Moderne Gallery opens a location on the North American Street Arts Corridor.
Moderne Gallery’s inaugural exhibit features a wide range of historic and contemporary furniture, ceramics, metalwork, turned wood and sculpture by artists like George and Mira Nakashima, Sam Maloof and John Eric Byers.
As Moderne Gallery’s (modernegallery.com) 40th anniversary approached, co-directors Robert and Joshua Aibel didn’t think small. The father-son duo missed Philadelphia’s burgeoning arts community after relocating from Old City to Port Richmond—a new location in Olde Kensington was the perfect fix. In January, the beloved gallery opened for its inaugural exhibition, bringing together design icons from the 20th and 21st centuries. Here, Robert dishes on the opening and what’s to come.
How does it feel to celebrate 40 years of Moderne Gallery? I feel incredibly lucky. When I love doing something, time seems to evaporate, no matter how hard I work. It feels like I’ve only had the gallery for 10 years. I’ve been fortunate to experience the meaning of a “labor of love” deeply.
What do you love about the new location? The new, large, open space allows us to reinvent our approach to display and do justice to the work we represent. We now have about 60 feet of street-level windows to promote work that many people have never seen publicly.
What can people expect from the inaugural exhibit? We’re exhibiting a broad range of historic and contemporary furniture, ceramics, metalwork, turned wood and sculpture that explore similar themes in design, especially the natural world. Of course, as the primary purveyors of the work of George and Mira Nakashima, they will always be leading the way.
What does Moderne Gallery have planned for this spring? This month, we plan to have a special focus on Japanese design and ceramics in association with Collab, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s affiliate group for modern and contemporary design. In May, we’ll present the brilliant Japanese ceramicist Tanaka Tomomi’s first solo American show. Tomomi will travel to the U.S. to present her amazing work in person.
What do you hope for the future of Moderne Gallery? We hope to introduce and re-introduce talented designers from the craft and design worlds of the 20th and 21st centuries. We hope to help a wide audience recognize and appreciate their unique and groundbreaking work.
Photography by: COURTESY OF MODERNE GALLERY
