Designer Matthew Fisher has created a gallery and exhibition space for his stone objects in New York City’s Harbor District, making references to ancient culture and contemporary performance design.
M Fisher Seaport Gallery is located on the southern tip of Manhattan, amidst newly opened galleries and restaurants in New York City’s evolving Seaport District.
The gallery hosts three main rooms dedicated to displaying Fisher’s exhibits, which range from pieces made of metal and cotton rope but are mostly vessels made from leftover stone such as Victoria Blue and Bonazzo marble.
To create the space, Fisher pulled from his background as a ballet dancer at the School of American Ballet, cross-cultural studies and vintage references such as the former Paris apartment of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé and the Palais Garnier opera house.
“The Seaport Gallery is seen as a theatrical interpretation of the domestic interior, where the formality of antiquity blends seamlessly with the comforts of quiet luxury,” Fisher said.
“Sharing my passion for stone was the primary motivation behind the exhibition. Stone radiates energy and embodies a time process that is unimaginable when you stand among it.”
The entrance is an open space, flanked on both sides by custom wood cabinets topped with stone countertops. On each wall, panels open up to form silver-plated triptychs, while small lamps run in thin tracks cut into the worktops.
There is a large wooden table in the middle, and like the cabinets around it, it contains an assortment of Fisher’s wares.
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The exhibition then moves to a central area topped by a circular skylight-like interior lined with lighting. Copper panels cover the various corridors that cut through the space.
The farthest room was outfitted with additional seating, display tables, and a “carved firestone planter weighing approximately 600 pounds” containing a large fern.
At the back of the room is a curtain woven with metal threads, resembling a stage curtain.
“The brass chains and weights in my design, which form the curtain, evoke the emotions I felt when I first saw the stage curtain at the Palais Garnier,” Fisher said.
There is a small courtyard on the other side through glass doors, with a central marble table supported by two sea-going angels.
This is the first public space designed by Fisher.
“It took nearly seven months to discover Seaport Gallery, but I have dreamed of this space for much longer,” he said.
Nearby, designer Billy Cotton, mixing art deco with futuristic and brutalist references for a lower Manhattan restaurant and an East River floating pool, is being put to the test.
Photography by Steven Kent Johnson unless otherwise noted
