{"id":16230,"date":"2020-04-26T08:20:13","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T12:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=16230"},"modified":"2021-04-05T08:05:13","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T12:05:13","slug":"shelter-in-place-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2020\/04\/26\/shelter-in-place-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Shelter In Place Gallery: A Tiny Boston Gallery Pops Up In Response To Coronavirus Restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The motto of Shelter In Place Gallery<\/a> is \u201cGiving Boston artists an opportunity to make \u2018large scale\u2019 work from their shelter in place locations.\u201d<\/p>\n

It epitomizes one of the ways the Boston art scene is responding to coronavirus restrictions. Since artist Eben Haines<\/a> began offering exhibitions there last month, it has presented work by about a dozen artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of pulling people out of their claustrophobic crisis brain for a minute to think about something else and change the way you work,\u201d Haines says. \u201cIt forces you to change your perspective and focus your efforts on something you\u2019d not usually make.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gallery, as seen in impeccable photos on Instagram<\/a>, appears to be an industrial loft space, with big windows along one wall and skylights at the top of the peaked roof that let in gauzy sunlight that flatters the paintings and sculptures. A table sits to the side with a laptop open on top. Photos document artworks in the process of being unpacked from shipping crates.<\/p>\n

\"Shelter<\/a>
Shelter In Place Gallery exhibition of Matt Murphy, April 2020. (Courtesy Eben Haines)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In fact, Shelter In Place Gallery is an illusion, an exquisite tiny model 20 inches wide by 30 inches long and 17 \u00bd inches to the peak of the roof. One inch equals one foot\u2014including in the artworks. Haines says he \u201cpainted everything to look old and crappy and water-damaged from the leaky skylight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to make it as realistic as possible in a ridiculous way,\u201d Haines says. \u201c\u2026 In my opinion, it\u2019s an extremely silly project. It\u2019s the kind of idea that nobody would really care about except for now when we have no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Haines\u2019s humility, Shelter In Place Gallery feels important right now. It represents a form of ingenuity and magical thinking about the problem of galleries being shuttered and gatherings prohibited to stem the spread of coronavirus. It\u2019s a sort of mental oasis, a dream place, in which we stumble toward ways to keep going.<\/p>\n

\"Shelter<\/a>
Shelter In Place Gallery exhibition of Andrew Haines, March 2020. (Courtesy Eben Haines)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Haines usually works at Boston\u2019s Museum of Fine Arts designing graphics like exhibition labels for paintings. But coronavirus has left the institution shut down since the evening of March 12. \u201cWhen the museum closed everything became very real,\u201d the Boston native says.<\/p>\n

In a corner of his apartment in Boston\u2019s Fenway neighborhood, Haines found a model he\u2019d begun in spring 2019. \u201cAbout a year ago, I started making a tiny gallery when the weather was weird and I had trouble getting to the studio,\u201d Haines says. He originally imagined it as his \u201cideal studio space,\u201d a place to try out \u201cbig installation ideas.\u201d But he\u2019d set it aside unfinished.<\/p>\n

Staying home because of coronavirus, Haines says, \u201cI found how difficult it is going from an actual studio to a table in my apartment.\u201d Many artists are going through the same thing. So he got working again on the model.<\/p>\n

About two weeks after the MFA closed, Haines began presenting exhibitions in the tiny Shelter In Place Gallery via Instagram<\/a>. Artists mail or drop off their work. The exhibitions \u201cusually last, like, four days. I do an install shot with all the crates and things packed up still. Then three days of far away and close-up shots and a video tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Into the modern marvel of the moving image! Perhaps the best way to experience this immersive work by @petezoid . . . “All about electricity, sun spots, static, glass shards and disco rhythms, bossa nova to taste.” -Peter Kazantsev . . . #miniature #sunspots #brokenglass #tinyart #shiny #modernmarvels<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Shelter In Place Gallery (SIP)<\/a> (@shelterinplacegallery) on