WALTZ
OPENING TONIGHT 6-9
@ad.nyc
in 2019,
@nickirzyk @hows_nick and myself took over the lease to
@andre__yvon space, Bible, a truly enigmatic gallery in a small basement on the lower east side. the name AD was chosen to acknowledge that dark, steel-floored room’s history while carving our own course forward. We opened in may 2019 and our path was set. Our energy and excitement was all we needed to propel us from show to show. I didn’t know it but A.D. was the booming overture to one of the best and worst periods in my life. I was doing Catbox and darkzone and starting to show my own work more regularly. I was busy, and that is all i have ever wanted to be. Ruthlessly, endlessly busy. Every minute of every day was accounted for before I woke up. everything worked until it didn’t, and i felt myself shut down. in august of 2020 i drove down to baltimore to get Michelle Uckotter and a car load of her work for A.D.’s first post-lockdown show. I was happy but entirely worn out, my ambition ground to angst. As “Trap Paintings I” was coming to an end, so to was my time at A.D. i still think about that decision with mixed feelings but have to accept leaving is what helped me stay alive. In my absence, AD flourished. Every subsequent show refined and focused the gallery’s mission. The steady work done behind the scenes established A.D. as a vital component of the city’s scene. If you dig through the exhibition history of some of your favorite artists, you will find A.D. And more often than not you will find A.D. was there before anyone else. That generosity is born out of genuine love for art and artists. A.D. is the current humming through the cement beneath our feet, something that is felt even when unseen. Long live A.D.
Please come out tonight to celebrate the last A.D. show in the space where it all started. I’m honored to have work in the show alongside
@poonehmaghazehe &
@georgegittins Help see the journey at 19 monre st’s basement through. before A.D. opens at its new location in May. 🖤
