In the life of a gallery, one of the potential moments for a transition in strategy comes with a change of physical space. A new location, a new arrangement of offices, and a new layout of storage and display spaces can catalyze a subtle shift in mission, direction, or staffing, allowing the gallery to both leave some things behind and step into its new reality with fresh eyes and renewed energy.
For Bruce Silverstein, the move from one floor to another in the same Chelsea building might not seem revolutionary, but the new space is a significant upgrade in size and styling from his more intimate previous rooms. Along with the move upstairs, the gallery has taken the opportunity to widen its artistic mandate a bit, extending its interests from a specialized focus on photography to include the varied interactions between photography and other mediums. With more middle of the room space to fill in this new gallery, we can expect to see more connections between photographers (both classic and contemporary) and painters, sculptors, filmmakers, installations artists, and performers of various types, pulling photography out of its narrow silo and into more consistent dialogue with other artistic approaches.
The inaugural show in the new space overtly signals this broadening of scope. “Photographer as Sculptor, Sculptor as Photographer” thoughtfully brings masterworks from various 20th century photographers who were particularly interested in form and structure into conversation with the work of a handful of sculptors who used photography to activate and reimagine their constructions. The result is a lively convergence of ideas and approaches, with plenty of plinths that bring the action off the walls and lots of visual echoes to discover, smartly mixing photographers thinking sculpturally and sculptors seeing with a camera.
