8512/14 CHRONOGRAM FORECAST

Setting up for the opening of the Nick Cave exhibit this summer at Jack Shainman’s The School Gallery in Kinderhook.

the forecastEVENT PREVIEWS & LISTINGS FOR DECEMBER 2014

Art SchoolThe word “school” has different meanings for different people. “The School” is the

new space owned and operated by gallerist Jack Shainman that occupies the former

Martin Van Buren High School in bucolic Kinderhook. We can’t vouch for the success

of its first life, but we can attest that it’s become just the sort of enlightening place every

school was meant to be.

Now bathed in luminous light—the natural streaming in from outside and the artificial

discreetly placed—the original schoolhouse has been transformed into a home for art

and an artist. There is ample room for the 100 works by artists of 16 nationalities, a

conservation room, and a studio for Carlos Vega. The School exemplifies the raison

d’être of Shainman’s business: unique voices and modes of expression. When

Shainman goes to a studio he is “looking for artists who are individual and have their

own statements.”

In Manhattan, Shainman occupies two locations in Chelsea, although neither has

enough of the height the gallery owner needs. “I was looking for space to install large

artworks for clients to see,” Shainman says. One day, while traveling with his business

partner, Carlos Vega, to his farm in Stuyvesant, he noticed a “for sale” sign in front of

the brick structure at 25 Broad Street. “We both saw the potential in such a beautiful

place,” he says.

Repurposing the school, which was built in 1929 and used to educate youngsters until

2011, was entrusted to their friend, architect Antonio Jimenez Torrecillas, who excavated

the gymnasium floor in order to create a 24-foot-high ceiling. Windows were replaced

and coats of white paint applied, rendering the walls the perfect background. Objective

achieved: The School is an innovative art space that invites curiosity and contemplation.

Art is not confined to the interior. The five-acre property provides the perfect backdrop

for outdoor installations. Yoan Capote’s Open Mind is currently being erected on the

back lawn and several more pieces are slated to appear.

The interest in the largest room (built in the former gym) is derived not only from the

works themselves but also in the assemblage. Harmonious colors are present amongst

several works— “a nice accident,” Shainman says. The interplay of size and shape is

intentional: “It’s always interesting when you’re installing shows, playing with balance

and imbalance and scale change.” The soaring height of the ceiling accommodates

Adinka Sasa, one of Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui’s masterpieces.

After entering the foyer that provides the perfect setting for a spiritual sculpture by

Tallur L.N., peek into what was slated to be Shaiman’s office. When one of multimedia

artist Nick Cave’s gargantuan soundsuits was placed there—supposedly as a way

station—it looked too perfect, thereby trumping the office idea. When Cave wears the suit

(supported by a concealed armature), sound is produced from the elements adorning it.

In Tim Bavington’s Experienced, a spiral elegantly turns. His practice revolves around

the transcription of music into color and line. Experienced is a visual expression of a

Jimi Hendrix guitar solo.

Historical context is given more than the proverbial nod. A statuette of a little girl

wearing a blue-and-white school uniform (the former school’s colors, according to

knowledgeable area residents) by Claudette Schreuders stands in a corner. A sepia

print by David Hammons peers out from the fire extinguisher case. The two bathrooms,

stripped of the original fixtures, are now “little chapels,” each housing graffiti-free oeuvres

by Gehard Demetz and Vibha Galhotra, respectively.

Fear of being sent to the principal’s office? Not here. The room formerly occupied

by the principal is now welcoming and filled with sculpture, with no threat of detention.

Vacant school buildings dot the countryside. The prospect of additional studios

and exhibition space is intriguing.

Works from the collection of the Jack Shainman Gallery will be exhibited on

an ongoing basis at The School, 25 Broad Street, in Kinderhook. Gallery hours

are Saturdays from 11am to 5pm and by appointment. Jackshainman.com/school.

—Sarah Ellen Rindsberg