A warm, welcoming debut show features pieces by 100 artists both established and emerging
To step into the storefront of 85-87 Mercer Street in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood is to enter a warm, welcoming and home-like space of extraordinary art and design. The building, which rose in 1873, had an artist tenant cloistered in the ground-floor space for 60 years. After a year of permitting and renovation, it’s now the first-ever international outpost of Amélie, Maison d’Art, the acclaimed Parisian contemporary art gallery known for exhibiting works in venues that look like they could be homes worthy of collectors.
“We have a Maison d’Art gallery that feels like a home in Paris,” the gallery founder, Amélie du Chalard, tells COOL HUNTING. “This is the pillar of our concept here in New York, as well. In this debut show, we are representing all of our artists from France. There are 100 of them, across all mediums and techniques. There is painting and ceramics and sculptures within. This diversity is very important to us, as is the range from well-known to less established. It’s to give a good idea of the universe of the gallery.”
Of equal importance is the unexpected way that du Chalard developed the spacious SoHo gallery with French American architectural duo Tess Walraven and Nike Vogrinec, as well as Keith Burns. “It all comes back to the concept of the gallery, which is to change how we see artwork by presenting it in ways that are closer to collectors’ homes,” she continues. There’s an enveloping, domestic nature to the gallery, which is loosely divided into areas that emulate those found in a home. Only, each area is accented by artistic works in situ—from arching sculptural additions inside of wall from Gerd Kanz to slender, totemic towers of ceramic by artist Lili Delaroque that allude to historic cast-iron Corinthian columns nearby. The space itself is a work of art.
Other eye-catching additions range from a ceramic carpet inlay by Heloise Bariol to a custom sofa crafted by French designer Pierre Augustin Rose. There is an ornately carved French oak panel by artist Eloi Schultz, and kinked mirror panels by artist Boldizar Senteski. Remarkably, the work around these pieces will change—and soon. Even though the inaugural show is immense, and acts as a mission statement for the gallery’s vision, Amélie, Maison d’Art is equally famous for reorganizing their art shows to align with the interests of their collectors. Presentations are tailored for people who make appointments to visit the space.
Du Chalard emphasizes that, “We represent artists at different stages in their career. We have very famous artists, for instance, like Bruno Dufourmantelle, but we also have younger artists like Léo Dorfner. This range allows us to welcome young collectors, too.” Concepts drive Amélie, Maison d’Art—and yet stepping into their SoHo gallery everything makes sense. You can even dream of how the pieces might fit into your own home or, more likely, dream of living in a home that looks like the gallery space.
CONTEXT: incontent
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