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Art Gallery Opens in Star-Studded 'Good Luck' Building on Upper West Side

By Emily Frost | January 29, 2016 11:18am | Updated on February 1, 2016 8:53am
 A new gallery is opening on West 86th Street, said owner Therese Flaherty. 
Gallery 52
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UPPER WEST SIDE — What do Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise have in common?

They all lived in the same complex on West 86th Street — nicknamed the "Good Luck" building because of the actors' rise to fame — where a new gallery is hoping to find the same success with its artists. 

Once a single-family mansion first owned by department store magnates, the Gimbels, 50 W. 86th St. was later owned by jazz musician King Curtis before becoming a rental whose latest owner has launched Gallery 52. 

"I want to bring art to the Upper West Side," said Therese Flaherty, who has owned the 10-unit building since 1999.

"All of the cool galleries are Downtown or on the East Side," said Flaherty, who spent $350,000 over the the past year renovating and transforming the 2,100-square-foot ground-floor space.

The overhaul included covering an indoor pool, equipping the space for multimedia presentations and adding lights ideal for displaying art.

Though Flaherty has received offers from synagogues and schools that are interested in taking over the space, she said she wanted to save it for the arts. 

Flaherty is still looking for a curator to lease the space, but is nonetheless launching Gallery 52 this week by showing the work of two young abstract painters, Anthony Gelfand and Rachid Kallamni.

Kallamni, 32, has a studio in Casablanca, Morocco, where he did most of the pieces for the show, marking his third in New York City. 

The 10 paintings — which range in price from $1,000 to $7,000 — are centered around the theme of mazes and feature bright colors. 

The mazes express "the metaphor of life, getting from point A to point B," Kallamni said. 

Gelfand, however, is concerned with the opposite. 

"I'm trying to encapsulate a moment," said the 25-year-old artist of his eight Jackson Pollock-style works, which uses acrylic and ink with layers of varnish and resin. His pieces range from $630 to $3,750. 

Flaherty said she hopes the building's legacy of bringing good luck will continue for all the artists that exhibit in Gallery 52. 

Hear about another gallerist trying to create a Gertrude Stein-like salon on the Upper West Side.

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