Long Island City (LIC) in Queens, New York, is a rapidly developing neighborhood recognized for its dynamic mix of industrial businesses as well as evolving (and thriving) arts scene. A bastion of Modern and contemporary art in LIC for over four decades, RoGallery is among the key institutions. Established by Gail and Robert Rogal in the early 1980s, the endeavor began with specializing in prints and has now grown to include thousands of artworks across mediums.
In 2024, RoGallery opened its newest endeavor, RoGallery Museum of LIC, bringing a new cultural facet to the city. Leveraging its massive collection of paintings, photographs, sculptures, and more—and with plans to expand its collaborations with both local and international artists—RoGallery Museum of LIC not only maintains a mission of enriching its immediate surroundings, but also directly addressing an issue that is regularly brought up in the art world: how to get art out of storage and on view. The answer for RoGallery, make a museum.
“This sister institution was founded with the goal of creating a community-focused space for fine art in Long Island City,” said Robert Rogal. “RoGallery has an incredibly extensive collection that goes mostly unseen, and RoGallery Museum of LIC was founded in part to make the greatest works of the gallery collection available to the public through exhibitions, temporary and permanent loans, and donations. Beyond that, the museum strives to be a place to uplift local artists. We encourage artists to submit artwork, event, and exhibition proposals and are working to develop a yearly juried exhibition program. We hope that in time, RoGallery Museum becomes a haven for fine art not only just for LIC, but for all of Queens and New York City.”
With RoGallery Museum of LIC opening its doors, so too was the debut of the museum’s exhibition program, which reflects an ethos centered on platforming a diverse range of art and artists. Inaugural shows, all of which are open through April 18, 2025, include solo shows “Benjamin Benno: Making Modernity” and “The Paintings of Marshall Goodman,” as well as several thematic exhibitions, like “Sacred Geometry,” which reexamines the employment of geometric compositions in artist’s work from different periods and genres.
Despite being open for only a few months, RoGallery Museum of LIC already promises to be the next art hub of LIC—and an invaluable cultural hub for both the borough and the greater city at large.
Learn more about the RoGallery Museum of LIC here.
