Hole Lotta Love

By Chris Bors

I was expecting complete chaos with 500 confirmed guests on the Facebook event page for the opening of Not Quite Open for Business, the first show at the Hole, a new gallery run by former Deitch directors Kathy Grayson and Meghan Coleman. Granted, I showed up a little late, but while the sidewalk of the SoHo venue was fairly crowded, inside you could actually see the art for the most part, which was hung on top of and around an installation of pastel paintings by Taylor McKimens that resembled pieces of random lumber and cracked Sheetrock.

As soon as the name for the space was announced, I tried to think of a witty pun on the name of the gallery, but I was beaten to it: the Hole sports a diminutive shop called Holey Books, with T-shirts and zines, including the perfect companion publication, BUTT.

Aurel Schmidt, For Lucien, 2010

The title of the inaugural show was a little misleading, as the gallery seemed like it was in good physical shape, but the works on view were purportedly plucked from the artist’s studios half-finished, although in many cases it was hard to tell the difference. Aurel Schmidt’s detailed spread-legged self-portrait, For Lucien (2010), certainly left nothing to the imagination. Though Todd James, represented by Gering & López, had a cartoony gouache on paper drawing by the front desk that did actually look somewhat unfinished.

Kathy Grayson, who admitted running the new venture would be a challenge, seemed calm, cool and collected. She combined an honest summary of her background with a blunt sales pitch: “I curated shows for eight years at Deitch, but have no sales experience. There was a team of great ladies doing that, so I have to learn quickly. Do you want to buy something?”

Not Quite Open for Business is on view at the Hole, New York, 26 June – 21 August