By Jeremy Walsh
Long Island City’s arts community is bracing for a loss as the collaborative artists’ gallery Art−O−Mat prepares to close its doors at the end of the month.
Art−O−Mat, which opened at the storefront at 46−46 Vernon Blvd. in October 2005 to showcase the talents of neighborhood artists, is winding down its run with a final retrospective of photographer Jayne Mangino, who died last month after a bout with cancer. A party celebrating her life May 17 will be the last official gathering held at the gallery.
Art−O−Mat co−founder Kenny Greenberg said the all−volunteer outfit has put on 26 exhibitions in less than four years. The last of these, “Zeitgeist,” runs through May 31.
“We did this as a labor of love that we never really expected to last as long and become as popular as it did,” Greenberg said. Now the tasks of bookkeeping and organizing the exhibitions and accompanying parties is overwhelming Greenberg, an artist who runs the studio Krypton Neon next door, and his wife, Diane Hendry, a landscape and clothing designer.
“I don’t know if the word is ‘run out of steam,’ but we have enough things going on in our own life,” he said.
Greenberg expressed particular gratitude to Plaxall Corp., a Long Island City−based plastic packaging manufacturer that has supported the arts in the neighborhood and owns the storefront property housing the gallery.
“We’ve been happy to have them there,” said Plaxall Vice President Matt Quigley. “They’ve been doing a lot of great events for the community. I guess our thought originally was that it was going to start small and there was going to be more volunteers involved. Times are tough. It’s hard to get volunteers for doing things.”
Quigley said Plaxall has no specific plans yet for the future of the storefront.
“We’ve got other spaces around here as well and we still plan on trying to have uses like Art−O−Mat that add to the flavor of the community,” he said.
In the meantime, Greenberg has been talking with acquaintances about continuing Art−O−Mat’s spirit.
Music composer Joe Di Ponio said he hopes to partner with visual artists to create a gallery and performance space for contemporary classical music “where artists, musicians and just thinkers about the arts could just get together and present their ideas, sort of a modern−day salon.”
Artist Sharon Florin, who has been featured in two shows at the gallery, said she would be willing to work with others to try to keep a collaborative, volunteer−run gallery operating in the space.
“I think the fact that you can bring in the community as well — because you might not get people from the community otherwise — that’s what the real charm is,” she said. “I’ve been in Long Island City as an artist for 29 years. But since becoming involved with Art−O−Mat and having shows there, I’ve met many more people.”
Greenberg also said the best part of operating the gallery was watching the interaction between longtime residents, newcomers volunteering at the storefront and artists from throughout the city at exhibition openings, workshops, folktale night, formal lectures on the history of the neighborhood and Sunday poetry readings.
“We’ve had gatherings there where you have people from the Metropolitan Museum [of Art], the curatorial staff, intermingling with the longtime blue−collar residents of the neighborhood,” he said. “I’ve never seen a gallery where locals are that comfortable coming in.”
For more information about volunteering or pitching in for the future of the site, e−mail artomat@licweb.com.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jewalsh@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
