Hello Jef,
I’m writing now with some sad news. In February, after a long and very complicated negotiation for our new gallery space, Alex and I learned that the beautiful rooftop in Harlem would not be possible for us. We spent that past weeks thinking how to proceed from here. We examined all the possibilities and realities for the gallery and determined that we cannot reopen it. It’s very sad for us, especially since we won’t be able to make some of the projects that we were looking forward to for so long. It was a wonderful, special and brief gallery. Now, after 3 years, we need to make plans for our next endeavors.
I am proud that the “test” you gave me and its various projects were the very last thing that we did as a gallery. Unfortunately, I could not sell any of the 4 pieces from Plaats 79; and I could not find a record of the Obama letter or afford to have it printed in the Village Voice. These are my regrets! But it was wonderful to make the little show and website for your Plaats 79, and to put up that poster around New York on New Years Day, and to have your amazing documents at my apartment. And I had many special visits and talk about you and your work (Rebecca Q and Luke Cohen among them).
If you send me your mailing address, I would be glad to return the wonderful documents you sent to me. Alternatively, I could see about donating them to some kind of institution. Perhaps a museum or a library (like Columbia University or the New York Public Library) would like to receive them as gifts? I am speaking of the beautiful selection of KOME, the Women’s Questions, and the 4 Plaats 79 sheets. Of course, I love them very much and I have treasured them at my home, but I think it would be very special for New Yorkers to have access to them somehow. What do you think?
Sending you all my best,
Peter