Valerie Goodman Gallery was established in 2010 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with the goal of introducing contemporary French artists to American audiences. The gallery has since fostered numerous productive exchanges with architectural designers, art collectors, galleries and cultural institutions, carrying out energetic programming to promote artists’ individual voices and concerns.

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Tell us about Valerie Goodman Gallery.

Valerie Goodman Gallery was founded in 2010 with the goal of introducing contemporary French artists and designers to American audiences. The Gallery mounts exhibitions and organizes cultural events and outreach programs for nonprofit institutions and public spaces, working with independent curators, program directors, architects, designers, and art consultants worldwide. It has also published several books and catalogs in collaboration with the artists it represents.

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Can you share an artist that you’ve worked with?

In recent years, the work of the Gallery’s signature artist, Jacques Jarrige, has expanded from functional design into large-format sculptures—calligraphic ribbons of hammered metal that playfully explore the architectural spaces for which they are commissioned. In 2022, the Gallery presented a program at St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan, focused on the exhibition of one such sculpture—two aluminum ribbons outlining the form of a Christ figure—commissioned for the cathedral transept. It was thrilling to work with an organization known for its long-standing interest in the expressive possibilities of combining traditional architectural forms with contemporary art.

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Tell us about the design of the gallery.

The Gallery space itself is the result of a fruitful collaboration with Jacques Jarrige, who used his signature plywood to create an unexpected architectural drama of contrasting volumes within the once bland, rectangular room. Visitors enter through a narrow passageway. It is bordered on the left by a box that opens via sliding doors, and which serves as a small exhibition space. The passageway opens onto a gallery bracketed by additional plywood elements: on the righthand side of the room, an oversized cabinet that evokes a traveling trunk displays jewelry and small sculptures, while a sculptural bookcase, its shelves cut at different angles, adds texture and drama to the back lefthand corner of the Gallery. Together, Jarrige’s interventions imbue the Gallery with warmth, personality, and playfulness.

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How does your organization’s mission intersect with Archtober’s mission? 

Valerie Goodman Gallery shares Archtober’s commitment to offering visitors programs that encourage discussion, collaboration, and research about the intersection of design and architecture. Archtober’s emphasis on multidisciplinarity is reflected in the Gallery’s central exhibition this October, Staging Future Worlds: The Architectural Visions of László Rajk, focused on the work of an architect who practiced in a range of mediums, from visionary and paper architecture to film sets.

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Where else should we check out near Valerie Goodman Gallery?

The Gallery is situated only a few blocks from the Jewish Museum and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, as well as the LGDR Gallery (3 East 89th St), which features excellent programming in a must-see architectural setting. Continuing north on Museum Mile, don’t miss the Museum of the City of New York, El Museo del Barrio, and The Africa Center (and its restaurant, Teranga). A few blocks from The Africa Center is one of the best restaurants, Contento, featuring Peruvian cuisine and an excellent wine list.
 
 
 

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