RIVAA Gallery Artists And Hudson Related Collaborate To Beautify Empty Main Street Storefront Windows With Roosevelt Island Inspired Art

Have you seen the new banner art installation

showcasing Roosevelt Island iconic scenes in the storefront windows

of the vacant, former medical office space at 520 Main Street

created by RIVAA Gallery artists?

I asked Main Street Retail Master Leaseholder Hudson Related:

Nice job with the Rivaa banners in the medical office windows. 

As I was taking picture a few minutes ago, three people commented how much they like it…. 

… Any statement from Hudson?

Hudson Related representative Didier Ruiz replied:

We are lucky to have a partner such as RIVAA, which helps us connect with local artists to beautify the vacant storefront. Instead of looking at empty windows, island residents can now admire island-inspired art.

RIVAA Gallery artist Sophie Vitko curated

the storefront window installation of works by RIVAA Gallery artists Tony Vita and Francesca O’Malley.

I interviewed Ms Vitko, Mr Vita and Ms O’Malley recently in front of their window installation. According to Ms Vitko:

I represent RIVAA Gallery and was in charge of this project. This is collaboration between Hudson Related who rent out this space and RIVAA Gallery. The idea was to make these windows beautiful because they are just here and there were curtains. It’s nice to have art along the Main Street and that people can walk by and everybody enjoys looking at art. We decided to go with really large scale. There was some process back and forth and we decided to cover as much area as we can and it really worked out… 

Ms O’Malley described her work:

… I’ve always been fascinated by industrial landscapes and the stacks of Big Alice are very prominent from Roosevelt Island. There’s beauty in that but I’m also layering my concern for the environment and the sort of serialistic juxtaposition of a non-existent landscape together with the industrial setting… 

Mr Vita adds:

…These illustrations were done probably over 10 years ago and they were designed for banners on the Island. For a while, there were four banners. In fact they’re up right now on the opposite side of the street. The original four of these were never printed for banners. I was looking to do something that would appeal to kids, kind of your basic Ray Bradbury magic realism type feel. It was done in a very primitive 3D program… 

Here’s interview with the Gallery RIVAA artists.

Great job by RIVAA Gallery artists and Hudson Related. Take a look next time you walk by.