Shops that pass in the night 4

File under: retail, art, urbanism, Wellington

With Three Second Goldfish seemingly gone for no longer than the alleged attention span of its aquatic eponym, the space at 57 Ghuznee St is about to open for business again. As announced by a few tiny postcards in the windows, this Friday it will reopen as Popup gallery.

So far, the gallery's web site is singularly uninformative to the casual reader, displaying little more than the logo and a Flash countdown to the opening. A quick View Source, however, unearths some useful metadata that describes the gallery as "speciali[sing] in the lowbrow, surreal and subversive; retailing limited edition prints and t-shirts, urban toys and other cool stuff". The keywords are even more specific, revealing a list of artists that includes Mark Ryden, Kozyndan, Kathie Olivas, Jordan Crane, Critterbox and David Horvath. Such a lineup makes it sound something like a cross between Eyeball Kicks and Good as Gold, with perhaps a bit of Rex Royale thrown in.

It all sounds like a lot of fun, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll stock Critterbox's jack-in-the-box based on Drinky Crow, a character that some of you may recognise from Modern Drunkard Magazine. This space has a bit of a history as a temporary gallery space, so I'm not sure whether it's reverting to type or whether Popup will be a more permanent inhabitant.

On a sadder note, 10 Haining St closed down last weekend. At first, I wondered whether this was due to an overly pioneering decision to open so far from the beaten retail track, but a note on the door explains that its parent charity, Art Compass, has wound up due to lack of funding. I hope that the artists find other outlets for their work.