Opening the summer of 2008, 7ELEVEN Gallery is dedicated to showcasing the work of young and emerging New York City based artists. The gallery aims to feature works that both reflect and refract the contemporary culture of life in NYC and artists will be selected irrespective of age. Located in the West Village at 711 Washington Street, the gallery’s home is a temporary one as the building is scheduled to be demolished and reconstructed in the fall of 2008. So, rather than adopt a gallery-as-sanctuary mentality, 7ELEVEN encourages its artists to work freely, altering the space as they see fit. Exhibitions will feature a broad range of contemporary art: painting, sculpture, film/video, music, performance, mixed-media, and conceptual installation.

The gallery will also house a gift shop where artists, independent NYC-based companies, and friends of 7ELEVEN can sell smaller works, clothing, books and CDs not readily available in the marketplace. Items for sale in the shop will reflect our featured artists as well as the broader cultural zeitgeist. Artists – particularly young emerging ones – need income to support their work. In response, 7ELEVEN will attempt to create a mini-market where goods are produced by people we truly believe in and artists whose work we feel warrants greater exposure. The very name of the gallery, 7ELEVEN, is a play on our blatant consumerism. We just hope we can redirect this trend by making the relationship between art and commerce more meaningful, proactive, and socially conscious, tipping the scales more toward the artistic side of the balance.