716: Fine Art is a transplant from Kenosha that opened in Racine last week
BY MICHAEL BURKE
Journal Times
Thursday, September 14, 2007
Photo by Mark Hertzberg
David Geisler opened his gallery, 716: Fine Art, at 401 Main St. The gallery is a refurbished storefront, with brick walls and gallery space that stretch toward Lake Avenue
RACINE — Downtown’s newest art gallery is actually more than that.
Combine fine art with a dash of performance art, and you have 716: Fine Art. The transplant from downtown Kenosha opened here last week.
Owner David Geisler started his gallery there about two years ago at 716 58th St. But he ultimately decided he’d be better off in the midst of Racine’s livelier Downtown scene. And he is right in the thick of things at 401 Main St.; it doesn’t match the name, but Geisler kept the 716 identity.
“I looked at almost 10 spaces,” said Geisler, a graphic designer at the Kenosha News. Stripped down to its original brick walls, the long, narrow space is a handsome place for hanging art.
Typically, said Geisler, the shop will display the works of eight to 10 artists, totaling about 80 pieces at once. It will feature a different artist each month.
The fine art will average about $1,000 per piece. The gallery’s current offerings range from about $350 up to $4,000.
About half of the gallery’s artists will be from the Kenosha-Racine area, said Geisler, 26. The rest will be from Chicago and beyond.
Besides fine art, the gallery will also host performance programs and entertainment, Geisler said.
“I have a theater and production background. So it’s very important to me that there’s a lot going on — not just stuff hanging on the walls.”
On Sept. 26, he said, he will start open-mic Wednesday nights, as he has done in Kenosha. Those events tended to attract more than musicians; about half would do monologues, poetry and such.
The gallery also will host a monthly acoustic series of jazz and blues, Geisler said, a bimonthly performance series with dancers and occasional special events.
The gallery, 716: Fine Art, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
