Comments on edward_ winkleman: The Joy of the Physical Space vs. Rent : Open Thre...

I have read with great interest the previous comme...

2009-07-13T18:54:19.799-04:00

I have read with great interest the previous comments on this blog post. I am the owner of a "Gallery without Walls." For nine years I have sold art in alternative venues. I've exhibited in book stores, at private corporate events, at churches, at my home, in a high-end respected rental gallery, and also through the Phantom Galleries LA program which takes empty commercial spaces and exhibits artwork 24/7 in the windows. They host a reception once a month for guests to see additional work, which is brought in the for night, but the spaces are empty otherwise. A postcard dispenser on the door gives everyone additional information about the artist and his/her website. Landlords like this program because the building looks occupied, and there is less graffiti applied to the buildings. Had my best year ever last year from following up with clients met by exhibiting in these types of alternative spaces. A fixed retail location...is not absolutely necessary.

Thanks for the answer, George. I appreciate the pe...

2009-07-08T18:10:53.079-04:00

Thanks for the answer, George. I appreciate the perspective from someone
who've been there. I find that fascinating. You could almost write a book. Not a heavy theoretical book. Just a general testimony of how you've
seen the artworld in New York evolve through the years.

Cheers,

Cedric C

Anon says, ...I would close the space and move to ...

2009-07-08T10:20:04.521-04:00

Anon says, ...I would close the space and move to the net....

It's called "private dealing."
There are a lot of those and it's not the same as having a permanent gallery space.

Cedric, I think I'm right about Turrell and the c...

2009-07-08T09:58:21.415-04:00

Cedric,

I think I'm right about Turrell and the clean white gallery space. I know him and was there at that time so I remember the response from the art community. It was an effort of architectural purity and either hit the zeitgeist right between the eyes, and/or was extremely influential for gallery design. The exact date may have been a year or two earlier but minimalism was just starting. Like jpegs history books give a compressed approximation of what's actually there.

The jpeg response is directed towards the "virtual gallery" replacing the physical gallery issue. Seeing a reproduction is not a substitute for seeing the original artwork. It may be all we have at times but there is no way you can know anything about a Pollock without standing in front of it.

Gallery Opera is a successful tourist gallery, that all the years I lived in SoHo, I never bothered to enter.

Finally, I didn't say anything about the "end of the art market," only that there would be gallery closings and it doesn't really matter. There are more galleries than there were 15 years ago in the last recession and fewer than there were in 2007. Life goes on.

Whether you own a building or rent space in one sh...

2009-07-08T09:07:14.404-04:00

Whether you own a building or rent space in one should make little difference. You will always be faced with "opportunity cost" - meaning - you are always passing up rent that you could be collecting by renting the space out.

Also ... it makes you a landlord. You have to be sure you want to buy a building, tie up the capital and deal with tenants. Though for sure the rent won't be raised on you ... it may be better to figure out how to survive without that subsidy.

I think the central issue is there is a squeeze and shakeout underway in most segments of the economy. When things start to improve again, we'll see a very different economic landscape.

The long term fix to a gallery's overhead problem ...

2009-07-08T02:12:46.483-04:00

The long term fix to a gallery's overhead problem is simple, if not easy to accomplish: Don't Pay Rent! Make a long term plan to find and OWN the building. I know of one gallery that has been in business for 40 years, operating out of a 1920's Craftsman, which the dealer actually lived in for the first 25 years.

If I were a medium to small sized gallery owner to...

2009-07-08T02:02:22.888-04:00

If I were a medium to small sized gallery owner today in NYC-Chelsea I would close the space and move to the net. I would make sure I have an extraordinary web page, blog and vibrant brand name. I would rent spaces for a month or 2, 2 to 3 times a year tops, I would have 75% group shows and do one European and one domestic art fair a year. I would advertise regularly in one mag only. This plan needed to be put in place 18 months ago. While you had reserves. Achievable still. That's the future folks.

As for artists, the worst is yet to come in my opinion. Hang on. Lower your prices, donate good stuff to benefits as much as you are asked, make a point of having very low reserves. Keep your name out there. Work on your best ideas and only those. Never miss a free lecture of your peers and always talk. Talk, talk, talk. Party and drink less but show up. Get in shape. Already the new generation is here. Stand your ground dears.

mls
....remember me?

Lobby city council to allow reductions in property...

2009-07-08T00:10:08.414-04:00

Lobby city council to allow reductions in property taxes on gallery or other holdings in exchange for reduced rents for 'cultural activity sites' (ie galleries)

+++it is naive to suggest that one ++can experienc...

2009-07-07T23:43:32.057-04:00

+++it is naive to suggest that one ++can experience a painting +++through a jpeg.

Hmm? You didn't understand me, George. I meant: if most people see the JPEG, why bother
make an original (aka, indeed, make JPEG or think art in a way that implies that most people see the JPEG). I'm not saying the JPEG is the same as the original. I mean, and I come back to this example often, who really know the Mona Lisa when most people on this planet will die only having seen the JPEG? (most widespread art image in the world).

White Cube:

1968 feels a little late to start the history of the white cube. I think it started with installation
art: Klein, Beuys and Nauman, but even Duchamp earlier. The minimalists probably had an influence: they were themselves emulating currents in architecture (functionalist, structuralist,
post-bauhaus, etc..) where the human touch should be replaced by the slick machine-made industrial. While white cubes are painted by hand, the result is not supposed to look "man-made". It's opposite to a humanist concept of design, and that's why I think it's dated.

+++How about something between a +++gallery and a club

A great idea but the night people are very indulgent with the mafia.
There was such a night gallery in the "Gay Village" here but it
didn't last. Though they probably didn't do it right, and there is
not a strong clientele here unless you're kitsch.

(By the way, here in town there is an artist named Corno who is celebrated by the press (huge articles) as being "internationally
known". She is represented by Gallery Opera in New York, a place I've never heard of, and they say that she has the priviledged of being hanged among the masters. To me, this art reeks of a kitsch phenomena. But everybody seems serious: Corno, the great canadian artist. Sigh... I bet they never heard of David Altmejd.)

I disgressed, but Speaking of David and the best of canadian
contemporary art, it's all happening in art centres, so I'm
with George that the end of the art market would not see the end of art, and people who think art depends on the market (including artists) would simply pave the way to people with other interests and endeavours.

The economy of tomorrow will be a potluck. I am confident it will be. So any solutions that sound like a potluck is there with 21st century.

Cedric Casp

(everybody bring your fireworks!)

Cedric: when most of your audience see your art th...

2009-07-07T19:13:49.066-04:00

Cedric: when most of your audience see your art through the JPEG?

No, the audience only sees the jpeg, not the art. See JPEGs, Details and Density for a further discussion. I would agree it is possible to make art for the electronic media but it is naive to suggest that one can experience a painting through a jpeg.

FYI, the "white cube" was a result of other artists and curators seeing James Turrell's studio in Venice California circa 1968. To my knowledge this was the first pure white exhibition space made specifically to show art. At the time most galleries were in converted apartments. A new model? How about something between a gallery and a club, open late with art integrated into the experience, you'd just need an eye and a liquor license.

Art exists because of enlightened patronage, the support of kings and robber barons. The discussion here is fretting over penny ante concerns that the readers art will no longer have a venue to be sold. That somehow the closing of 50 or 60 galleries is going to put an end to it all. A lot of so called "artists" will find other employment, the attrition rate has always been high. This is especially true when times get tough and "being an artist" isn't quite so easy or so much fun, welcome to reality.

All these suggestions to save some gallery, put it in a shipping container, or turn it into a rave, are self serving and bogus ways of having someone else take responsibility for you, tour art and your sales. The galleries that close, close for a lot of different reasons, not just because they cannot make the rent. Maybe the gallerist is just tired of worrying every month, maybe the artists are a pain in the ass, maybe the collectors are a pain in the ass or maybe they got rich in the bubble and just want to slow down and enjoy life. Like Palin says, "It's no fun being a governor in a recession, I quit!"

So while I am sympathetic about the recent gallery closings, it is all part of the business cycle which periodically sweeps out the businesses which are underfunded, mismanaged, or have a poor product to sell. The fault lies just as much with the artists as it does with the gallerists or the economy.

On the other hand, I have a huge amount of respect for the energy and invention of those who find a way to exhibit art, to make it visible to the culture without necessarily being totally fixated upon sales. 7Eleven gallery is a roving space run by three women all under the age of 25. They used their connections to find space for roving exhibitions and give young curators a chance to organize an exhibition. It's underground, high/lo profile, good/bad art, but full of "can do" energy which has marked every great period in modern/contemporary art history.

I'd be interested to know in NYC at a gallery with...

2009-07-07T18:04:32.702-04:00

I'd be interested to know in NYC at a gallery with emerging artists how most art sales have occurred in recent years - by that I mean what percentage were sold at the opening event, during the month at private meetings with buyers, at art fairs, through sales to corporate collections, etc. Art dealers are ultimately brokers, agents for the artist. The space itself doesn't seem terribly important.

I wonder if trying different models for selling might improve sales. A dealer that does well on the buzz of the opening event might try an auction sale. A dealer that does well with corporate clients might try hanging work at a corporate party or reception or just in some of those vacant office spaces at big firms. I'm the board chair of a midwestern art center and we even have a wedding registry for our artists. Bottom line: get the work in front of the right people and sell them on ideas and investment. By whatever means necessary.

In a few cities I have seen co-ops which include artist studios and galleries. This seems like a more economically sensible way to generate traffic. Alternative spaces can be more interesting than museum-like galleries. Perhaps what has been lost in the NY art scene is the memory of how the contemporary art scene there emerged - from raw spaces and big ideas.

As for virtual or online sales - Jen Bekman's 20x200 seems to be the only successful online contemporary art source. Maybe big editions and cheap prints is viable right now. It certainly is reaching a new class of buyer.

George: ++The more layers of media between the ori...

2009-07-07T17:43:18.000-04:00

George:
++The more layers of media between the original and the viewer, the greater the distortion.

Exactly, and Baudriard announced the virtual gallery way back. Why focus on the original, when most
of your audience see your art through the JPEG? Thanks GAM for the info about Google 3D which
I think is neat.

I agree with EC, I think the white cube is done and overcooked with.
I like the idea of a gallery within an apartment. I think there is a small gallery in Chelsea which is an apartment, and it's lovely.

Showing in your own apart is not something I find debasing, bien au contraire. One can have a job and show on week-ends.

Or back at the main Gall: What is there under these white walls? Is it concrete? That could be
interesting. There is no need to paint every month.

Art is luxury is what is not?

Art is luxury because we view it as such. It's the syndrome of the Fabergé Egg: too luxurious you can't touch it and open the box anymore to see what's inside.
Art seen from the eyes of the vain.
What is left in society that we don't view from an economic angle? It's a system of thinking that need to be changed, and the youth is working on it (they are into
sharing for free everything their dads have worked on to establish economy, a generation more interested in accessibility than deprivation which is the source of luxury).

Cedric Casp

An artist/friend who lived in Hong Kong had his st...

2009-07-07T15:23:39.422-04:00

An artist/friend who lived in Hong Kong had his studio in a semi trailer because of high rent and lack of space. It could work.

there was something on artnet the other day about ...

2009-07-07T15:08:19.119-04:00

there was something on artnet the other day about a number of artist run spaces popping up...mostly in the bo. as commercial galleries with high overhead begin to fail, these fill some of the vaccuum. it's the natural order of things. remember, there are probably 2x the number of galleries as there were 10 years ago. i don't think there's much that can be done to keep most of them afloat if the bottom has truly fallen out of the market for emerging/contemporary art.

As much as many would like to think otherwise, gal...

2009-07-07T14:34:38.563-04:00

As much as many would like to think otherwise, galleries are just another retail business in NYC and unlikely to be on the receiving end of any financial support from the city.

It's capitalism at work and the galleries that can't make it, should close their doors. New ones will open to replace them.

7Eleven is a good example of a roving gallery, last I heard they will be back at it in the fall.

My jpeg comment was aimed at the idea of the virtual gallery. The more layers of media between the original and the viewer, the greater the distortion.

A little research shows you have music, science, a...

2009-07-07T13:26:35.258-04:00

A little research shows you have music, science, and green-living barges there. Has anyone tried a gallery barge?

Individual ownership of art might be a luxury but ...

2009-07-07T12:44:43.708-04:00

Individual ownership of art might be a luxury but art in itself isn't.

Maybe co-ownership as in condo's would be an alterantive to strictly private property.

The semi-trailer is cool, how about a private car at the end of the subway-metro train?

I'll say while art is the most moving, and probabl...

2009-07-07T12:36:08.764-04:00

I'll say while art is the most moving, and probably important luxury good - it *is* a luxury and a pure one at that.

As such, how frugal the American public will become will really tell what sort of art market there will be, and by extension, what sort of landscape Chelsea will be for artists and gallerists.

And, Ed, I am very glad you posted a clarification that you were still going to be around!

Okay, so the idea behind virtual solutions is to o...

2009-07-07T12:34:50.555-04:00

Okay, so the idea behind virtual solutions is to offer the gallery experience to more people - in a convenient way. But the physical nature of the gallery experience is vital. So, instead of high tech, consider low tech. Lease a semi tractor. Buy a used semi trailer and convert it. Skylights, track lighting, hardwood floors, white walls. Replace the rear doors with a glass wall and storefront-style door. Roll an aluminum stairway up to that door when you park the rig at shopping centers in upscale neighborhoods - up and down the east coast. Call the whole thing "Winkleman Gallery Collector Services" or some such. New art might go home with the furniture and accessories purchased at those upscale shopping centers.

Franklin and others pointed out - sorry I need t...

2009-07-07T12:33:43.952-04:00

Franklin and others pointed out - sorry I need to go to a different machine to post and I often miss peoples posts ...

how about - create an enclosed plexiglas box that you attach to the side of a taxi cab or a bus, or the metro, where you can place an actual piece of art .... yeah insurance and vanadalism aside - but what if the gallery was really ambulant and not simply temporary?

AS much as I would like to think that shared space...

2009-07-07T12:15:37.391-04:00

AS much as I would like to think that shared spaces would work I just picture young models sharing an apartment and creating this terrible b*tchy competitive atmosphere, like the Big Brother house. Ego's are a part of art and I just feel like the concubines would really have to get a long.

Unfortunately, this is free market capitalism, uncompetitive business are failing. New one's will take the place when there is a need for expansion. Expand/contract.

Although I think franchise style would be cool, perhaps to keep cred there is a main ( small ) space somewhere in NY but then satelite galleries in other cities with lower rents as destination spots and showrooms? Or some derivative. It would allow artists to exist in cheaper places as well but still ties into the hub of NY.

these are intriguing. George, a jpeg digitally ca...

2009-07-07T11:48:15.750-04:00

these are intriguing.

George, a jpeg digitally cast is for now just a different "brochure" for marketing to increse traffic. (galleries vet by the jpeg, some clients will vet in a similar manner- then visit the gallery) Closing on that traffic is still a people interaction, the gallery still facilitates that, though as Franklin points out, it might be a interant space.

Rather than go to all that time and trouble with d...

2009-07-07T11:37:06.270-04:00

Rather than go to all that time and trouble with disused spaces, any/all interested galleries just share the rent of one space and stage the project entity from there.

If I were going to do this, I would form a project...

2009-07-07T11:09:11.252-04:00

If I were going to do this, I would form a project entity that would go around to various disused spaces, occupy them for a week, install a show, document it in a catalog and on a website, market it beforehand and during, try to sell as much work out of the show as possible, strike it, and return the artwork. Four to six weeks later, I'd do it again in a new space with a new show. Capital would be spent on portable lighting, good marketing materials, and the website. A small inventory of small works would be available for sale through the website. An identity would form around the project entity itself, which would put its name on all these shows just as a gallery would for any that took place in its spaces. Downtime would be spent in research, studio visits, scoping out potential spaces, and developing collector contacts, with business conducted from an ugly, cheap space (or maybe even home) which no one would ever need to see.

Rather than closing up shop, how viable would it b...

2009-07-07T11:08:21.000-04:00

Rather than closing up shop, how viable would it be for, say, three dealers to share a physical space?

If a space could be configured to house a main gallery and two smaller side galleries, each dealer could present an exhibition each month, with the large space in rotation so that each gallery gets a blow-out show three times year. Or maybe there would be three equal-size rooms to avoid the hierarchical issues.

While the arrangement would have some drawbacks, think of the advantages:
. Overhead would be cut by 2/3 for each dealer
. Traffic to the gallery "complex" would increase threefold
. With colleagues on the premesis, dealers would be able to slip out to make studio visits, see art, or simply have more time to cultivate collectors.
. You'd be in the forefront of a new model of collectivity and entrepreneurial ingenuity
. You wouldn't have to sell mugs