Art Dealer Jacqueline Sullivan Hosts Her Gallery’s Inaugural Exhibition

New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood welcomed yet another design destination with the opening of art dealer Jacqueline Sullivan’s namesake gallery in September. The inaug­ural exhibition, “Substance in a Cushion” (a reference to a 1915 Gertrude Stein poem), merges historical decorative arts with conceptual pieces by modern-day makers.

Presented in a loftlike interior, the collection is a call to take a second look at everyday objects. Kristin Dickson-Okuda applies adornments like knitted foot cozies and silk trains to antique seats in her playful “chair dressings.” Waxed paper is the unexpected material for Vessels for Light: stitched and stacked columnar lamps by the Danish-Singaporean duo Christian + Jade.

Other pieces include graphic brushed-wool blankets by Decima’s Grace Atkinson and Gaetano Pesce’s 2002 Queen of Nobody cherry-red resin chair. The mash-up of forms and eras neatly harmonizes heirloom pieces with contemporary works. What comes through is a true dialogue between past and present.