Rising Sun Gallery is a space in flux. Art adorns the freshly painted black-and-white walls. The arrangement contrasts the hectic activity at the newest art gallery in downtown Phoenix.
Jesse Perry, a freelance curator and artist, is running the gallery at Washington and First streets, in the old location of New York, NY Deli. Perry unveiled it as a pop-up gallery, an art exhibit showing for a limited time. The exhibit ran from Jan. 11 to Jan. 15.
“The idea behind the space is modern-contemporary meets street,” he said.
Marketplace One, an investment firm, owns the vacant building and decided to transform it into an art gallery.
Marketplace One approached Perry in November with the idea for a gallery. This is Perry’s first time creating an art show on his own.
Marketplace One also runs a think tank called One Institute, which leads workshops. A group of 40 people came to Phoenix this month for a workshop on business and entrepreneurship.
The goal of the pop-up gallery was to show workshop participants something unexpected. Perry wants to turn the gallery into something that would take people out of their element as soon as they arrived, he said.
The pop-up gallery thrilled Dave Arnce, a workshop participant.
“It was inspiring to see a group that says it plans to support the community actually prove it,” he said.
The show featured paintings, photographs and other mixed-media art by 12 local artists including Kate Simpson, McKay Jaffe and Sean Deckert. Marketplace One asked Perry to choose art based on elements of color, beauty and inspiration.
An oil painting by artist Kate Simpson, titled “Passing through obscurity,” sold for $1,300.
Jaffe, a photographer, submitted 13 pieces for selection. This was a great opportunity to show to a different crowd of people, he said.
Across the street from the U.S. Airways Center, the gallery is outside the usual cluster of art spaces on Roosevelt Row. Arnce says that despite the unusual location, the gallery is in a good place.
“I think art popping up anywhere around the Valley is a great thing,” Arnce said.
Perry wants to keep the space as an art gallery and open it on First and Third Fridays. Perry has discussed keeping the building as a gallery with Marketplace One and says it is thrilled with the idea.
It is still a possibility that Marketplace One will choose to rent the building to someone else. However, Perry isn’t letting this uncertainty affect his plans. He is currently organizing a love-themed show for February.
Perry’s ultimate goal is to showcase the diverse art culture Phoenix offers.
“You throw a bunch of ingredients into a pot … you take a ladle out and you’ve captured all those elements,” he said.
“I’m trying to take a ladle out of the city and say this is what Phoenix is right now. This is a taste of as many different styles of artwork as possible.”
Contact the reporter at josselyn.berry@asu.edu
