Installation view from Halsey Rodman’s Solo Trouble exhibition at KANSAS’s Franklin Street space. Image courtesy the gallery.
Manhattan galleries continue to migrate east. Case in point: KANSAS, which has spent several years in Tribeca on Franklin Street, will start making the move this summer to 210 Rivington Street. The Lower East Side is known for its emerging galleries, home-grown boutiques, dumplings—and some artists still live and work there. Tribeca, on the other hand, is where celebrities and their pooches vie for sidewalk space among million-dollar apartments.
The move to the LES will be an upgrade, says KANSAS founder Steven Stewart.
“After nearly four years in Tribeca,” says Stewart, “I’ve decided to take the plunge—it just makes sense. The new space is ground floor and slightly larger than Franklin Street, but with more consolidated exhibition space and high ceilings. ” Large space is far from easy to find, so it’s a good gamble to take.
But bigger isn’t always better. We’ve been following KANSAS for years and found the art—and old space—just right. From a 2012 review in The L Magazine, Art F City Editorial Director Paddy Johnson wrote:
Virtually any mid-sized sculpture would look good in the front gallery of KANSAS. Marked by large windows, warm wooden floors and a ramp leading down to the main gallery space, the sight lines and interior are designed to display artwork in a flattering light.
Keep that in mind for your new place, Steven Stewart, and you may find yourself with a winner.
A strong set of galleries still remain in Tribeca: Postmasters, among them, which stands on a large, two-gallery lot on Franklin. In 2013, they moved out of Chelsea and to Tribeca because their rent had gone up to $30,000 per month. Their Tribeca location, according to this critic, is far superior, though a destination space; it remains, according to the Village Voice, “Gotham’s premier venue for art with brains.” Point is: galleries can remain in Tribeca, it’s just that much harder.
In its new home, KANSAS will join galleries including Lisa Cooley, Thierry Goldberg, Laurel Gitlen, bitforms, and Bodgea, in the blocks between Delancey and Rivington. Foot traffic, we imagine, will be high.
Jessica Sanders, a minimalist painter who works with materials like beeswax and fabric to play upon the monochrome, will introduce KANSAS’s fall season in September. It will be her first solo show with the gallery.
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