Cody Rae Knue sits down with Robert Walden and Henry Chung, owners and directors of Robert Henry Contemporary.

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56B: How did you get started with the gallery? You also run a vintage store, Robert Henry Vintage.

RW: That’s actually how it started; we opened a vintage house ware store, mostly from the 60’s and 70’s, in 2008.  Since we had wall space we started showing artwork, our own work and that of our friends’.  It was a great way to get people into the store.  Now five years later we’re doing this.  It just became something else.

HC:  Robert and I are both artists as well. Using the wall space in our store to show work was just a logical decision.  But at some point it really took over and we had to move the house wares online.  Our retail space became purely an art gallery.

56B: You use to be in South Slope, when you did you migrate to Bushwick?

RW: We opened here on June 1^st of last year.

56B: What brought you to 56 Bogart?

RW: Oh well, the aura that is Bushwick.  We were fairly isolated in South Slope and we needed to be in a place that had more foot traffic for art.  Bushwick proved to be that place for us.

56B: What made it the perfect fit?

RW: A community of like-minded people and affordability.

HC: The lack of community over where we were before was really very difficult for us because we were so isolated. We were far.  [Laughs]  It made it difficult to see what else was going on.  Here we have this huge community of peers that we can talk to, throw ideas around with and even have meetings with other gallerists in the neighborhood.  Everything feeds off everything else.  When we have openings the crowd is more than double [than the South Slope location], especially when our openings sync up.  That would never happen at our old space.   They would have their opening and we had ours; there was no cross over.

RW: There were four galleries, including us.  Sometimes we would we have openings on the same night but galleries were fairly spread out, it lacked critical mass.  It’s an analogous to an artist working in his or her studio and never showing beyond the studio.  Some people are satisfied with that and that’s fine, but to me it fundamentally misses a huge part of what art is: the engagement with other people.

HC:  We have a responsibility with the artists that we work with.  Having a space where nothing happens is pointless; it’s kind of a disservice to us as a gallery and to the artists.  In a community like this, when we have openings, people are actually seeing [the artwork].  We get people who are blogging and people who are writing in various publications.

56B: What would you like to see happen to this area?  It’s getting really built up but still a small, intimate community.

HC: I hope to see it continue to organically grow.  I think what often happens with neighborhoods like Williamsburg or Red Hook, and even Long Island City, is it gets to a point where we are now, then people try to make it more and pump in money but all too quickly.   That has a potential to really stop a wonderful thing right in its track.  Not to say that I don’t want to see it grow, we all want to see it grow.

RW: Change is inevitable. Once a neighborhood is “discovered”, real estate people move in and prices go up.  That squelches the ability for things to happen organically and for people to experiment

HC: Exactly, but we don’t want to see it change so quickly or so drastically that it ruins the character.  People begin to show safe stuff because they need to pay the bills. 

56B: Most of the work you show are drawings and collages, why that focus?

HC:  We started showing art that we liked at our original space and it just happen to be that kind of work: some what abstract, some what minimal, and very conceptual.  It’s a personal preference and our programming reflects that.

RW: It’s extremely personal.  We don’t show what we wouldn’t own.  

56Bogart: That’s a good motto to go by.

RW: We know galleries that show works because they think they can sell them.  I don’t want to show work that I’m not aesthetically and conceptually engaged with.  Why should I promote something that is not of any interest to me?  It’s a particular way to run a gallery and I don’t think it’s unusual.  It’s just having a point of view.  Clients go to galleries or specific gallerist for their point of view.  The gallery is the liaison with the artist and to be someone the client can develop a relationship with.  To me that becomes difficult if the works shown at a gallery have no relationship to each other whatsoever.

56B:  Totally.  I think it allows you to reach out to a specific audience, because you are just as involved as they are.

HC: Yeah and people comment sometimes that we talk so well about the artist that we show and about the artwork.  The reason is we are very much engaged; we really, really love the work we show.

RW: Yeah, it’s another aspect of building community.  We have a community with our artists, we’re friendly with all of them, and we don’t show anyone we don’t know.  We very much like knowing whom we work with, because it builds trust.  It’s just more enjoyable for us.  It creates a micro community, as well as making our interactions with the broader community more interesting and more meaningful.

56B: How long have you been working together?

RW: Six years?

HC:  Yeah.  Wait, no, four years and we’ve been together for six years, or is it seven? Yeah, seven.   

56B: It’s great to see a couple working together.  What’s your favorite part about owning a gallery?

HC: Well part of it is being surrounded by art all the time.  I hadn’t really thought about it until someone mentioned it to me and I though “Oh wow, yeah!”  It’s very nice but also being social, especially in this neighborhood.  There’s a lot people we know, even from before we moved here, that are a part of this community.  On any given weekend they come in and just chat, even strangers.  It’s very social, I enjoy that quite a bit.

56B: I’ve been wondering, how did you decide whose name goes first in your name?

RW: Well, that was a long process.

HC: Originally we were going to call it Waldung.

RW:  It didn’t catch on as well. [We all laugh] It actually started with the vintage store and we wanted it to be the name of person.  We wanted it to sound like a person’s store rather than a company store. 

HC: Henry or Robert could be a last name but we decided that Robert Henry had a better flow.

RW: Consequently, I’m often called Mr. Henry.

Robert Henry Contemporary is currently exhibition Louise Dudis, Eye Level with the Smallest Leaf.  They will be participating in Bushwick Basil and Bushwick Open Studios, as well as having a rare group exhibition.

www.roberthenrycontemporary.com

Naomi Edmondson speaks to Casey Opstad. 

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56B: Tell me about yourself, Casey.

CO: Excellent first question, Naomi. I grew up in in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I went back to school for a Masters in Painting. I went in 2009 and graduated in 2011. I always think people that grew up in North Dakota end up having a better imagination. You grew up in Brooklyn, you’re used to the stimulus. There’s stimulus in North Dakota, but only so much variance.  You end up with a better imagination, because you’re able to keep yourself entertained.

56B: I can imagine that.

CO: My favorite gift was a drawing pad or a blank sheet. That is how I feel about North Dakota. I see it as a blank sheet of paper: you can put whatever you want there. You can make it whatever you want.

56B: This leads to my next question: who are your influences?

CO: That’s a good question too. I guess I should be honest about this?

56B: It’s always nice when you’re honest about these things.

CO: Honestly, I’d have to say my parents. They were always supportive. I have two great parents who never really questioned what I was doing. When you tell your parents you’re going to try to make it as an artist…well, our generation is a little different.  But it can be difficult for that generation to understand. I also had some good art teachers growing up. Again, really supportive people. One teacher in particular was named Ryan Alson. He’s a pretty well known artist, but keeps it low key. He influenced me with his directness and his focus on drawing. I do think drawing is an important thing. I think a lot of people now, what with technology, don’t want to take the time to learn that skill.

56B: It’s becoming a dying art.

CO: Pun intended! I see it as sort of a metaphor. He taught me how to draw. Once given that ability, you’re able to see how the world is formed for yourself and others. The idea of the gaze…of what I want to look at is an important one.

56B: I agree. Drawing fosters the ability to discover your own gaze and your own point of view.

CO: Yeah. When you don’t learn to look, you end up stereotyping a lot of things. You end up assuming you know what you’re seeing. Seeing sort of becomes a metaphor for making decisions and living your life, and taking the time to really look.

56B: With that in mind, how did you get into art?

CO: It was one of the first things I was really good at and for which I was complimented. Growing up in North Dakota, I was really good at drawing log cabins. I was complimented on it. That became the way I received attention.  But I also had a lot of different interests, including improv. comedy and theater. Then as I get older it became, “Do I want to be an actor? What do I want to pursue?”. Art was the area where I felt I had the most talent. It’s the one thing I do where time seems to stop. I mean, it happens on stage for musicians and it happens for me when I paint or draw. It’s sort of an indicator that you’re having a good time; when time completely vanishes.

56B: I wanted to get into the series of work I saw on your website.

CO: Yeah, there are a bunch of different things going on. The chalk drawings are erratic. I got this job doing chalk drawings and it’s been hectic.           

56B: I really wanted to talk to you about the chalk drawings because I think they’re fascinating.

CO: I got this job with General Assembly on 20^th and Broadway. It’s sort of an incubator for high tech companies. It’s a really great business that is expanding. I knew the other co founder of General Assembly. When Steve Jobs passed, he called me to come draw a tribute of him on the company’s chalkboard. I get over there, put together a file. People are used to working on a white space with black material. So it fascinated them that I was doing the opposite. It takes a moment to adjust to that.  I think they liked that bit of magic. Once I finished, they liked the portrait so much that they commissioned me to do a total of 24 pieces over the course of a year. They’re huge, probably six by ten feet.

56B: How long would you say it takes you to finish a chalk drawing?

CO: I’ve gotten pretty good at it now and there’s not much lettering. People assume if you can draw you can letter and that’s not the case. [He laughs]. It takes about three to five hours, depending on the level of detail.

56B: I want to ask about the selection process. The portraits chosen are very varied.

CO: The General Assembly wanted to choose people that have created things. They wanted to foster entrepreneurs, and people that are creating something out of nothing. Usually I give them three or four options and they’ll talk to me about them. For example, when MCA (Adam Yaunch, founding member of The Beastie Boys) passed away, right away they were like “Let’s do this.”  That would be an example, because musicians create music out of nothing. 

56B: Thus far, do you have a favorite portrait?

CO: Oh, good question. It would have to be the Phillip Glass portrait. There was something about it. It was his face and after it was finished, I started listening to his music more. I worked from a good photo and he has an interesting face. He has a really strong face, plus the iconic glasses. That was a turning point: when it became more about the drawing process. It was less about being precise. 

56B: How did you get into chalk as a medium?

CO: They asked me to use it at General Assembly and it was the first time I ever used it. It’s kind of like pastels. But if you look at the drawings from the beginning to where I am now, they’re not very good. I mean, you can tell that it’s Steve Jobs. However, I didn’t trust my hand to do line variations. As I went along, I realized it’s a lot like pastels and pencils. But yes, it came through General Assembly. What’s so weird is that when I got that job, a lot of other people started doing chalkboard drawings for their offices. So now, seven or eight different jobs will call me up. 

56B: Was that intimidating at first, since chalk is a new medium for you?

CO: Not really. My philosophy is:  the advantage of the artist is having nothing to lose. I can tell you what I think, because what are you going to take from me? I’ll give it a shot and if I fail, I fail. I’d rather ride that edge. Even if the artist doesn’t like it, they can always burn it or paint it over. There’s always a new beginning.

56B: My last question: Do you have any words of advice for your fellow artists?

CO: Yes, I do have a bit of advice. Firstly, don’t ever take advice from me [He laughs].

Second, slow and steady always wins the race. The way I view it, it’s all about consistency. I’m not in this for the next five years; I’m in it for the long haul.  That’s the only way to live, and do it right. Take it one step at a time. I’m sure that sounds hokey.

56B: It’s never hokey if it’s true. 

For more information: www.caseyopstad.com

Cody Rae Knue speaks with Magdalen Wong in her studio at 56 Bogart.

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56B: Tell me about yourself and how you got started with art?

MW: I actually got started at a young age, with my identical twin sister.   We would always draw and paint; basically that’s all we did.  We were always together and did everything together.  We even went to the same art school, Maryland Institute College of Art.  It was great, we could compare work with each other and I think that helps a lot because it pushed our work in different directions.  After college we kind of split, she went to Pennsylvania and I went to Chicago.  That was when I really started to realize that, oh yeah, we’re actually quite different.  We have different interests and we do different things.  I started to move towards more performative, sculptural work and she moved towards painting and illustration.

When I was getting my MFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I really got interested in the little details of every day life.  I would make musical scores from the nutrition facts on cereal boxes, or attach microphones to kites so you could listen to the sky while you fly it.  I continued that investigation of the every day in a lot of my work, but in smaller and more intimate pieces. 

After Chicago, I went back to Hong Kong to teach art for a few years.  I got so tired and exhausted, a little bit depressed that I didn’t have time or energy to work on my art.  I quit teaching two years ago and started doing residencies.  That was really, really refreshing.   I started making work again, little sculptures, projects and larger installations.  It was a combination of everything.

56B: Your work has a lot humor to it, which is refreshing since art shouldn’t always be taken so seriously.  Art is really funny sometimes.

MW: [Laughs] Yeah!   Even though it’s humorous, I still think it’s still crucial and critical.   I want to use a funny voice to talk about that.

56B: Is there a reason behind why you use every day objects? Such as the piece Chain or American Holiday Package.

MW: Yeah, I think that, even though I’m a studio-based artist, it’s very difficult for me to stay in a studio too long.  It’s hard to just think up an idea, but what helps is to go shopping. [We both laugh] Not because I’m a girl!  It’s mostly window-shopping, just to look.  My favorite thing is grocery shopping. A lot of my ideas come from the grocery store, looking at what’s around me or going to flea markets and finding the best deal, like a housewife couponing.

56B: Similar to the TV show “Extreme Couponing”?

MW: Yeah! It’s like, oh my god! Watermelons are on sale! So I bought two, but I couldn’t finish them!  I started to carve them and do different things to them, that’s how I made the piece Peeled.  The Chain piece came from me going to flea markets.   I kept coming upon these really cheap golden chains.  They look nice but you know it’s obvious someone else has worn it.  It doesn’t matter if it’s cheaply made, because there’s a history to it.  I bought a bunch of chains and started to think about how to view them.  Around that time a lot things started to happen with ordinary objects, such as cleaning detergent, milk and cereal boxes.

56B: So basically you use your art practice as an excuse to shop?

MW: [Laughs] I don’t always buy.  I just like to look at things.  I collect.  

56B: What do you want the viewer to take away from your work the most?

MW: For different works, it is different things, but I always want them to be a bit curious.  My objects are pretty ambiguous at times, like the milk splashes (Splashes, 2012 and Splash, 2010): the shapes are so weird.  I still want the viewer to be very familiar with the objects, I still want them to be recognizable but for the viewers to stop and think to themselves: “Wait a minute, something is different.  Why is it like that?”

56B: The milk splashes are so recognizable, because we see those shapes in ads, on TV and on milk cartons but when we look at yours, there is a realization that something is not quite right.

MW: I like that awkwardness.  People will say I’m critiquing the culture they belong to, and one perspective could be that, but on the other hand it’s more about being aware of what’s around you. Maybe you can take the funniest thing out of it, instead of a critique of consumerism…

56B: Besides shopping, what influences you the most?

MW: The minimalists, even though my art uses very recognizable objects and not geometric shapes and solids, I always try to strip it down to the bare minimum.  If the piece is about milk, it’s just about the milk.  I always really love that minimalist quality in artwork.  But at the same time, I’m very contradictory.  I also like work that is very busy and obscure, romantic qualities in things.  I like the feeling of work distancing the viewer in a very sensitive piece.

56B: Like Sunrise, Sunset, it’s a very romantic piece.  It allows the viewer to escape to another world for a while.

MW:  Yeah.  Sometimes I put Sunrise, Sunset together with Unidentified Fountain. It’s another piece that I really like.  It’s just a public water fountain, but when I shot the video, I turned the camera sideways so the water no longer shot straight up. For me that is really great.  A water fountain can be a tourist spot or a place for people to go relax, it’s not something that is often looked at as being strange. Usually a fountain is romantic, but when it’s turned that way people don’t know what it is.  They think it’s a meteorite and often it’s seen as a very sexual piece.  That’s what I like about it, it has multiple meanings and physically weird.

56B: You have exhibited around the world.   Where do you enjoy exhibiting the most and where do you think your work is best received?

MW:  I don’t know. Each place is so different.  Everywhere I go, I am able to make work that is really me.  When exhibiting somewhere, I’m asked how my work relates to that culture and society but sometimes I find it very difficult to answer.  I don’t want to always make work just because I’m in one specific place.  I want to make work because I’m interested in something and maybe it fits in with the location.  The funny thing is that no matter where I go, I am always able to find inspiration, which is really great.  I won’t say that my work is cultural or country specific but I always use what I find there.  In Greece I played with the ATM machines, which were fascinating.  In Korea I started to draw the landscapes I found in the food packaging.   For some reason it’s the craziest in Korea, they can be really cartoonish.  The American ones used to have landscapes but now they just go for big ugly logos or bands of color.  I always keep the same size [of the package] and take out all of the words and logo. Since I travel a lot, I collect them wherever I go.  I get to try a lot of new things, but sometimes I open a bag and the food is really disgusting but I don’t want to waste it! [Laughs]  I just want the packaging!  

56B: What is your favorite thing about your studio?

MW: It’s the perfect box.  I like the quiet and the privacy.  I thought of sharing, but I know me, even if there is a curtain, I would be too conscious about it and wouldn’t be able to focus.  I don’t need a big space, just a little cube.  Plus it actually has a lot of sunlight.  When I’m in my studio, it’s my workspace.  Even if I’m not working, I’ll just sit here and stare at my work.  There’s no Internet and not much phone reception, so I can be disconnected from the world for a few hours. 

Check out Magdalen’s work at www.magdalenwong.com

Naomi Edmondson talks to Kyu Seok Oh.

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56B: Tell me about yourself and how you started with art.

KSO: I was born in Korea, but grew up in Japan from the age of 4, when my family emigrated illegally. I used a new Japanese name because in that time Japanese people looked down on Koreans. We had to be very careful all the time because to be sent back to Korea would be very dangerous. When I was young I wanted to be a mime or an anthropologist, traveling to observe different cultures. Basically I was very interested in human beings and their experiences.

At the age of 16 I was allowed to go on a bicycle trip around Japan, which was the first time I was able to explore and have my own adventure. During my travels I had a lot of my first positive experiences connecting with Japanese people. I found beautiful nature and people working there; farming and fishing. It was really impressive to see people living in and with nature. Their lives were shaped by the landscape they lived in. The trip made a huge impression on me as a 16-year-old boy. When I returned home from my traveling it was the first time I felt I wanted to create something.

56B: Why do you choose to work with paper? 

KSO: In Japan I worked with terra cotta, plaster, and bronze as my materials, which are all strong and traditional materials for sculptors. When I moved to New York I wanted to try new materials. I first experimented using thin manufactured wood sticks and craft paper for my work. Using these materials gave me the idea to make my own paper.

56B: Why are sheep the focus of your work? How did the Times Square installation come about? 

KSO: In the Spring of 2009 I did an installation called Renka Project with the West Harlem Art Fund in Monte Fiore Park in Harlem. That  winter Savona Bailey-McClain, the director of the West Harlem Art Fund  asked me if I would be interested in doing an installation in Times Square and to submit a proposal. That spot is very colorful, crowded, and the center of the city, I wanted to bring the opposite taste: quiet, monotone, and the country side. With these ideas I decided to make the sheep. I wanted to make people wonder, “why sheep in times square?” with some kind of surprise. Glenn Weiss, the director of the Times Square Alliance at the time made all the arrangements for the installation and scheduled it to be part of the 2011 Armory, which I really appreciated.

56B: Were there any surprising reactions to the installation in Times Square? 

KSO: Once the piece was installed in Times Square, the white paper and steel platform shined with the neon colors of the surrounding signs. I tried to imagine the lights on the white paper while I worked on the sheep in my studio, but it took on a new life once it got there, I never expected the steel platform to reflect the light like it did. Seeing the sheep in Times Square for the first time reminded me of my family first moving to Japan. We were from a small village in Korea and moved to Tokyo. The way the sheep looked small and a little scared in the center of the city reminded me of that experience.

A lot of people kissed and hugged the sheep and sat on the platform, because they wanted to touch the sculpture. In the beginning, I was really scared and screamed in mind when I saw the first person do that. But, as the week of the installation progressed I began to really enjoy how people interacted with the sculpture.  I realized this is Times Square not a museum or gallery where you stand at least 5 ft. away. The installation coincided with the 2011 Armory and Times Square Alliance curated the event. This brought a lot of media focus, which surprised me.

56B: Describe your sculpting process.

KSO: The original way to make paper uses tree skin, but this resource is expensive and takes a significant amount of time. So instead I developed a technique to make paper from paper. I shred the paper and blend it with water and glue, so it becomes pulp. I lay the pulp out in thin layers on wire mesh formed with curved shapes. After the paper is dry I remove it from the wire mesh and assemble pieces together to create my sculptures. When making my sculptures, I always try to achieve a natural curve created from the weight of the pulp itself on the wire mesh.

56B: Any words of advice for fellow artists? 

KSO: From my experience with public art specifically, I have learned that the only dependable factor is that the plan will change. Whether it’s the date, duration, size, or budget of a project, as an artist you have to be ready to adapt. Most importantly don’t panic. 

Sean Alday talks to Irina Protopopescu of Slag Gallery.

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IP: I finished school and had a degree in art, but later I went back to school. This time it was dental school, so I have a doctorate degree and I worked as a dentist for some time. I lived in Paris, Italy, New York. Wherever I was I was attending shows.

That was how I met the artists I show now, that and people I knew from graduate school in my country.

56B: And where are you originally from?

IP: Romania.

After all of that time in school and as a dentist, I decided to open a gallery. Prior to moving to New York I spent one final year in Italy and then toured Europe going to all these shows and biennials and wonderful things. So after that year was over I moved and opened the gallery.

Which was an ordeal in itself, I went to the Lower East Side and I went to Chelsea and opened one on 27th street. It was around the time of the crisis but I kept on going and ended up moving here.

56B: When did you relocate to this building?

IP: I moved here in February from Chelsea. I was on the ground floor of a building full of galleries.

I was just looking for another space. I looked first in Chelsea and the Lower East Side. I looked here, knowing so many artists in the area. One of my artists was in a Momenta show which is how I met everyone here. Finally we exchanged emails, I came out and checked out the space. I liked the energy and I really felt that it was a good fit.

56B: How have your shows gone thus far?

IP: From a general perspective: Things are going well.

Each day there are different challenges. I tend to welcome them [laughs]. I enjoy this new type of struggle. I am able to do the shows that I want to do.

56B: Briefly, what are the guiding principles for your gallery?

IP: Basically the guiding principle is pleasure.

I want to keep myself open to finding something new that will instantly grab my attention and imagination. When I choose the works from an artist’s studio, I want to tell a story based on the concept of the show. I install all of the work by myself. I can turn things around in the last minute. I do this so that I have freedom. I need freedom.

56B: How much freedom do you have here compared to your other gallery ventures?

IP: Basically the same amount but I pay less for this… I am able to send the artists to different shows here for example. It’s good both for them and for me, let’s not pretend that this exchange is completely altruistic.

But that is the same as with Bushwick Open Studios. It’s wonderful for the artists and if it’s wonderful for the artist then it’s wonderful for me.

56B: What is your main goal?

IP: Main goal? Hmm… well, I can’t say… it’s not really a business because it’s all pleasure. This is part of a bigger goal, a life goal. I take it day by day trying to make every single moment worth it.

Waking up in the morning and it’s not to an alarm, it’s a reaction to the desire and curiosity to keep going. I don’t even have to be excited to do so, even when I’m sad the curiosity is there.