MARCH

MARCH radiates a kind of friendliness and charm that lights us up the minute we see its gleaming, double-wide storefront windows in a (relatively) quiet residential strip of Avenue A.

The gallery’s owner, Philip March Jones, is from Kentucky by way of Louisiana, so they show a handful of Southern artists working in the visionary tradition of Black craftsmanship as well as up-and-coming painters living in the NYC area.

The Southerners include notables such as Richard Dial, Ronald Lockett, and Joe Minter. Their deeply spiritual work is made from found pieces of salvaged scrap metal and imbues the art with an acute sense of magic from making art out of whatever’s in front of you.

By contrast, the confessional, tender works made by local up-and-comers pour light on the parts of self-worth that we must hold on to no matter what, bringing to life dream worlds the artists want to manifest.

When taken in together, both are acts of resistance against the degradations of prejudice and the creeping influence of commercialism ubiquitous in other parts of the art world.

The up-and-comers pour light on the parts of self-worth that we must hold on to, no matter what. Their work is often confessional, always tender, and dreams of worlds the artists desire their worlds to be.

MARCH was founded in 2020 by artist Philip March Jones. Before MARCH, he created Institute 193 in Lexington, a nonprofit dedicated to documenting cultural production in the modern South. One of the few galleries registered as a public benefit corporation, MARCH supports Burnaway Magazine, a contemporary magazine that covers the American South, Summertime, an organization that celebrates neurodivergent artists, and Visual AIDS, a long-running arts organization that raises AIDS and HIV awareness.