EVENT: Here’s Your Chance to Check Out Billionaire Peter Brant’s Converted Con Ed Station

December 15, 2014

Now’s your chance to get a look into one of the city’s coolest spaces. EV Grieve tells us that from now through Sunday, the curious yellow brick building located at 421 East 6th Street will open its doors to the public for its first art show featuring Dan Colen. The former Con Ed substation was recently purchased for $27 million by billionaire Peter Brant from the estate of the late Walter de Maria, the famed sculptor who converted the 16,402-square-foot structure into an incredible home and studio back in the ’80s.

The event is sure to delight, if not for the artist’s work (which ARTnews dubs “deeply mediocre“), then at least for the chance to get a first glimpse into the extraordinary space. Nondescript and gritty on the outside, the building’s cavernous interior spaces boast ceilings as high as 32 feet, and plenty of the near-century-old substation’s original details remain intact.

peter brant, stephanie seymour brant foundation, 421 East 6th Street, historic buildings, historic buildings, William H. Whitehill , walter de maria

peter brant, stephanie seymour brant foundation, 421 East 6th Street, historic buildings, historic buildings, William H. Whitehill , walter de mariaImages the interior back in August via Cushman & Wakefield

“It will be hard for many…not to see the Colen show as the latest example of the relentless commingling of big money, new art, and real estate in present-day New York, but let’s just admit that there is a very slim silver lining: at least it wasn’t converted into condos,” writes ARTnews.

The show isn’t officially tied to the Brant Foundation (Colen is actually an artist in residence at the Gagosian) so whether or not similar shows are slated for the near-future is still up in the air. But according to previous reports by the New York Times, Brant has said that Brant Foundation won’t cut the ribbon on the new gallery and art study center for at least another few years.

With that in mind, heed our advice: Get a look while you can!

[Via EV Grieve]

dan colen show

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