With its low-slung ceiling, opaque windows, an exterior clad in dark wood and muted orange, and a small veranda and pond, Susanne Vielmetter has created a sanctuary-esque space for contemporary art.

Beyond the seductive invitations of the interior, Cologne native Vielmetter has a proven eye for the intelligent and quirky, the carefully crafted and conceptually charged, but most of all the super-hip. Under Vielmetter’s watch, group shows are always a treat, and 2006’s “This is Not a Love Song” — post-punk and deconstructionist to its core—was no exception. Recent solo exhibition raves have included bombastic collagist Wangechi Mutu, who cuts and pastes magazine women into glittering, bird-beaked monsters; ab-ex revisionist Amy Sillman, who maneuvers paint into thick, brushy landscapes; performance/video artist-cum-rocker Wynne Greenwood (i.e. Tracy and the Plastics) who finds her muse in and around herself; and freshly graduated UCLA hotshot Brenna Youngblood, who renders paint, varnish, photographs and found objects lyrical and corrosive. —Melissa Lo