Feature, also known as Feature Gallery and Feature Inc., opened in Chicago on April 1, 1984, with an exhibition of

Richard Prince Richard Prince (born August 6, 1949) is an American painter and photographer. In the mid-1970s, Prince made drawings and painterly collages that he has since disowned. His image ''Untitled (Cowboy)'', a photographic reproduction of a photograph ...

rephotographs. The gallery then moved to New York in 1988. Feature officially became Feature Inc. in January 1994. The gallery always had two or more exhibition spaces, to present multiple exhibitions simultaneously. Hudson (an artist known by his last name only), the director of the gallery, said this was to move "against stardom and a push for pluralism and multiplicity."

Hudson

The gallery was founded by Hudson, who managed the gallery for almost 30 years. Hudson had graduated with an MFA in painting from the University of Cincinnati in 1977 and also worked as a dancer and performance artist, before becoming an arts organizer. After working for a few years in the non-profit sector, Hudson opened Feature in 1984 to operate with more freedom and autonomy. In a 2004 interview with artist Dike Blair, Hudson said: "It is the responsibility of the galleries to challenge and broaden the market, not to acquiesce to it." The gallery closed in February 2014, after Hudson died unexpectedly at the age of 63. In his obituary in the ''New York Times'', writer Roberta Smith called Hudson "One of the most prescient, independent-minded and admired gallerists of his generation." ''Hello We Were Talking About Hudson'' (Soberscove Press 2024)'','' is a collection of 35 interviews with friends, artists, collectors and colleagues edited by Steve Lafreniere.

Artists and programming

Although it was an independent commercial gallery, Feature was frequently confused for a non-profit because of its eclectic programming and mix of diverse artists. When asked about this, Hudson once said, "Nearly 10 years of working in the plurality consciousness of artist-run spaces had established my interest in diversity." Artists who worked regularly with the gallery included B. Wurtz,

Kay Rosen Kay Rosen (born 1943, Corpus Christi, TX) is an American painter. Rosen's paintings are included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of Americ ...

, Hirsch Perlman, Kathe Burkhart,

Tony Tasset Tony Tasset is an American artist. His works consists mainly of video, bronze, wax, sculpture, photography, film, and taxidermy. He has had exhibitions in Dallas, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Los Angeles, Germany, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Ecuad ...

, Jeanne Dunning, Jim Isermann, Nancy Shaver, Lily van der Stokker, David Moreno, Alexander Ross, Judy Linn, David Shaw, Jason Fox, Lisa Beck, Dike Blair,

Tom of Finland Touko Valio Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991), known by the pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist who made stylized highly masculinized erotic art, and influenced late 20th-century gay culture. He has been called the "mos ...

, and Roy McMakin. Feature presented many notable artists in New York for the first time, including Charles Ray,

Raymond Pettibon Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn, June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for g ...

, Tom Friedman,

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial media (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between High art, high and low arts. His wo ...

, and

Vincent Fecteau Vincent Fecteau (born 1969) is an American sculptor based in San Francisco. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1992. He is known for working with ordinary materials such as foamcore, seashells, string, rubber bands, paper clips, walnut she ...

. In addition to exhibitions, Feature hosted monthly video screenings, readings by authors including

Dennis Cooper Dennis Cooper (born January 10, 1953) is an American novelist, poet, critic, editor and performance artist. He is best known for the ''George Miles Cycle'', a series of five semi-autobiographical novels published between 1989 and 2000 and describe ...

, Gary Indiana, and

David Sedaris David Raymond Sedaris ( ; born December 26, 1956) is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay " Santaland Diaries". He published his first col ...

, and published an irregular magazine called FARM. Feature often had poetically titled group shows, including "Godhead", "Sparkalepsy", "Hairy Forearm's Self-Referral", "Running in Flip-Flops", "Mighty Graphitey", and "ITSY BITSY SPIDER".

References

{{reflist Defunct art museums and galleries in New York (state)