Opening-night crowd prompts the NYPD to shut down the art show at O'Flaherty's on Avenue C

Images and reporting by Stacie Joy 

A large crowd prompted the NYPD to shut down a new art show on its opening night on Avenue C and Fourth Street. 

The action occurred last night at O'Flaherty's, the 10-month-old gallery at 55 Avenue C.

 

"The Patriot," the latest exhibit via curator Jamian Juliano-Villani (seen below early last night), was an open-call show where all work from artists was accepted — as long as the art met size criteria (under 36x36 and no wet oil paint).

In total, there were 700-plus pieces mounted floor to ceiling, crammed into every nook and cranny of O'Flaherty's. Inside the darkened space, gallery-goers were given mini-flashlights to explore the work. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was among those who viewed the exhibit before the NYPD arrived. 

First, the art...

With 700-plus artists with works inside, some 700-plus people showed up for the opening. A spirited group assembled ("like a sneaker drop," per one passerby) to see "The Patriot," with a line to enter winding up Fourth Street back to Avenue B. One estimate put the crowd outside at 1,000. 

The NYPD, with officers from the 9th Precinct and PSA4 (on Avenue C at Eighth Street), showed up at the gallery to shut down the opening. One officer called the crowded show "a safety issue," not to mention gallery-goers spilling onto Avenue C...

The show was expected to be up through the first week of August. Gallery hours are 2-8 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.