Exclusive Preview: PaperMonster at the new Vincent Michael Galley

Yesterday I was treated to a preview of the new Vincent Michael Gallery at The Piazza at Schmidt’s, as it prepares to open to the public this Friday. I had been corresponding with Chris Clark, one of the gallery’s founders, about the bureaucratic troubles they had encountered in gaining permission to open for business. He had been searching for pop-up gallery options so as not to delay the launch of Vincent Michael Gallery any further—having already been barred from opening their June exhibition at the last minute—while they would wait for their permanent home to be cleared for use. Luckily, it did not come to desperate measures: the city released the facility from a seemingly arbitrary cease work order with just enough time for them to prep before July’s First Friday.











PaperMonster Ate That Little Boy is the inaugural show and when I arrived, the artist PaperMonster was putting some final touches on a large-scale stencil, graffiti and collage wall-installation. The work is impressive, a confident visual imprint for a new gallery that looks like it will succeed by differentiating itself from the cluster of other galleries in the immediate area. I spent some time speaking with Elizabeth Gault, a local independent curator who has been working with Vincent Michael Gallery. It is clear that these are not some crazy kids throwing whatever works up on a wall; real vision is guiding their choices.

Vincent Michael Gallery and PaperMonster Ate That Little Boy open on Friday, July 2 at 6 p.m.