Some things in life are worth waiting for. Like 85 years for a New York gallery opening.
Susan Malloy has been a lifelong painter. For just as long, she’s contributed both her talent and her philanthropy to the Westport arts scene — most recently the acclaimed “Years in the Making” film.
"Maybe Manhattan" (2008)
But until last week, Susan never had a New York gallery show.
Thanks to “Visions of New York,” she can strike that off her to-do list.
“Visions” features paintings of skyscrapers, in a city Susan knows well. She grew up on the West Side. After college she lived in Greenwich Village; she married Edwin, then moved to the East Side.
Susan and Edwin moved to Westport in 1967. But she’s “a New Yorker with images in my head” — and that’s what the show is about.
“Visions” opened Thursday evening at the ACA Galleries in Chelsea. A horde of Susan’s relatives and Westport friends attended.
Those Westport friends go back a long way. Susan’s family began summering in Westport in 1937. Their 1st home was on the corner of Bayberry Lane and Cross Highway — the spot known later as “the Ashford and Simpson house,” now the site of Doug and Melissa Bernstein’s new home.
The Malloys and their 2 kids lived in 3 Westport houses. In 1986 she and Edwin moved to Dogwood Lane. Her studio is now there.
“It was the most wonderful thing,” she said, reveling in the post-show glow the morning after it opened. “So many people were there, and the paintings looked great.”
(Photo by Dave Matlow)
How significant is a New York gallery show for an octogenarian?
“It’s everything,” Susan said. “That’s always what you aim for.”
So when is her next New York show?
“Oh, I have no idea,” she said. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
(ACA Galleries is at 529 W. 20th Street, New York. The phone number is 212-206-8080.)
