On March 4, a new gallery will open in the old anti_space location on Fourth Street and McKinley in downtown Phoenix.
Like other galleries in the area, Cade Gallery will exhibit a variety of artwork, but (nerd alert) it's also an old school, mini-arcade, so customers can kill space bugs in Galaga or eat leaves in Centipede after perusing some seriously sweet pop art.
Cade Gallery founders, and native Phoenicians, Weston Henry and Nathan Ross say they wanted to create a fun place for people to hang out, rather than just making a quick walk-through on a First Friday. "We want to make a friendly hangout, so people don't feel like they have to look at the art and leave," Henry says.
Henry and Ross met on a First Friday, when Ross was showing his work as a street vendor on Roosevelt. Though Ross has sold his work out of Red Hot Robot before, Cade Gallery is the first space he's had to call his own. Naturally, he's been cranking out art for the March 4 opening.
The opening exhibit features artwork by Ross, who is heavily influenced by science fiction movies, old Honda cars, and monsters. His works on display include paintings of neon paintball guns, three sketchbooks featuring ink drawings of aliens and bizarre creatures, silk screened T-shirts, and two stencil paintings of Stormtroopers. The latter works are part of Cade Gallery's opening exhibit theme, "The Empire" (a nod to Star Wars, of course).
Henry and Ross are hoping to bring some of their favorite artists in to show at Cade Gallery in the future, including anime artist Rod Mack and Los Angeles artist Ken Tanaka.
Though the gallery's not very spacious, the owners make use of its 400 square feet. One wall is lined with old arcade games they found on Craigslist, including Centipede, Galaga, Aero Fighters, Frogger, and Defender. All the games are operational, and Henry and Ross say they'd like to hold tournaments at Cade Gallery and post people's high scores on their website.
Eventually, they'd like to put a couch in the gallery. "A lot of people walk around on First Fridays," Ross says. "It would be nice to give them a place to rest their feet for a bit."
Cade Gallery is located at 722 N. 4th Street. For more information, visit www.cadegallery.com or twitter.com/cadegallery.
