People “Weekly,” the inaugural exhibition of the Amie and Tony James Gallery at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, opened this month and runs through February 28, 2009. The James Gallery is located off the lobby of the Graduate Center at 365 Fifth Avenue (between 34th and 35th Street).
According to a July 2008 press release, recently appointed curator Linda Norden wanted to “take full advantage of the gallery’s transparency to the street” by using “its exceptional location to provoke curiosity among pedestrian passersby, as well as art world insiders and the Graduate Center’s students and faculty.” As part of the overhaul, a wall on the 35th Street corner was removed for greater visibility, and a modular system of interchangeable panels was added to allow the windows to be translucent or closed to varying degrees, creating a series of “peepholes.”
An exhibition within the exhibition brings attention to the building’s history: it was the third home of B. Altman & Co. and the first large-scale department store on Madison Avenue. Two 1997 sculptures by Barbara Kruger (Season 1), titled Justice and Faith, will be installed in the lobby display windows. Justice, made of white-painted fiberglass, depicts J. Edgar Hoover kissing a high-heeled and skirted depiction of Roy Cohn; Faith is pictured above. Both sculptures are on view through October 22.
Visit the James Gallery website for more information.