Pardon our dust! We’re having some work done on a few of our gallery walls in the Samek Gallery. Here’s the inside scoop on why we’re doing this now. The inner walls of our gallery were never intended to hang art. They originally contained windows (I’m told) that looked out on the Gallery from our staff offices here on the 3rd floor of the Elaine Langone Center. However, these windows were later covered up to make more space for hanging art. Sounds like a good idea, right? However, these walls were still pure sheet rock from when they were just a barrier between the Gallery and the offices. Over time, hammering supports for artwork into this sheet rock permanently damages the wall, as sheet rock tends to crumble. If this continued long enough, it could even threaten the structural integrity of the walls. Fortunately, we were nowhere near this point, but are replacing the walls as a preventative measure. How does one get around this sheet rock problem, you may ask? The answer is a layer of plywood between the plaster and sheet rock. The plywood is much sturdier and can support much more weight than sheet rock can, and will last much longer, without the problem of cracking and crumbling. This is quite the undertaking for us, as it not only means we’ll have to take down all the art on display, we also need to safeguard art that’s in storage from damage. To do this, we’ll be covering up certain vents that link the Gallery to our storage spaces, so dust from the construction doesn’t harm the art. I’ll be posting updates and pictures of the “Samek construction site” as it happens on our Instagram page. Of course, this means we’ll be closed up here for the next few weeks, but we hope to reopen Summer Salon II and our Kress Gallery by July 9–fingers crossed! In the meantime, you’ll still be able to check out Warhol: Again for the First Time all summer long at the Downtown Gallery.
