Total transformation was the mandate given to 1100 Architect, the New York and Frankfurt-based firm who oversaw the renovation of Metro Pictures in Chelsea. The space recently reopened with Cindy Sherman's first solo show at the New York gallery since 2012, which features the American artist, now 62, assuming the role of women of a certain age in the 1920s, when they were defined by ‘exaggerated makeup, modern clothing and seductive poses in 1920s Hollywood publicity photos’. The images are printed directly onto sheets of metal using dye-sublimation technology, thereby eliminating the need for a protective layer of glass. Physically and conceptually vulnerable, the work is refreshingly open, just like new the new space.
But this wasn't always the case. When Metro Pictures founders Janelle Reiring and Helene Winer moved from SoHo and bought their building on West 24th Street with Barbara Gladstone and Matthew Marks 20 years ago, the firm cut their space up into three smaller galleries, forming an intimate narrative sequence for all their shows.
‘Back then, those rooms which of late have felt a little modest, seemed grand, actually. There was also more of a distinction at the time between the gallery experience and the museum experience,’ says David Piscuskas, the partner at 1100 Architect who oversaw the new renovation. ‘This time we all knew we wanted clean human proportions, but on a bigger scale. The idea was to bring in natural light and think differently about how to connect the main level with the second floor.’
After a three-month hiatus, the result is a more usable gallery divided among two rooms instead of three, with a more dramatic presentation from the street (there is no longer a vestibule). They also replaced the old steel staircase with a more discreet aluminum and Corian version.
‘In the early days it was more important to try and get people to go upstairs, so they knew there was something going on in the upper level. Now, the stair is not on view at all; it starts and ends in the same play but you find it through a little divide in the wall. So you get a much more compact contour of switchbacks that takes you upstairs in an intimate way, as opposed to the grand industrial gesture we had done 20 years ago,’ says Piscuskas, noting that the changes in the space mimic the changes in scale and presentation with art then and now. Without enlarging the footprint, they also opened up former storage area at the north end to gain 16 percent more exhibition space and install a skylight.
Visitors now access each of the two primary spaces from a central entrance. Aside from the original floor, it's a new twist on the white cube that is ‘totally devoid of detail’, says Piscuskas, adding, ‘This feels right for now.’
It’s a change from when Metro Pictures founders Janelle Reiring and Helene Winer bought the building 20 years ago, cutting the space up into three smaller galleries and forming an intimate narrative sequence for all their shows
‘This time we all knew we wanted clean human proportions, but on a bigger scale. The idea was to bring in natural light and think differently about how to connect the main level with the second floor,’ says David Piscuskas, the partner at 1100 Architect who oversaw the new renovation
To celebrate, the gallery is staging Cindy Sherman’s first solo show at Metro Pictures since 2012
The artist, now 62, assumes the role of women of a certain age in the 1920s, when they were defined by ‘exaggerated makeup, modern clothing and seductive poses in 1920s Hollywood publicity photos’
INFORMATION
’Cindy Sherman’ is on view until 11 June. For more details, visit Metro Pictures’ website
Photography: Genevieve Hanson. Courtesy the artist and Metro Pictures
ADDRESS
Metro Pictures
519 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
-
Inside D.S. & Durga’s new Los Angeles store, inspired by Ray Kappe’s 1960s California homeCult fragrance brand D.S. & Durga has opened a second Los Angeles store in Silver Lake, inspired by Ray Kappe’s 1967 Pacific Palisades home
-
The design-led restaurants to know in 2025This year’s most read-about restaurant openings to inspire your 2025 cravings, from a playful diner in New York to an art-and-dining hub in Marrakech
-
From Polestar 1 to Polestar 6, a definitive guide to the acclaimed EV brand's cars and conceptsNow that the new Polestar 3 and 4 are on the road, we take stock of Polestar’s progress and chronicle its evolution, cataloguing all the EV car company’s models and concepts to date
-
Inside Luna Luna: the amusement park designed by artists lands in New York‘Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy’ – featuring rides by Basquiat, Lichtenstein, Hockney, Haring, and Dalí – has opened at The Shed
-
Henni Alftan’s paintings frame everyday moments in cinematic renditionsConcurrent exhibitions in New York and Shanghai celebrate the mesmerising mystery in Henni Alftan’s paintings
-
Brutalism in film: the beautiful house that forms the backdrop to The Room Next DoorThe Room Next Door's production designer discusses mood-boarding and scene-setting for a moving film about friendship, fragility and the final curtain
-
'There’s an anxiety under all of it': Violet Dennison in New YorkViolet Dennison debuts abstract paintings with new show 'Damaged Self' at Tara Downs Gallery
-
‘Gas Tank City’, a new monograph by Andrew Holmes, is a photorealist eye on the American West‘Gas Tank City’ chronicles the artist’s journey across truck-stop America, creating meticulous drawings of fleeting moments
-
Mark Armijo McKnight’s bodily landscapes capture the tactile serenity of the American WestThe artist’s new exhibition at the Whitney Museum, which is organised by the museum curator Drew Sawyer, offers a succinct window into his contemplative suggestion of queering a landscape
-
Dark, glamorous and hedonistic: a photography book captures New York in the 1990sNew York: High Life, Low Life, by Dafydd Jones, goes behind the scenes of New York society
-
Derrick Alexis Coard’s portraits are a sensitive, positive testimony to Black menThe late artist Derrick Alexis Coard’s retrospective ‘I Am That I Am’, at New York’s Salon 94, honours his ‘symbolic expression for possible change for the African-American male community’
