Cristin Tierney Gallery, a contemporary gallery with an emphasis on conceptual, video and performance art, has taken 4000 square feet including the ground floor at 49 Walker to coincide with the gallery’s 15th anniversary. Construction is underway now and they hope to open this summer, moving from their current space on the Bowery.

This is welcome news for that building — I am pretty sure there has not been a tenant there in years. Read its history from Tom Miller here. It was most recently the offices of W.D. Lockwood, the 119-year-old wood-stain manufacturers, and the de facto art studio of Herb Schiffrin. Read about his work here. 

The inaugural group exhibit will showcase many of the artists the gallery has collaborated with over the years.

The main ground-floor gallery is 2,000 square feet and is designed to display large-scale works along with additional exhibition spaces including a semi-permanent black box for video art and multimedia installations. The space also includes private viewing rooms, offices, and art storage. Union Street Studio Architects designed the space.

The gallery was founded in 2010 by Tierney, who had worked in the art advisory world for years including as a consultant to Christie’s in the education department.

“Opening a gallery was a bit of an absurd thing to do at that point in my life,” Tierney told the Wake Forest magazine. “But one of the best parts of being in the art world is working with artists. And gallerists are the people that spend the most time with artists and help develop their careers…Thankfully I had a lot of work experiences and connections in the art world, which also enabled me to get started.”

The move will help the gallery expand on their commitment to conceptual, video and timed-based works on a much greater scale.