stated “I was home from Monday to Friday as my son was out of school and checked in with the super to see if the gallery was ok which is was. Our home in Brooklyn was unaffected too. I did close the gallery this week however as there was no electricity, phone or internet so there was a loss of business and revenue. I was there today for a few hours catching up on gallery work and people from the the area stopped by to check in but traffic was a lot slower than normal.”
