The White Gallery Reopens in Lakeville

Susan and Tino Galluzzo believe in second careers, second marriages and second acts. She's a former lawyer and he's a former investment banker, who became art dealers six years ago when they opened The White Gallery in Lakeville. Two years later, they became husband and wife (after previous marriages). Last spring, the unthinkable happened: their gallery was destroyed by fire (though the Lakeville Hose Company responded so quickly that only three pieces of art were completely ruined.) Instead of bemoaning their fate, the couple decided that rebuilding would give them a second chance to make the gallery, which is located in an antique New England house, more conducive to the contemporary art they like to show.

"We always knew there were flaws with the space and we've been able to address many of them in the renovation," says Tino (left), pointing to the new vaulted ceiling in the front parlor that will allow them to show tall pieces of sculpture indoors. (They always have a few pieces of traffic-stopping sculpture on their front lawn.) "We've learned a lot in six years and we've been able to improve our lighting and maximize our wall space to show more large-scale work, which we really love." For "The Art of the Figure," their first exhibition in their new old home, the Galluzzos are featuring both established and emerging artists. Gallery favorite David Dunlop, the star of the PBS series Landscapes Through Time with David Dunlop, will be showing a series of new paintings that capture the cosmopolitan freneticism of Grand Central Terminal in a fresh and affectionate manner. The Galuzzos are especially excited about Nikhil Bhandari, the first contemporary photographer they've ever shown. An artist from Mumbai, India, who works in both color and black-and-white, Bhandari layers images to create works that are mysteriously complex. As Tino prepares to hang the first show, he points out how he's added new down lighting in one alcove, enlarged a window in the front and covered another window to extend a wall.. There is one new feature, however, that has nothing to do with aesthetics. "Now," he says, "we have a state of the art fire system."