Factory Art
Warehouse and factory conversions and adapted use have been popular the last 40 years for residences, galleries, shops and other uses, but often they lost their architectural edge and sense of intent. The Brant Foundation has taken the original Con-Edison substation building at 421 East 6th Street, originally providing power for much of New York, and converted it to an art exhibition space. I love that the building maintains its industrial edge, including the street front facade adjacent to graffiti adorned buildings. It also has interior windows framing downtown neighborhood-scapes. Each floor beautifully displays art from a different aesthetic platform. One floor has soaring ceilings and original ironworks, another floor has massive beams that remind me of an oversized Frank Welch designed living room, another floor is clean, warm and polished with wood floors and ceilings and a delightful skylight. This exhibition – Thirty Are Better Than One – displays over 100 Andy Warhol artworks. On November 1st a show opens here – Basquiat X Warhol – that will display some of the 160 canvases Basquiat and Warhol collaborated on at Andy Warhol’s factory. While many factory and warehouse conversions are sanitized and reflect little of the building, this Con-Ed building conveys architectural energy and texture that is perfect to show Andy Warhol and Basquiat artwork.
This space also made me think of photographer Chet Morrison and his wife Patty’s Cotton Gin building they used as a residence, studio and gallery in Deep Ellum. In the mid-1980s, the Dallas Mayor presented them The Dallas Restoration House of the Year Award. The selection committee chose it because of the impact on Deep Ellum and because it reflected the original architecture and was gracefully adapted for a space in which to live, work and display art.
*Factory Art
#NewYork @thebrantfoundation #brantfoundation #EastVillage #ArtExhibit #ArtExhibition #Basquiat #Warhol #DeepEllum #Neighborhood #Architecture #Historic #factoryconversion
#warehouseconversion #renovation