Kathy Grayson and The Hole: Raw and unadulterated

Kathy Grayson (photo courtesy of Planet Magazine)

When I learned that Kathy Grayson (former gallery director of the sorely missed “Deitch Projects”) was in the process of finally securing a new space for her gallery “The Hole”, I became so elated that I had to visit her temporary exhibition space on the Lower East Side.

The fantastic mural at the Bowery is by the legend of legends, Kenny Scharf, and we can enjoy it in NYC until March thanks to The Hole and Paul Kasmin Gallery

Kathy is one of those rare species who knows how to do everything--write, spot the next big artist, curate a fabulous show in NYC, Athens, Germany or anywhere else in the world, hang out and party with the underground crowd (including Rosson Crow and Terence Koh among many others), throw an amazing dinner party and make her highbrow investors happy in the process. She’s engaging without being overly dramatic, and confident enough to know that she’s here to replace the big hole left when Jeffrey Deitch decided to take the position of MoCA Director in Los Angeles. Hence the name of her gallery “The Hole”.

Ben Jones' furniture and art.  So cool!

What I love about the concept of The Hole, is the ability to push boundaries and to put together shows where the entire space is fair game, turning floors, ceilings, columns and anything else into part of the exhibit. I also see her gallery as a continuation of Deitch, especially since many hot artists there were discovered by Kathy. I admire her for being assertive about her belief that art schools often tame the creative process because of too many rules, which aren’t necessarily good for new artists with wild imaginations. Not that art school isn’t a good place to find new talent, but Kathy finds her artists in bars, restaurants, lounges, parties and any other place where the members of the downtown community tend to multitask and make use of their creative talents in any way they possibly can.

My favorite piece.  It's by Dearraindrop and I absolutely adore it!

What is most fascinating to me is Kathy’s strong perspective.  What makes her different from most, is that she is on the lookout for the rawness, the unadulterated work that is born from artists who get to experiment with a bunch of different media, through a variety of creative channels. That means that they are free to explore and free of constraints, attached to one discipline or one style. Kathy’s artists are creating art to reflect their lifestyles 100% without filters or purifications. She loves street art, graffiti, vibrant colors, playful images and the exhilaration to put together fantastic exhibits that involve the spectator in more ways than one. Of her current artists I’m fascinated by Dearraindrop, a collaboration among three artists: Laura Grant, Billy Grant and Joe Grillo, who also do their own solo work as well. I plan to own one of their works ASAP! Kathy’s latest obsession is Ben Jones and I can see why. Ben is also a member of the art collective Paper Rad. One of his trademarks is to make fantastic cartoon surrealist paintings that are a mix of Stanley Kubrick and Andy Warhol. He also creates super fun furniture and is releasing a new cartoon series for TV. In the temp space, among other cool stuff, Kathy also has a great piece by Barry McGee and some faces by artist Jane Mosley made entirely from candle wax.

Another Dearraindrop piece.  Fab sculpture!

The good news is that Kathy is moving to a great space on Bowery and Houston (The Hole should be up and running in about eight weeks or so). And, she has a bunch of fantastic shows lined up. The first one is “The Art of the Joke” , a collective that incorporates pieces by new and established artists, as well as nightly performances of standup comedy. A lot of these artists are comedians too, but we are so used to seeing or knowing about only one of their facets, we are really missing out on everything else. There will also be a summer show with giant plastic floating dolls in the Highline… enough said to capture ANYONE’s attention…

I’ll be attending the grand opening of the new “Hole” and can’t wait to see what that party will be about. Here’s a link to Kathy’s blog, which I truly love for its originality and the "raw and unadulterated" images: http://blog.artfrombehind.net/

Joe Grillo's collage

Super bright colors by Billy Grant

The Hole hosted a dinner in celebration of Armory Week and Dearraindrop created the most amazing decor.  Here are some of the elements that were left.  I love these guys!