We don’t know if this is a celebration or a lament. But we do know that we’ve found ourselves in dialogue with a strain of Modernism that runs from Malevich to Albers to Stella- and his former studio- (itself a former horse market) in Union Square.

In here the rigor got perverted, layers of complexity added chaos to the order. This is where the triumph of control starts to lose it, to a shot of folk-art color and an upgrade to the Grand American Scale.

In this place sturdy steel pegs jutting from the white-washed brick wall once held aluminum monstrosities. A soaring sky-lit roof bathed them all in afternoon sunlight.

Now, a prefab glass storefront hastily and cheaply installed seemingly for the sole purpose of adhering a blaring broker’s poster, guards a slightly pinched and sloped entryway. But like entering a cathedral, the dim introduction gives way to that glorious interior, rife with spirit.

Our ideal.

For the moment, our faithful, slanting, townhouse in the Arts District will house Union Square, a kind of homage. We’ve gathered seven artists who’ve got the feeling of that ideal place, are somehow bound to it –maybe for it.

Andrew Kuo graphs his emotional hardcore, Josephine Halvorson takes a good long look Macrae Semans makes sculptures of heartbreaking comedy Daniel Lefcourt giveth and taketh away Gianna Commito makes hard-edged rigor feel as strident as flags Devon Costello references everything…ever Jaya Howey knows the conflict that begat all of this