Jordan Barse

A 28-year-old former co-director at Kimberly-Klark in Queens, artist, writer, and curator Jordan Barse recently opened Theta Gallery at 184 Franklin Street. Born out of the needs of her fellow artists during the pandemic, Theta opened its doors in April, with “Deathbound and Sexed” featuring artists Omari Douglin, Elizabeth Englander, and Ian Markell. Through July 17, Theta is showing Violet Dennison’s show “Freak Like Me.”

Barse told Observer that she opened the space to support artists in ways that other galleries will not. She wants her peers, artists nearing their early thirties, to be able to move onto the next level in their careers at Theta. It is an artist-centric gallery that seeks to cut against the grain and foster a sense of community. 

During the pandemic she watched many friends lose or be furloughed from their jobs and witnessed how cutthroat an already harsh industry can be in tough times. “The art world really contracted and threw trends and normality out of orbit,” Barse told Observer. The safest way to build a future for herself and her peers seemed to be to take that future into her own hands by opening up her own space at Theta.