Strange Paradise
First Street Gallery presents "Strange Paradise", juried and curated by Steven Harvey, from Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects in the Lower East Side. Harvey adapts the model of the juried show towards an encyclopedic approach which will include 144 artists, culled from over 500 applicants, working in photography, painting and sculpture, abstraction and representation.
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| Exhibition View
Michele Liebler Interviews
Steven Harvey
Michele Liebler: Was it difficult to
pick the pieces for the show? Did you have a certain criteria?
Steven Harvey: It was hard to look
through the original images by 500 artists. We did that twice. Criteria was
skill, interest and originality of vision.
ML: What inspires you
most about curating an exhibition like this?
SH: I don’t think there
are any exhibitions like this one which takes a sampling from a large number of
artists and organizes it via themes.
ML: What have you
learned being in the art world for 25 years?
SH: There is as much
interest in art now as anytime I’ve ever seen.
ML: What advice would
you give an emerging artist/mid career artist who can’t find a gallery to show
their work?
SH: Start you own
spaces. But make sure to show other people that interest you rather than just
your own work. Develop a grass roots network with other like minded artists.
Show each other's work. The artist’s coops go back to the Jane Street Gallery
in the early 50s. Right now artist run venues are in vogue. It’s a good time
for artists to do it for them selves.
ML: Artists always want
to know what is the best way to get a curators attention? Should you send them
a package?
SH: Personally I don’t
like paper. I ask people to send me links.
ML: How did you get
interested in being an art dealer, curator, writer, and art advisor?
SH: I have been a
painter for all of my life until 2007. Everything I do comes from my practice
and experience as a painter.
ML: What is the most
interesting show you ever curated?
SH:There have been a
number of shows for me that stood out. In 1984 I organized a show with 2 other
artists, Richard Morrison and Bill Rice that took place in Bill's decrepit
studio space in the East Village. There were approximately 50 artists hung
salon style on peeling walls. A number of the artists are well known now. There
was a great sense of what is possible when one approaches a project in an open
and uncompromising manner. In 1989 I curated a show called James Lee Byars: Old
& New Works at Vrej Baghoomian's gallery. We painted the entire 5000 sq.
ft. space black. There were objects borrowed from the Guggenheim and the Modern, new works created site
specifically for the show and a myriad of little miracles from the artist’s
entire career. I learned from Byars that if you ask 125% of people you may get
98%. Finally in 2003 I curated a show of the eccentric 19th/early 20th century
NYC painter Louis Michel Eilshemius at The National Academy. It was an
extraordinary experience to be able to gather many of Eilshemius's greatest
paintings in the gorgeous second floor rooms of National Academy.
ML: How do you measure
success?
SH: I think success
should be self-evident in the visual reality created and the conversation
engendered.
ABOUT THE JUROR
Steven Harvey is the owner of steven harvey fine art
projects. Initially based on the Upper East Side, the gallery relocated to
Forsyth Street, in the Lower East Side in September of 2011 and now utilizes
two spaces around the corner from each other. SHFAP specializes in art from the
20th and 21st centuries and regularly produces scholarly exhibition catalogs.
It recently published it’s twentieth number, on Sandro Chia. Gallery
exhibitions have been reviewed in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,
The Brooklyn Rail and Hyperallergic, among others. Steven Harvey has previously
been a gallerist, curator, art advisor, writer and artist. As an independent
curator, he organized exhibitions at galleries and museums of diverse artists
including James Lee Byars, Louis Michel Eilshemius, Louisa MatthÃasdóttir, and
the Guerilla Art Action Group.
Photos from Saturday’s opening Strange Paradise
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