What began as Nancy Pantirer’s studio in 1996 has grown, over nearly three decades, into a gallery with a clear sense of purpose. Rooted in years of open studios and informal salon gatherings, 81 Leonard formalized its public presence in 2019, building a platform shaped by artists, for artists. Co-run with Hannah Rothbard, the gallery supports emerging and mid-career artists at pivotal moments in their careers, with a program that prizes beauty, technical competence, and community. Group shows grow organically from the artists themselves. We spoke with Nancy Pantirer and Hannah Rothbard about how 81 Leonard came to be, what drives its program, and what it means to run a gallery with no plans to be anywhere else.

81 Leonard began as Nancy’s studio in 1996 and became a gallery in 2019. What made that the moment to open the front of the studio as an exhibition space?

Nancy was involved in the organization TOAST (Tribeca Open Artist Studio Tour) for many years, and she used to host salon events at the studio for artists to put up work, poets, and musicians to take the stage. It was very informal and always about community and art for art’s sake. By 2019, Nancy’s kids had grown up, and she felt ready to give back in a more formal way. The goal was always to build community, but also to create a more formal platform for artists at critical points in their careers.

What does “artist-run” mean to you in practice — and how does running the gallery as artists yourselves shape the work you choose to show?

I think first and foremost, it makes us “yes” people. We are really open to ambitious ideas and site-specific proposals; we are committed to helping bring artists’ visions to life in the physical sense. When it comes to the curatorial framing of an exhibition, we work closely with our artists and always want our words to reflect their intentions rather than fit a predetermined narrative. We choose artists whom we believe in and just want to support and uplift them in any way we can. Most of our group shows come together this way as well, beginning with the artists and building from there.

The program has supported emerging and mid-career artists alongside more politically engaged exhibitions. How would you describe the through-line?

Nancy and I are both painters primarily, and we are drawn to beautiful things. Beautiful things can also be slightly grotesque, as in Ophelia Arc’s work, or they can be political, like in Marina Heintze’s work that we exhibited in our group show Artists on Antisemitism. I would say that beauty and technical competence are the through-lines, and there is room for a lot of variation within those parameters.

Looking back, is there a past exhibition that crystallized what 81 Leonard could be — one that surprised you, or that set a direction?

Ivan Le Pays’ solo exhibition, A Line Alone, was probably that exhibition. I admired Ivan’s work and met him in Paris to get a tattoo from him, and that led to the conversation of bringing his work to New York for an exhibition about the relationship between the body, the landscape, and painting. He was working with Arc’teryx at the time on a documentary on this subject, and it was really perfect timing. We included this film in the exhibition, which opened the same week that Arc’teryx screened the film and hosted a launch party in their SoHo store. It was just an incredible moment of collaboration for us, both in terms of the working relationship with the artist and our beginning to bring other parties into the conversation. The response to that show was incredible, too, and it brought in new collectors, friends, and even a new team member. Kind of magical.

Read the full article: 

https://artspiel.org/a-studio-that-became-a-gallery-81-leonard/