Venus Over Manhattan, a new exhibition space created by art collector and writer Adam Lindemann, opened to the public in New York City on May 9, 2012 with the inaugural exhibition À rebourswhich is on view now. Including several dozen works of art spanning the 19th century to the present. The exhibition takes its title from Joris-Karl Huysmans’ 1884 anti-novel “À rebours” known in English either as “against the grain” or “against nature.” This tale of fin-de-siècle decadence tells the story of the Duc Jean des Esseintes, an eccentric aristocrat who recoils from the manners and values of conservative Parisian society and flees to the countryside to immerse himself in art collecting and exotic fetishism. À rebours at Venus over Manhattan explores the notion of “against the grain” through a selection of more than 50 works including African fetishes. The artists represented range from Odilon Redon – the favorite of the book’s protagonist – to Henri Fuseli, Gustave Moreau, Felicien Rops, and the like of Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, and the late Dash Snow. À rebours will be on view at Venus Over Manhattan until June 30th, 980 Madison Avenue, 3rd Floor.