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

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.
 

Sean Alday talks with Eric Heist of Momenta Art.

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As I walked into Momenta Art’s gallery space I saw Eric Heist on the ground installing a piece of drywall for a new exhibition. I waited for him to get it into place before asking if he was ready for an interview.

56B: What brought Momenta Art to 56 Bogart?

EH: This is where the artists were going. My friends from Williamsburg were relocating their studios here too.

56B: How many spaces were open here when you moved in?

EH: Interstate Projects. I believe that was it.

56B: What is Momenta’s relationship to the other spaces?

EH: Peter [of the Bogart Salon] has been on the advisory board for many years.

The model that we worked with when we opened in Philadelphia in 1986 was, we rented more space than we needed and then we sublet studio space to artists. In Philadelphia we rented an entire 5 story building and sublet the four stories above us.

We rented extra space here to sublet also. Each space we sublet is roughly 650 square feet and our space is 1,200 square feet. So we sublet to Studio 10 and an artist’s studio. The benefit isn’t as drastic as our original location, though it does allow us to have a larger space than we had on Bedford Avenue.

Which in turn gives more freedom to the artists we show.

56B: When did you move from Philadelphia to New York?

EH: 1992. I went to Hunter College for graduate school and was working with Momenta at the same time. We started doing nomadic shows in SoHo when the galleries were moving out. We funded that by doing raffles somewhat similar to the benefits we host now.

We were later able to rent a space in SoHo. And after that it was off to Williamsburg in ’95.

56B: When did you move to this building from Williamsburg?

EH: We opened in September of 2011.

56B: What’s the biggest difference between here and Philly?

EH: People come out after the opening is over. It was pretty sparse after the opening, but those were and continue to be successful.

56B: Who do you feel is Momenta Art’s main audience is?

EH: Artists.

56B: You just hosted your spring benefit. Can you give me your feelings about that went?

EH: For me personally… It was a blur [laughs]. I try to blend in and make things run as smoothly as possibly.

We had a lot of artists and a lot of ticket holders. It was a lot to keep track of.

56B: What kind of feedback did you get, both from the artists and the ticket holders?

EH: Everything I heard from the artists was positive. Everyone understands that it’s charity. I definitely understand that there’s a lot of anticipation surrounding getting your ticket called. I think that people come because they know that it’s done to support the artists.

56B: What galleries have you visited in the neighborhood?

EH: Not enough. Let’s see… I’ve been to Regina Rex. I went to Luhring Augustine’s opening. I go to English Kills pretty often. Factory Fresh. Storefront.

56B: Could you pick a favorite show that you’ve seen in the neighborhood?

EH: I really liked Stephen Truax’s works [at Storefront]. I had never seen his work presented that way. I thought it was really nice.

56B: What do you think Momenta’s relationship is to the larger Bushwick community? The arts community in particular.

EH: Well… This building has definitely become a hub. We’re pleased with that, we get an audience that we didn’t have on Bedford Avenue.

I know it creates some friction with some spaces that were already here.

56B: What’s been your gut reaction to the attention that you receive? You were definitely thought of as a big fish after relocating, along with Nurture Art.

EH: We showed up before Luhring Augustine, but they are certainly the biggest fish now.

56B: Do you read what people write or do you measure it in inches?

EH: I do care about what they say. I would like to see real criticism about the work being shown.

I want to know what people are thinking, what their ideas are. What’s the point of making art?

What I saw happen in Williamsburg was an emphasis on the entrepreneurship. I didn’t like that dialogue.

56B: What would like to demystify about this whole thing?

EH: That there’s some specific aesthetic to Bushwick art. That line came out of Williamsburg too, that there was a funky aesthetic to it.

This is where artists are going and they bring their practices with them. They don’t suddenly arrive here and find trash on the street and start making collages out of found objects. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but that’s not how it is. It’s a container for all different types of work.

56B: What’s the future of Momenta?

EH: It’s gotten to the point where it needs to become a bigger organization. One component of that will be an artist-run area, which I will be working within.

I need to keep pushing Momenta to take risks.

56B: Do you think that the move allowed it to take more risks?

EH: I think that the danger is that we will stop taking risks. I have to mess it up a little bit in my role.

There’s an element of chaos that is important in any creative endeavor. Finding a balance in that chaos is the key to success.