The workers at Jack Shainman Gallery were so busy preparing for their grand opening that they didn't notice that New York City's Sanitation Commissioner was leaving her office. The commissioner and her aides looked at the entrance of 46 Lafayette Street before heading into their Suburban. Shainman and his staff were inside the 20,000 square foot building making final preparations for the presentation of Richard Mosse's 74-minute video of the rapid degradation of the Amazon alongside a suite of related photographs. Workers in the foyer peeled off a sheet of paper to reveal the names of everyone who worked on Mosse's film. During a tour of the new location, Shainman said the room was for all the artists' ambitions. Kerry James Marshall said, "Are you sure?" and El Anatsui said, "You have a lot of work to do." Jack Shainman Gallery is known for its extensive multicultural roster of artists and had been eyeing an expansion downtown. An old theater they were looking at fell through. The New York Life Insurance Company headquarters were built in 1898 on Leonard Street and the clock tower is an Italian Renaissance Revival building in Civic Center. The Department of Motor Vehicles branch, as well as a number of federal and state governmental offices, were housed in the building before it was purchased by the Peebles Corporation and Elad Group. The large windows at 46 Lafayette Street made the Clock Tower stand out. The building where Shainman and his partner live was conceived of by Stephen Decatur Hatch, the architect who designed the initial plans. The New York Family Court to the north and the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building to the south are both open to the public. The Italian Renaissance Revival building was constructed in 1898 for the New York Life Insurance Company. The New York Life Insurance Company constructed the Italian Renaissance Revival building in 1898. Richard Mosse created an installation that gives visitors a glimpse of the new space before it opens. He expected the renovations to take six months. They took nearly three years because the building was landmarked and had to be brought up to historical preservation standards. That meant a lot of costly stone restoration as well as careful paint removal since the DMV painted over marble columns and walls in a drab off-white layer. Shainman has plans to knock down two interior walls and create a private viewing area for clients because the second-floor mezzanine was not landmarked. Shainman said that the life insurance company installed a vault with 16-inch plates of steel but they haven't figured out what to do with it yet. We are close to Chinatown restaurants, and we saw all its possibilities.
The building has a vault from its past life as the headquarters of a life insurance company. The main draw is the expansive second floor. Mosse's video installation "Broken Spectre" will be playing in a loop on Shainman's 60-foot wide screen through March 16 after showings in Melbourne and London last year. Brazilian workers were filmed illegally sawing and burning vast swaths of rainforest to mine minerals and create grasslands for cattle to be slaughtered under the orders of former President Jair Bolsonaro. He used a custom-built multispectral video camera that he attached to the nose of a helicopter to record the scene. Adneia, a member of theYanomami tribe, spoke at the end of the video about the ruination of her land. You are making our children sleepy.
One time Mosse was carted off the property, he marveled at the sense of danger in his work. In one instance, people thought he was a dumbgringo because he set up on the beach with an umbrella and sunglasses.
Mosse's installation gives visitors a glimpse of the new space that will undergo additional renovations in its mezzanine before officially opening in September 2024. New construction often sucks the soul out of it, but I love mixed-use properties and the galleries here.
Installation view of Richard Mosse, "Broken Spectre"