Open Space Baltimore Gives the Gallery a New Look

Last July, in a neighborhood far away from any cultural institution, a coalition of 14 young artists created Open Space, a gallery and performance space aiming to showcase all types of artistic endeavors. Located inside an auto body shop in the heart of the Remington industrial district in Baltimore, the gallery poses no air of haughty indifference. Rather, it is a modest space run by modest people.

Open Space started as an idea long ago, to create an art space that was truly open to any ideas, to not get locked into a routine, to have an ever changing mesh of gallery shows, performances and events. Last spring the founding members we able to find the body shop the gallery now runs out of, and through a lucky chain of events were able to have what is now Open Space built from scratch in an unused corner of the building. The founders are largely MICA graduates, and a few students, with work ranging from ceramics to comics to conceptual sculpture. Many of the Open Space founders are also members of Closed Caption Comics, a comics collective, and run Lost Ghost Records, a tape only record label.

Having a diverse group of exhibitions was the main goal, and with 14 curatorial and administrative members with different aesthetics who themselves work in several different mediums, there are plenty of new ideas. The idea is to create not just an amalgamation of shows, but to show the best of everything. Any small gallery can take an open call for any artwork and have diversity; Open Space takes each element of contemporary art singularly, and forms it into a killer exhibition. They want to show the breadth of a single idea, and create new pairings between artists, and they’re doing it one show at a time. The group has aimed to do at least ten exhibitions a year, an ambitious goal for a fledgling enterprise, but the space is set up so that no one person bears too large a load.

The bulk of the curatorial weight falls from shoulder to shoulder within the gallery, often in groups and occasionally with outside help, but opening up the space was a much bigger burden. Upon moving in the floor had stray bits of rebar poking out, and several holes—remainders of the car lifts that used to occupy the space. Most of the windows were broken, and those that weren’t were covered in a hundred years of dirt and paint, there was no source of light, the bottoms of the walls were uneven and frayed, and the only entrance was an industrial garage door. After nearly two months work the space looked professional, and nearly all the problems were remedied. A door was cut in the exterior wall just in time for the first exhibition.

Open Space has had exhibitions in comic arts, experimental sculpture, the notion of painting, overwhelming aesthetics, an all women exhibition with over 50 artists and performers, and the future has much more in store. They have shown artists from coast to coast, and have hosted bands from as far away as China and Chile. They are well on their way to becoming the next big cultural force in Baltimore, and the collaborators are pleased to know that they built Open Space literally from the ground up, and that their events are enriching the often-overlooked neighborhood of Remington and Baltimore at large.

Open Space is: Neal Reinalda, Molly O’Connell, Chris Day, Andrew Kennedy, Eric Stiner, Brenden Sullivan, Conor Stechschulte, Pete Razon, Scotty Ache, Harvey Melchor, Matt Bettine, Erin McAleavey, and Eric Bos. Visit openspacebaltimore.com to learn about upcoming exhibitions and events

Eric Bos is a painter, writer, curator, and food enthusiast from Baltimore, MD.