Alex Gilbert, a director of Friedman Benda gallery, and her husband, Patrick Parrish, whose gallery shares his name, have a story, or an explanation, for everything that has found its way into their Clinton Hill apartment. “Nothing is arbitrary to me,” Gilbert says of the vetting process, from the Adam Fuss photographs and the vintage Ward Bennett sled chairs to the rare, large Gaetano Pesce all-white urn — and even the Miro-esque painting by an unknown artist in the front hall.
They moved here in 2018 from a 450-square-foot rent-stabilized place in Chelsea that had become too small after their son, Clyde, was born. “We’d still be in that apartment if we didn’t have Clyde,” Parrish says. At first, they tried to find an upgrade in that neighborhood, until a friend of Gilbert’s suggested they check out the three-bedroom apartment she was moving out of. The landlord, who lives nearby, let Gilbert and Parrish paint and do some work on the kitchen and bath to bring everything in line with their taste.
Parrish describes the century-old apartment house as “formerly grand,” dating from the time when living in Clinton Hill meant living among some of Brooklyn’s most prominent Gilded Age families, including the Pratts, the Wyckoffs, and the Lefferts (many of their mansions are still there). Its amenities included all the modern conveniences of that era, like dumbwaiters and “all the high technology of pushing a button where you could ring a bell and you could talk between the rooms.”
Parrish started out as an artist before opening his first gallery, Mondo Cane, on West 22nd Street in 2000. His gallery has been on Lispenard Street since 2013, and he opened the Secret Watch Shop on its lower level last year because he has a passion for timepieces. In 2018, he wrote a book called The Hunt: Navigating the Worlds of Art and Design. Gilbert graduated from Parsons in 2009 and worked at Sotheby’s Home, Surface Media, Artsy, and Phillips before joining Friedman Benda in 2019; she is also the artist liaison for Misha Kahn.
Which means the couple do not take the choice of having an Eames lounge chair with an ottoman in the living room lightly. “It’s a little too mainstream for us,” Parrish says. “But you can’t argue with that chair. We needed a reading chair, and it’s so good.”
“I feel like a minimalist trapped in a maximalist environment,” Parrish jokes about the ever-expanding collection of art. “Everything in the apartment can stand on its own,” he continues, “but everything looks better with the things around it. Before we even bring something in, we intrinsically know it will be friends with — I guess it’s like a dinner party, or a party: All these people come together, and they work together somehow.”
The Living Room: An Isamu Noguchi light fixture presides over the Nicola L. l’Oeil and the Ben Seibel floor lamp, both near the Pesce urn on a pedestal. The Ward Bennett leather sled chairs have been traded back and forth between Parrish and his sister, Becca.
The Gallery Wall: The top-right painting is by Robert Loughlin, the big piece near the center is by Clayton Schiff, and the geometric work just above the bench is by Cody Hoyt. The bench is by Anton Alvarez and made out of hockey sticks; Parrish and Gilbert picked it up from Salon 94. “It’s the first piece that we bought together,” Gilbert says. A Hugo França wood sculpture sits on top beside a carved stone monkey by John B. Flannagan.
By the Front Door: The coat hooks are by Carl Auböck. The large painting is by an unknown artist.
The Dining Room: There is an Allan Gould table and Jean Prouvé chairs. The light fixture is 1940s American. The console along the wall is by Milo Baughman.
The Bathroom: “People usually don’t hang art in the bathroom,” and for good reason, notes Gilbert. “But if it’s ceramic or glass or resin, it’s okay. Just don’t damage your works on paper.” The ceramic tile is an early Marcello Fantoni.
The Snake Photograph: Parrish did a trade with photographer Adam Fuss to acquire the picture of the snake in the water. “It took a loooong time and a lot of trades to get that photograph,” he says, laughing. The small child’s chair on the left is by Pesce. “That little chair was in MoMA, in their kid’s show.”
Parrish and Gilbert’s Bedroom: Their bed has a textile bedcover by Liam Lee and a black-and-white wall sculpture by Herbert Bayer.
Parrish and Gilbert’s Bedroom: A photograph of Clyde by Adam Fuss hangs above a rubber-covered chair by Max Lamb.
Clyde’s Bedroom: “It’s cluttercore,” Gilbert laughs about Clyde’s collection of robots with a piece by David Weeks in the mix on the right and, on the left, the skin of a snake that bit Clyde in Connecticut. “Our good friend laminated it so that Clyde could have it. It was a garter snake,” Parrish adds.
The Office: The former maid’s room now serves as the office with a desk and shelving unit by George Nelson for Herman Miller. “In our old apartment we had a wall of Herman Miller,” Parrish says. “Herman Miller bought the wall for their collection.” The tape dispenser by Misha Kahn “is not to be missed,” Gilbert says with a smile.
The Living Room: An Isamu Noguchi light fixture presides over the Nicola L. l’Oeil and the Ben Seibel floor lamp, both near the Pesce urn on a pedestal. The Ward Bennett leather sled chairs have been traded back and forth between Parrish and his sister, Becca.
The Gallery Wall: The top-right painting is by Robert Loughlin, the big piece near the center is by Clayton Schiff, and the geometric work just above the bench is by Cody Hoyt. The bench is by Anton Alvarez and made out of hockey sticks; Parrish and Gilbert picked it up from Salon 94. “It’s the first piece that we bought together,” Gilbert says. A Hugo França wood sculpture sits on top beside a carved stone monkey by John B. Flannagan.
By the Front Door: The coat hooks are by Carl Auböck. The large painting is by an unknown artist.
The Dining Room: There is an Allan Gould table and Jean Prouvé chairs. The light fixture is 1940s American. The console along the wall is by Milo Baughman.
The Bathroom: “People usually don’t hang art in the bathroom,” and for good reason, notes Gilbert. “But if it’s ceramic or glass or resin, it’s okay. Just don’t damage your works on paper.” The ceramic tile is an early Marcello Fantoni.
The Snake Photograph: Parrish did a trade with photographer Adam Fuss to acquire the picture of the snake in the water. “It took a loooong time and a lot of trades to get that photograph,” he says, laughing. The small child’s chair on the left is by Pesce. “That little chair was in MoMA, in their kid’s show.”
Parrish and Gilbert’s Bedroom: Their bed has a textile bedcover by Liam Lee and a black-and-white wall sculpture by Herbert Bayer.
Parrish and Gilbert’s Bedroom: A photograph of Clyde by Adam Fuss hangs above a rubber-covered chair by Max Lamb.
Clyde’s Bedroom: “It’s cluttercore,” Gilbert laughs about Clyde’s collection of robots with a piece by David Weeks in the mix on the right and, on the left, the skin of a snake that bit Clyde in Connecticut. “Our good friend laminated it so that Clyde could have it. It was a garter snake,” Parrish adds.
The Office: The former maid’s room now serves as the office with a desk and shelving unit by George Nelson for Herman Miller. “In our old apartment we had a wall of Herman Miller,” Parrish says. “Herman Miller bought the wall for their collection.” The tape dispenser by Misha Kahn “is not to be missed,” Gilbert says with a smile.
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