Gallery 72
ABOUT
Gallery 72 is a municipally owned art gallery located in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The Gallery is located in the lobby of City owned 72 Marietta street building. It is free and open to the public to access. The gallery was opened in 2014, and has since focused on serving local talent including individual artists, local galleries, arts organizations, and curators. The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs is proud to host a contemporary art gallery which adds to the growing and progressive arts scene of Atlanta.
Location
Address: 72 Marietta Street, Atlanta GA 30303
Hours: 10am- 5pm, M-F
Gallery Tours: GALLERY 72 tours take place from 1pm to 1:45pm every Tuesday and Thursday. To schedule a tour, please contact the Gallery 72 office: 404-546-3220// [email protected].
History of Gallery 72
OVERVIEW
Atlanta has historically provided municipal exhibition spaces presenting the work of local, national, and internally acclaimed artists. Previous to Gallery 72’s inception, works were exhibited at City Gallery East (at now Ponce City Market) and and New Visions Gallery. In 2014, the City opened Gallery 72, a fresh new addition to the lineage of Atlanta municipal galleries. Located in downtown Atlanta on the first floor of 72 Marietta Street, Gallery 72 exhibits cutting edge exhibitions and programming relevant to the arts, culture, and people of the City of Atlanta. The City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs is proud to continue the commitment of presenting artwork in public spaces, free to the public, with the newest municipal gallery space, Gallery 72. Since its opening in 2014, Gallery 72 has hosted a variety of riveting exhibitions addressing relevant topics such as human trafficking, civil and human rights, memory and ritual,the growth of local arts organizations (including Wonderroot, the Creatives Project, etc), and the rise of hip-hop. For more information about past exhibitions, please visit the “past exhibitions” page.
Exterior Today
Current Exhibition
On View Now
“Reclaim /Proclaim [Blandtown]” by artist Gregor Turk.
The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs is proud to host Gregor Turk’s exhibition “Reclaim /Proclaim [Blandtown]”, opening on Thursday, October 10, 2019 at Gallery 72.
Turk’s exhibition explores the maligned neighborhood of Blandtown through a combination of sculptural installations, works on paper, and photographs. Turk provides insight into the community’s obscured history, playfully skews the neighborhood’s derided name, and raises a critical eye on the area’s rapid transformation.
In 2003, Turk purchased a house in the neighborhood and re-purposed the cinder-block building as his studio. Today, that structure remains as one of the last four original houses still standing in Blandtown. The exhibition focuses on the demise and resettlement of the residential core of the neighborhood, exploring the shapes of both the original and newly-constructed building footprints. Turk produced several series of artwork in response. Much of this work was fabricated with reclaimed building materials from the new residential development surrounding his studio.
Through wit, lamentation and artistic probing, this one-man chamber of commerce provides options to proclaim Blandtown’s existence. Turk presents an exhibition that is part history lesson, part manifesto, and part civic rousing, with interviews of former residents providing historical context. Dubious propaganda-like posters manipulated images of local signage, and unofficial merchandise rounds out the exhibit.
As the title indicates, Turk’s exhibition serves to raise awareness of the Atlanta neighborhood with its often-disparaged name. Better known as part of the Westside, Midtown West, and/or West Midtown. The area has a bit of an identity complex, further complicated by developers applying additional monikers to rebrand sections of the neighborhood (Huff Heights, Huff Trail, West Town, etc.) all while avoiding incorporating the proper name, Blandtown, which was named after freed slave Felix Bland.
Originally an African-American community comprised of two to three hundred homes, the neighborhood was strategically forced into decline through rezoning to an industrial district in the mid-twentieth century. Turk presents Blandtown as a case study for current development issues relating to the greater city: legacy housing, gentrification, and conflicts resulting from the proximity of residential and industrial land use.
The exhibition will open October 10, 2019 and run through November 22 at Gallery 72, a municipally owned art gallery located in the heart of downtown Atlanta at 72 Marietta Street. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm. For more information, please contact the gallery curator, Kevin Sipp, for more information at 404-546-3220 or [email protected].
“Reclaim /Proclaim [Blandtown]”
Thursday, Oct. 10 – Friday, Nov. 22, 2019
Gallery 72
72 Marietta St. NW, Atlanta GA.. 30303
Opening Reception: TBA
NEARBY PARKING FOR GALLERY 72:
104 Marietta Street Parking Garage (176 feet NW), 79 Marietta Street Parking Garage (245 feet NE) Centennial Tower Parking Garage (332 feet NE), Paid street parking is available near the gallery.
NEARBY MARTA RAIL STATIONS:
Take the Gold line to Five Points Station. Exit the station on the Forsyth Street side and turn right, walk northeast on Forsyth Street, and turn left on Marietta Street. Walk one block to Fairlie Street. After crossing Fairlie Street the gallery will be on the left.
Contact
For more information regarding the exhibitions, events, or the Gallery 72 space, please contact Gallery Coordinator Kevin Sipp:
404-546-3220