If you drive by Iconik Coffee Roasters on Lena Street and head all the way toward the back of the Lena Street Lofts, you’ll hit the F building, where Santa Fe newcomer and longtime gallerist Daniel Cooney (Dan to his friends) is set to open his Daniel Cooney Fine Art gallery this weekend with the Christopher Makos solo photo exhibit Party.
Perhaps the correct word to use, however, would be re-open. After all, Cooney is no newcomer to the gallerist life and previously ran the gallery under the same name on the ninth floor of a building in New York City’s Chelsea. In other words, Cooney has grown accustomed to being out of the way—and to showing lesser-known or underappreciated artists with an emphasis on photography. And though Cooney and his husband have only called Santa Fe home since late-December, it already seems he understands the assignment when it comes to opening an arts space in Santa Fe when you weren’t, in the local parlance, born here all your life.
Alex De Vore
“We wanted to leave NY, but somehow I thought I was going to have to close the gallery,” he tells SFR. “I just thought that if I didn’t have a New York gallery—a space in the literal epicenter of the arts world—where else would I do it?”
By that point, Cooney says, he and his husband had already settled on a move to Santa Fe. They’re not getting any younger (his words), and despite having lived in New York City for decades, the call of the desert proved too strong. You think it’s tough to make rent in Santa Fe? New York has practically become unlivable for most folks. Cooney is quick to point out that he’s made an earnest go of it in the gallery world, but that hasn’t always translated to big money. His compass, he explains, is fairly simple: He knows what he likes when he sees it, though that doesn’t always mean he can sell it; he knows what he can sell, however, and has built the relationships to make it happen.
Take Makos, for example, the inaugural photographer for Interview magazine. Within his forthcoming Party show, find a veritable who’s-who of ’70s and ’80s stars, from Andy Warhol (photos of whom put Makos on the map originally), Deborah Harry (Debbie to her friends), Christopher Reeve, Steven Tyler, David Bowie, Jean-Michel Basquiat and so many more. Also in the show, Cooney explains, a healthy dash from Makos’ personal life; down and dirty shots from a bygone New York era some still romanticize. Elsewhere in the gallery, find shots from New Orleans photog George Dureau, portraits from lesser-known NYC shooter Don Herron (including images from a series of bathtub-based portraits that include shots of Robert Maplethorpe and Keith Haring, no less; plus watercolors, photopaper paintings, illustrations and more.
“I was saying to a friend that I really wanted to move, and that I was going to close close the gallery,” Cooney says. “He said, ‘Why?! Why would you have to close the gallery?! Do it there!’ And I kind of was like, ‘Oh! I totally could!’”
Good thing he did. Daniel Cooney Fine Art is not only a small but mighty collection and promising space from a curator with his own MFA in photography from the University of Illinois, it seems to have become a much-needed de-facto queer space in a burgeoning area of town. Midtown has certainly become more well-trafficked than in years past, but it can also only benefit from a queer tastemaker such as Cooney. Still, he’s accessible and warm and really all about sharing works that might otherwise go unnoticed.
“I never set out to be a queer or gay gallery—like, that was never was my mission so much as I’m more interested in artists who have been overlooked, historically overlooked,” he says. “I think my real goal…when I started, I was working with emerging artists, young artists, who weren’t really matured or formed yet, and I was taking that on and all the challenges that represents—then I started working with older artists who maybe hadn’t been recognized, but had always worked and had these huge bodies of work, and when you work with people like that who sometimes have 50 years of work behind them…when you discover someone has dedicated their life to that work, I couldn’t wait to share that with people, and once I did that once or twice, that was always what I wanted to do.”
So he does. Though Makos was at least known in his day, it’s exciting to think about a newer generation learning about his work, particularly in its level of realistic yet titillating queer joy. Cooney, meanwhile, realizes he’s new to a city that is famously wary of outsiders. But he’s only just begun and says he’s meeting local artists and curators at a steady clip. Take the opening for Party, which will feature music from local legend DJ Oona of the now-infamous Trash Disco parties of the Paramount nightclub era. Oh, look—more queer joy.
Makos himself will make the trek for the opening of Party, and though the show will take over the entirety of Cooney’s new space, it’s only just the beginning. There is something so perfectly Santa Fe about a hole-in-the-wall gallery at the edge of a commercial area from which a champion of unknown artists drops gorgeous shows with just the right amount of edge. Daniel Cooney Fine Art already seems like a much-needed addition to the local visual arts world and follows in the footsteps of DIY spots in unexpected places like Show Pony and Kouri+Corrao. Yes to that.
Daniel Cooney Fine Art Opening: Christopher Makos: Party: 3-5 pm Saturday, April 5, Free. Daniel Cooney Fine Art, 1600 Lena St. #F5, danielcooneyfineart.com
