After saying goodbye to its home in the Waldorf Hotel, Black & Yellow Gallery is preparing to hold its first exhibit in a new temporary location.

Black & Yellow moved out of the Waldorf in late January after the creative team behind the East Vancouver cultural hotspot abruptly announced plans to cease operations.

The gallery has since connected with MAKe, a Vancouver marketing agency, who has donated a room in its Mount Pleasant office for exhibition space.

“It’s great for us because I am very interested in pushing boundaries in this city,” gallery co-director Allison Mander-Wionzek said in an email to the Straight. “Why should traditional art production play in a completely different field than more commercial approaches to creativity?”

“There has been a lot of talk about the necessity for art to be subsidized by the government, but there are much more practical ways that many private companies can step in where the government falls short,” Mander-Wionzek said.

The upcoming group exhibit features the work of Vancouver artists Erin Catherall, Liz Knox, Anna Marie Repstock, and Jacquelyn Ross. All are current students or recent graduates of local postsecondary institutions. Titled TEXT TEXT TYPE, the show will explore issues around text and language through painting, sculpture, video, and sound pieces.

Mander-Wionzek said Black & Yellow plans to stay in the MAKe office, near the Main Street and Kingsway intersection, for at least a few months while the search continues for a more suitable location.

“We are still looking for the ideal location and are open to hearing ideas,” she said. “There are some opportunities we are discussing that would be arranged in a similar format to our current temporary space, but nothing has been determined.”

Black & Yellow is a small gallery focused on showcasing the work of emerging local artists. It had been based in a hotel room in the Waldorf rent-free since March 2011. 

An opening reception for the gallery’s new exhibit takes place at 254 East 7^th Ave. on February 15 at 7 p.m. The show runs until March 10.