Deitch Projects

this is a fantastic space. it’s huge, and it’s right by the water front. i’ve removed a star because we had trouble finding it. if we hadn’t found someone to ask where it was while wandering around, we might’ve given up and gone home! we parked in the restaurant parking lot, but we were soon kicked out. so we parked elsewhere and meandered … eventually making it back to the water and discovering the amazing mural on the side of the wall. it would be fantastic if they’d put up some signage showing people where to go and what’s safe to park in. even some tips on their website would be great.
we saw keith haring: the ten commandments. it was truly impressive. upon leaving we realized there was a huge part of the gallery that we missed because we hadn’t walked around to the back of the murals … again, a little guidance on this by the folks who are at the gallery would be great. the girl working the gallery seemed more concerned with her email than with directing people, but she was really helpful when we had questions. can’t blame her, i’d probably be bored, too!
it is an amazing space, and we will be actively checking out what’s going on there. thanks for existing! (free, too!)

I went to this out-​of-​the-​way gallery for an talk between Kiki Smith, Ann Messner and SWOON. The space is gigantor and beautifully located right on the edge of the Hudson. Unfortunately there is nothing else in the area– although I believe Matthew Barney has his studio space nearby– so the walk from the subway to the gallery is through a fairly desolate patch of LIC.
Anyway, the space is huge and Deitch projects always has interesting, edgy, if not sometimes irritatingly hipster, shows. SWOON actually made 7 river-​people style boats and sailed them down the mississippi river. The actual boats are docked right outside the gallery. No shit. They are definitely worth the trip to Queens– as if you needed a reason.