By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHELSEA — Every time the Chelsea Art Museum opens a new exhibit, 29-year-old David Alfieri swings over from his Harlem home to check it out.
But this Wednesday morning, following a report in the Wall Street Journal that the museum may lose its charter, his visit carried a new sense of urgency.
“I feel like this is one of the fresher places to see art in the city,” said Alfieri, an English instructor. “Once I saw it in the paper, I figured I should get here, hopefully not for the last time.”
The museum’s crisis stems from founder and director Dorothea Keeser’s decision to use its permanent collection as collateral against a $350,000 loan the museum needed to pay interest on its mortgage, according to the Journal.
The museum, located at 556 West 22nd Street, currently owes $13 million in refinanced mortgage and interest payments to Hudson Realty Capital, the Journal reported.
Collateralizing art — the Chelsea museum’s permanent collection is valued at $2.5 million — can endanger the charters of cultural institutions, according to the Journal. Such a move runs counter to the rules of the state Education Department’s Board of Regents.
A spokesperson for the Education Department told the Journal that other potential consequences include referral to the attorney general's office for investigation, the loss of non-profit status, and a disbanding of the board of trustees.
"I know the laws about museum collections, but, at the same time, I have seen so many museums sell their collections, if they're in a bad situation," Keeser said to the Journal, asserting that this was an alternative she wanted to avoid. "The museum and the people who work here have to survive also. It’s a difficult thing.”
While Keeser is fighting to save it, the museum now risks foreclosure, according to the Journal. A company that owns the museum and is controlled by Keeser has filed for bankruptcy and is due in court in mid-September.
Alfieri, who came Wednesday to see a multimedia exhibit called “The Poetics of Code” as well as the “Open Portfolio” section of emerging artists, said that he doubted Manhattan had another venue that could supplant the Chelsea Art Museum.
“This is a huge loss to Manhattan,” he said, noting the museum's display of local art. “I don’t think you’ll be able to see anything like this anywhere else, anything as organic.”
