The Next Art Stars: Piper Marshall

Who is behind all things hip, cultured and abstract in New York? For 2010, the short answer is: 1) a painter who has finally made it big, 2) a photographer playing cat and mouse with the law, 
3) a rising star at MoMA, 4) a trombonist making history at Lincoln Center and 5) a young curator who likes to turn her Chinatown apartment into an exhibition space. This is the last in a series of five.

PIPER MARSHALL
While the style blogs are preoccupied with the way 24-year-old Piper Marshall skillfully pairs Marni, Topshop and vintage, it’s the way she pulls together exhibitions as assistant curator for the Swiss Institute, as well as her gallery space, Three’s Company, that earns her a place on our list.

Marshall, who’s from Manchester, New Hampshire, literally lives, sleeps and breathes contemporary art; most recently she curated Das Institut’s D I WHY?, a collaboration devised by New York–based German artists Kerstin Brätsch and Adele Röder. Next she’s assisting the institute’s director, Gianni Jetzer, on Latifa Echakhch’s Movement and Complication exhibition.

But after a hard day’s work, Marshall can’t exactly head home and close the door on the art world, since home is where Three’s Company—a tiny exhibition space she set up with roommate Alex Gartenfeld (online editor for Interview magazine and Art in America)—shows the work of an impressive lineup of artists. Past exhibitions have included Lisa Tan, whose One Night Stand video was projected onto the pillows of Marshall’s bed. Among the steady stream of visitors who squeeze into her Chinatown apartment/gallery have been artist Dan Graham, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and her super’s wife—a diversity that makes Marshall proud.

“The most coveted seat is the couch, where people tend to sit and hang out with the art; they like the intimate setting,” she says.

When not immersed in all things visual, the young curator likes to explore the city (one of her favorite New York spots is Walter De Maria’s Broken Kilometer installation on West Broadway), dine with friends (often at Bacaro on Division Street and Omen on Thompson) and, of course, go shopping.

Check out the other artists in this series: Steven Charles, Zach Hyman, Sarah Suzuki and Amanda Stewart.