Standing outside the Elijah Wheat Showroom and gazing at the Hudson River, you might think you’re halfway up some remote Nordic fjord. In fact, you’re a block away from downtown Newburgh on Front Street, so close to the river bank you’ll have to resist dipping your hands in the water.
The showroom presents work from the personal to the political to the undiscovered in multiple breezy spaces. Flanking the works on the wall, the windows of the main showroom frame the river like a complementing work of art in itself.
A magnetic force in the Hudson Valley art world, the showroom presents contemporary art that, alongside other Newburgh institutions like Grit Gallery, Savaggi Gallery at the Bank Arts Center, Ann Street Gallery and ADS Warehouse among others, is cementing Newburgh’s reputation as an up-and-coming arts destination.
The main showroom is on the third floor of a former pocket book factory. But Elijah Wheat Showroom is more of a complex. A second, larger museum-like space next door, when not threatened by the occasionally flooding waters of the Hudson, provides more exhibition (and performance) space, suitable for large scale installations. Katharine Ryals and Caitlin McCormack’s 2023 exhibition “Souvenirs of the Wasteland” took place there, and portrayed a dystopian futurescape of mutated trinkets and radioactive refuse left behind by climate catastrophe.
The showroom is run by Liz Nielsen and Carolina Wheat, both artists themselves, and is named after their son Elijah Wheat, who died in 2014 at age 16. “The way that you keep someone alive is by continuing to say their name,” says Nielsen. Elijah expressed vivid taste in his young age, and artists are selected for the showroom with his sense of style in mind. “He's like a silent, invisible curator,” Nielsen adds.
The gallery launched in Bushwick, Brooklyn in 2015, but with Covid’s momentum-stunting force, Nielsen and Wheat moved the project to Newburgh. The duo, partners in life and business, also present artists in other locations, and are constantly on the move both nationally and internationally. This weekend, Nielsen is holding down the showroom solo as Wheat is in Shanghai presenting three American experimental photographers.
The gallery rarely takes submissions. Instead, exhibitions sprout organically, blooming from Nielsen and Wheat’s vast pool of connections and ear-to-the-ground sense of the arts world. Still, a subtle theme runs through the various shows. Many mix the political with the personal, such as the current exhibition of relief paintings by Michael Hambouz, “Loves Cats, Hates Catastrophes.” In it, the Palestinian-American artist symbolizes his family’s survival of the 1948 Lydda Massacre and explores how the tendrils of a family’s historical grief can reach into younger lives. “We aim to create a platform where we can activate conversations about political and social justice,” remarks Nielsen.
Among more established artists, the showroom is willing to take risks on lesser known creators, providing a big break for those starting out. “We take a lot of chances on people for their first show,” says Nielsen. But whether the featured artists are on view at the 2024 Venice Biennale, such as Marton Nemes, whos sculpture Waves is installed outside the showroom building on the bank of the Hudson, or are artists presenting their first shows, the aesthetic sense and character of Elijah serves as Nielsen and Wheat’s north star.
“Loves Cats, Hates Catastrophes,” runs through May 12. A closing event and artists talk will be held from 2-5pm. The gallery is open weekends from 12-6pm and by appointment.
