Pierogi

Profile

One of the first galleries on the Williamsburg scene, Pierogi's September 1994 opening marked the neighborhood's transformation from a sleepy Polish community to a burgeoning art enclave. Prescient founder Joe Amrhein, who continues to hand pick the lineup, envisioned Pierogi as a meeting space for artists and a place for hands-on exposure to their creations. To that end, the front room displays a rotating roster of roughly 900 new and mid-career talents’ original works on paper: flat files stored in white, waist-high metal cabinets with shallow, horizontal pull-out drawers. Handy pairs of white cotton gloves allow visitors to peruse the files at their own speed. The building's two main rooms host about ten official exhibitions annually, ranging from Bruce Busby's tensile sculptures to Jim Torok's autobiographical cartoon panels to up-and-coming Tony Fitzpatrick's mixed media collages on paper. Artists like Ati Maier (featured in the Whitney's 2005 "Remote Viewing") and Lawrence Weiner (a well-known figure in Conceptualism) have garnered wider recognition. Nonetheless, Pierogi remains democratic and low-key, opening up the experience of gallery-going to encourage new collectors while continuing to inform curators and more seasoned art world folks about what is new and noteworthy. — Michael Killeen

The Pierogi Press books, put out twice a year, feature the work of notable artists and authors—some new, some established. The publications are produced in a limited edition with covers that are artist designed, hand silk-screened and signed.

The Boiler
In 2009, Pierogi opened a second location, called the Boiler, just a few blocks away. Located in a former factory boiler room, the space's 40-foot ceilings allow for larger-scale exhibitions.