A Storybook Ending: 45 Years At OK Harris
Last night I took time off from my personal challenge to go to a noteworthy book party in New York City. This impressive Save the Date announcement unexpectedly arrived a few weeks ago in the form of this special package.
Inside I found an amazing book, 45 Years At O.K. Harris, containing a history of the iconic SoHo gallery pedicured through a staggering compendium of art postcard announcements and exhibition lists from O.K. Harris Works of Art (1969 – 2014).
O.K. Harris, which showed my work for over a decade, was the first gallery to open in Soho and virtually the last. I blogged about this in O.K. Harris, the End of an Era.
Suzanne Kreps, manager and chief archivist at O.K. Harris since 1983 (among her many other talents), had the idea to put up the announcement cards by the closing date, April 19, 2014. The postcards went the length of this very large space, one city block long, from Wooster Street to West Broadway, that hosted 5 solo shows at any given time.
Photographs courtesy of John Halperin, “45 Years At OK Harris”, 2014
The book party celebration was a lively event at the Curator’s Gallery (23rd Street in Chelsea), packed full of O.K. Harris artists, the staff, and the Karp family, including Marilynn Karp, wife of Ivan Karp, founder extraordinaire who passed away in 2012. Also present were long time collectors, like Ann Moore, the retired Chairman and CEO of Time Inc., our hostess and now gallerist.
Everyone was connected to Ivan in some way – and therefore to each other – so conversation was lively (and loud!).
Jay and I spent some time with Rick Witter, here with a typical smile on his face. Rick deftly laid the chalkline to keep all those postcards straight – not an easy task but probably a piece of cake for him. Rick spent a big chunk of his life with Ivan at OK Harris deftly handling the back room and all installations. It was great to hear him reminisce about Ivan and the gallery.
Both the book and the party gave me the kind of closure I was looking for (but maybe didn’t know it). The closing of O.K. Harris, a true New York institution in the art world, left a gap in my artistic life. What I discovered last night was I’m in good company.
A huge thank you goes to Ron Weis, a longtime O.K. Harris artist, who had the idea for this elegant storybook properly honoring a legendary gallery in the art world. And Ron personally paid for the publication out of his own pocket, a generous offer by any standard.
With this precious momento in hand, it’s officially time for all of us to move on to happily ever after and truly make this a storybook ending.