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“The public gallery space is based on the proportions of the west gallery at 525 which artists liked more than the large single room on the east side,” he said.
Monte Clark said work on preparing his gallery continued until mid-September. On the day Postmedia News spoke with him by phone, he was waiting for the front door to be installed at his new location at 53 Dunlevy Ave.
The entrance has both stairs and a ramp that opens dramatically into a basement.
“I wanted this kind of space,” Clark said. “When it was all stripped, there was an honesty about it.”
He said the trickiest part of turning the subterranean space into an art gallery was making sure not to cover everything up with drywall.
“You only see drywall where there wasn’t a wall or where there was a configuration of pipes that made it impossible to hang art on.”
Monte Clark Gallery opened in Gastown in 1992. Within five years, the gallery moved to Gallery Row on South Granville. In 2013, MCG opened at 525 Great Northern Way.
Previously, MCG had just less than 4,000 square feet of space. At the new location, it’s almost triple that at slightly under 12,000 square feet. Not included in the new space is an area upstairs with skylights that Clark plans to turn into four artist studios by November. It will be operated separately from MCG.
“I wanted a space where there was no distraction with design,” he said. “I wanted people to slow down and engage with the experience of looking.”
Both galleries have installed group shows in their new spaces. Equinox Gallery‘s first exhibition of work by Shawn Hunt opens Oct. 10. At Monte Clark Gallery, an exhibition by Colleen Heslin opens Oct. 27.
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