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| Long View Gallery opened last week with a party. (Photo by Rodney Bailey; courtesy of Long View Gallery) |
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HOME > OUT IN DC > LOCAL LIFE
By: Amy Cavanaugh COMMENTS
 
The space is big and open, with a raw, unfinished look that’s very cool — the new Long View Gallery, which opened last week a half block from its old space with a swanky party, is set to become a go-to location for parties and cutting-edge art shows. The gallery has a gay owner, William Waybourn, and a gay gallery director, Drew Porterfield.
“The fact that it’s five times bigger opens up possibilities for the artwork I can show,” Porterfield says. “I can show a broader range of art, like sculpture.
“We would never have been able to show these in our old space,” Porterfield says of the works that are on display now. “We would maybe fit three in. We told artists, ‘Make your biggest work for the opening.’”
The space is 5,000 square feet, and can hold large crowds. Porterfield says 659 people were checked off the RSVP list or signed up at the opening party, whereas 70 would have felt tight in the old space.
The larger space also means Long View can be rented out for events, like an Ace of Cakes taping this week and a Betsey Johnson fashion show next year.
“It’s an ideal place to hold events, since it’s a block from the Metro and it’s a blank canvas in terms of what you can do here — minus the artwork on the walls,” Porterfield says. “There aren’t any industrial warehouse spaces in D.C. to rent for events.”
The opening show contains works by 10 artists, some of whom have worked with the gallery for years.
The current works on display will be up until Nov. 22, when the gallery will prepare for a special exhibit and event to coincide with World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. On display will be original advertisements from the early 1980s by Jeff McElhaney that were the first safe-sex ads targeted to same-sex couples.
Scott G. Brooks is a D.C. artist who has worked with Long View for about two years. He has several pieces up now and will have a solo show at the gallery in 2010.
“The space is amazing and not a lot of places in D.C. are like this,” says Brooks, who’s gay. “They did a great job of keeping the old but making it more contemporary. As an artist it’s great to show in a space like that. It’s very New York-looking, and there’s a Chelsea feel to it, which I think fits perfectly here as well.”
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