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 Business partners and owners of the gallery Steven Marshall and Brian Seifert with friend Agnija Zuk |
Gallery’s opening date slips as flood puts damper on things
Owners narrowly escape disaster after burst pipe fills basement with water
IF you prophesied that two art dealers would make a splash with their new gallery, they’d probably think you were predicting good times ahead or perhaps making a laboured piece of wordplay about watercolours.
Almost nine months after moving into their Avant Garde gallery in St John’s Wood, the only splashing business partners Brian Seifert and David Esdaile have done is in galoshes and Wellington boots.
A burst water pipe in their basement last month – the latest in a series of catastrophes to afflict them since moving to their new gallery in Boundary Road – has meant disappointing artists and pushing back their curtain-raising opening until almost a year after it was originally planned for.
“I remember walking in and going down the stairs and, before I realised it, I was up to my knees in water.
“It’s not like there are many rivers in St John’s Wood, so it’s not something we had really thought of,” said Mr Seifert, son of Richard Seifert, the late great architect who designed Centre Point and the NatWest Tower.
The partners narrowly escaped disaster. A few weeks before the burst pipe struck last month they had made an agreement with their client artists that none of their prized pieces would be stored in the basement – a precaution against dust and bad light.
But the absence of floating canvases is little consolation for the pair, given they have had to gut their basement, cut a hole in the pavement to move out the wrecked carpets and shelving, and tear up their opening invitations.
They now share the cluttered gallery space with a framer who would under normal circumstances work downstairs.
They had moved to join the BenUri and Boundary galleries in what is fast becoming a mini art district in Boundary Road, from their previous space in Charlbert Street, where they had been for three years, because of spiralling rents.
Mr Seifert said they were in talks with artists and hoped to finally open in the new year.
“We have had a catalogue of accidents since we moved in. First of all none of the lights worked, then our signing wouldn’t fit and now we’ve had the flood. We’ve had air blowers down there for a month but most of the frames that were down there couldn’t be salvaged.
“The worst thing is that we’ve had to muck about all the artists. I think some of them think it’s a joke when we tell them there’s been a flood,” he said.
The store is still open for business. For more information visit the website: www.avantgardegallery.co.uk |
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