How it came about:
Working at Pace/MacGill Gallery in the early 1990s, I wanted to learn what I could about the art business and eventually open my own gallery. I lived in several apartments over the years in NYC, from Park Slope in Brooklyn to midtown Manhattan and then Kips Bay, but it was a move downtown to the Lower East Side that inadvertently launched my own art curating and dealing endeavors.
In 1995 I moved to a one bedroom apartment on Stanton Street, and as I was in the process of moving my things in, I realized that my bed would not fit in the small bedroom! While initially frustrating, it sparked an idea: if I couldn't have my bed in the bedroom, maybe I'd have an art gallery in there instead! The seeds were planted for "Tredomus," a made-up name I created for my view-by-appointment art gallery. I staged several trial-run exhibitions and events, and based on the initial success of those, I curated a season of five formal exhibitions.
After that first season, I was anxious to find a better exhibition space. This lead to the East Village, and a unique opportunity on East 11th Street, where I found a storefront that was a true public space, but also had a kitchen and bathroom in the back, and a small (and very short-height) loft space for a bedroom. Work/live spaces were rare, and this was my opportunity to bring my art-dealing pursuit to a more-visible level. I changed the business name from Tredomus to McKinney Arts, and opened to the public in September 1996 with an exhibition of paintings by Sally Lindsay.
I curated a total of 7 exhibitions for the 1996-1997 season, but also during that time, became engaged and had to make some tough decisions regarding McKinney Arts. Looking ahead to a married life, I couldn't afford to keep the storefront and have a regular apartment, and so I let go of the lease on 11th Street after a year and moved downtown to the Wall Street area. This brought Chapter 3 of the McKinney Arts venture, with the idea that I would continue as a private dealer with showings in my apartment on Broad Street, across the street from the New York Stock Exchange.
