A new gallery is making its home on Market Street: Fraenkel Gallery, which is headquartered at 49 Geary, is launching a new venture they're calling FraenkelLAB at 1632 Market St. (adjacent to Zuni Cafe). The first show, a video installation visible from the street, is being unveiled today ahead of a renovation and April opening.
Readers may remember 1632 Market's last iteration as E6 Gallery, which took over the space after a three-year hiatus (during which time Salle Pianos occupied the space). After Salle Pianos left, E6 claimed the spot nearly a year ago—but it appears that gallery has vacated to focus on its Southern California location.
"ROBERT BERMAN / E6 GALLERY's return to San Francisco in 2015 has been a good one, but all good things must come to an end," reads a New Year's Day post on the gallery's Facebook page. "Our SF location will be on a 2 year Sabbatical, but our Santa Monica location is still up and running!"
The original Fraenkel Gallery opened in 1979, and since then has held over 300 photography exhibitions, featuring work by well-known artists as Hiroshi Sugimoto, Diane Arbus and Sol LeWitt. While its main location specializes in photography, FraenkelLAB will enable its team of curators to expand into other mediums, such as painting, performance, readings, installations or video.
“Fraenkel Gallery is always evolving and thinking about the different roles we can play locally and internationally," stated Jeffrey Fraenkel, the gallery’s founder and co-owner, in a press release. "FraenkelLAB will be a versatile space that allows us to expand the horizons of our programming, and work with an even broader community of artists and collectors.”
“We often encounter artwork of immense interest that we are unable to incorporate into our 49 Geary Street program," explained Frish Brandt, the gallery’s president. "FraenkelLAB gives us an open-ended schedule and a flexible space for work in any medium.”
A still from Oliver Beer's 'Reanimation (Snow White)'
FraenkelLAB is already moving beyond photography, into video. Starting today, the video installation Reanimation (Snow White), created by artist Oliver Beer, will go live in the new gallery's window.
The video is a little over 2.5 minutes long, and is made up of over 500 images of Snow White, hand-colored by schoolchildren in France. The soundtrack is a kaleidoscope of the 1938 movie's original songs.
The piece will loop from dusk (which is presently taking place around 5:15pm) to 10pm. It will have a short run—from tonight through Sunday, January 17th.
The next show in FraenkelLAB won't take place until April, as the gallery will be undergoing a renovation starting next week. Curated by John Waters, the group show's theme is Home Improvements. We'll let you know more about the event as it gets closer.
