As soon as the paint's dry in pop-up gallery 5&6's new space in Scottsdale, artist and gallery co-owner Joshua Rhodes says he and his crew can start hanging and installing the pieces for "Plastic Antics" -- their next show opening on March 10.
Rhodes and Dan Diaz, another local creative, founded 5&6 during the pop-up gallery movement in Scottsdale, when Bentley Calverley, Director of Bentley Gallery, and Craig Randich, Bentley Gallery's preparator, convinced a few of Marshall
Way's building landlords to house artists and galleries at a reduced
rate. (You can read more about Calverley and the pop up movement in Pop Art.)
Artists signed deals through Randich and Calverley that agreed to rent the spaces for limited time -- until businesses willing to pay the full amount signed leases.
Rhodes laughs and says he had a feeling his space was being looked by "space poachers" in mid-February (mostly because he says the guys would come in and look at the windows and flooring instead of the art on the walls).
So when the call came that a jewelry business was willing to pay the full rent space, he wasn't too surprised.
While 5&6's new space at 7051 East Fifth Street (next to 5th and Wine) is a little bit smaller, Rhodes says he doesn't expect the move to affect business or opening attendance -- after all, it's only about 100 feet from the old location.
And the gallery's rent will remain relatively the same; Randich says he Calverley have taken on and negotiated 5&6's new lease with the new property owners.
"These artists have done such an amazing job with the space and have introduced the community to a different kind of work," says Randich. "I'm just so happy we could help them to continue creating and experimenting with gallery ownership."
The gallery announced last month that Rhodes and Diaz were bringing Lalo Cota, Thomas Breeze Marcus, Jason Rudolph Pena, and Adam Dumper in as resident artists.
You can expect this month's show, The Plastic Antics Exhibition, to be full of painted and actual collectible vinyl toys, as well as pieces which Rhodes says focus on the creative DIY movement.
Work from the gallery's resident artists as well as Josh Pearce, Nerviswr3k, Spencer Hibert, and "Milk Munny" curator Isse Maloi will be on display for the opening on March 10 from 6 to 9 p.m., and through April 2.
For more information, check out the 5&6 website and see the opening trailer below:
