Marketing Mondays: The "Adjective" Artist. How Do You Define Yourself?

.
A short while back, a reader with the nom de blog of Quilt Works asked, “Have you ever done features on fiber artists?” Man, did she push a button!

Love the Work, Hate the Adjective
Let me start out by saying this: Quilt Works, I mean you no disrespect. I love quilts and textiles. Amish quilts, Gee’s Bend quilts, Faith Ringgold’s quilts, Alighero e Boeti’s embroidered canvases, and the work in fiber of many other artists, well known or lesser so. So it’s not the medium that pushes my button but the use of the adjective as a means of identification.

Allie Pettway quilt. Pettway is one of the Gee's Bend Quilters represented by the New York gallery Ameringer/McEnery/Yohe. (Image from the Internet)

In one of my first posts for this blog, I wrote my personal manifesto, I Am Not an Encaustic Artist. As I said in the post, I work in the medium because it allows me to express myself in the best possible way, but I don't want to be defined by it. Encaustic is something I use (and love using), but it's not who I am.

Polly Apfelbaum's "fallen paintings" made with fabric dye on cut fabric: fiber art or painting? (Image from the Internet)

Avoid the Typecasting

Those of us who work in particular mediums—whether encaustic or fiber, metalpoint or clay, or any one of a number of other at-the-edges-of-mainstream materials—run the risk of being pigeonholed by the particularity of the material. We didn’t go to “fiber art school” or “metalpoint school.” We went to art school where we tried a variety of materials. As artists we express ourselves in the medium that resonates for us.

.

It’s easy to get typecast, and from there to hear a comment like, “We already showed one fiber artist this year.” Could you imagine a dealer saying that about oil? (Those Sopranos actors are dealing with a similar issue right now, I’ll bet. Lots of opportunities to play thugs, but romantic leads? Not so much.)

I’ll bet that Oliver Herring, when he was crocheting his sculptures a decade ago, called himself a sculptor, not a fiber artist (he was just on the cover of the September Art News, by the way). I'll bet Shinique Smith, who works with baled forms, and Peter Weber, who works with folded felt, do not call themselves fiber artists.

Shinique Smith: work from a recent solo exhibition at Yvon Labert Gallery

Peter Weber: from a show at Thatcher Projects in 2008

Maybe you think I’m being petty

Who has the more visible careers—“fiber artists” or non-adjectival artists like Apfelbaum, Smith, and Weber? "Fiber artists" or Tracy Emin, whose recent work consisted of stitched blankets? “Encaustic artists” or a painter like Jasper Johns, who employs encaustic in his work?

.

To answer Quilt Works’s question, I have written about artists who work with fiber or fiber constructions. My report from the 2009 Armory week in New York, for instance, included a post called Sew Me the Money, which included Emin’s blankets, El Anatsui’s wall-size bottle-cap constructions (you could easily call them tapestries), Mary Heilmann’s woven chairs, and other work.

Interestingly, any of the aforementioned artists who work with fiber could easily be the subject of a feature in a textile magazine, but the reverse does not hold true. How many self-identified weavers, for instance, have you see in in Art in America? There is plenty of work in fiber in those publications, but it's under the conventional art categories of painting, sculpture, work on paper, maybe installation. Indeed, when I was looking at some of the textile-influenced work at shows during Armory week in New York, I couldn't help thinking that I've seen so much better by artists who might define themselves as "fiber artists"--but much of the rest of the art world hasn't seen this work because it's sequestered in "fiber" and "textile" shows.

(The quilts are an interesting issue on their own. Those that spring out of a particular culture--Amish or Gee's Bend, or Navajo weaving for that matter, may be included in museum and gallery shows, but typically under the cultural rubric; individual artists often remain anonymous.)

.

Jasper Johns: "encaustic artist" or painter? Installation from Focus: Jasper Johns at MoMA in early 2009

.

"Fiber art" or art? Tracey Emin stitched blanket at White Cube Gallery's booth at the Armory Fair, March 2009
.

.
Acknowledging our Commonalities, Limiting our Limitations
I love materiality, and I understand the powerful need for artists to align themselves with others. I have done it myself--and still do when the occasion seems appropriate to me. But as a general means of identification, no. I currently run an annual conference for painters who work in encaustic, and some years ago I edited a magazine called Fiberarts, which is still published. I think the specific focus of a publication or event provides a place for artists who work in a particular medium to show their work to that particular audience, to share information and network. This is true of other "adjectives" as well: women artists, black artists, gay artists, and artists of any ethnicity or culture. It can be emotionally fulfilling, to say nothing of professionally helpful, to align ourselves with others who are who we are, who do what we do. But not all the time; that's a ghetto.

Besides, we have many adjectives to describe us; where would it end? Without denying any part of how I identify myself in the world, for instance, it would nevertheless be ridiculous to ghettoize myself artistically as a mid-career Italian-American lesbian feminist encaustic artist.

I've come to this point of view over time: The more narrowly we define ourselves, the narrower our opportunities will be.

So you can count on me to write about art made with all of all kinds of materials--and to discuss the materials--but without defining the artist by the medium, as much as it is possible do so.

Over to You
Do/did you define your art (or your artist self) with an adjective? Do you you struggle with the "adjective" issue? How do you deal with it? Do you feel you've ever been eliminated, overlooked, or dismissed because of the adjective rather than the work? Do you think you may have limited your own opportunities for grants or exhibitions because of the way you define your art? Or, has it helped you?
.

"Stripes/Solids" at Paula Cooper Gallery

.

What you see when you walk in:

Sherrie Levine's Untitled (Broad Stripe:6), 1985, casein and wax on mahogany, 24 x 20 inches, with Ellsworth Kelly's Green Panel in the distance

.
With an economy of words, the description of Stripes/Solids on the Paula Cooper Gallery website says simply: "The works in this show, dating from 1962 to 2008, embody a clarity and resolution of line, color and form through simple gestures."
.
I would add that there's a strong sense of materiality here, from the wax in Sherrie Levine's Untitled (Broad Stripe: 6), which you see when you walk in, to Brice Marden's wax and oil monochromes, to Jan J. Schoonhoven's stacked cardboard with the corrugated edges forming the surface structure, to Rudolf Stingel's enormous styrofoam relief. There's also an unexpected river of blue and green that runs through the gallery. .

We're going to tour the large main gallery and then peek into the smaller front room that faces the street. To orient you, the Dan Walsh painting, below, is on the other side of the wall from Levine's. Stripes/Solids is up through October 31..
.

.

Dan Walsh, Gray Field, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 55 x 90 inches; Brice Marden, Trade Painting 2, 1974-64, beeswax and pigment on canvas, two panels overall 50 x 30 inches
.

.
Marden's painting; Robert Mangold, Brown Ellipse/Gray Green Frame, 1988-89, acrylic and pencil on canvas, two panels overall 74.5 x 137.75 inches
.

.
Mangold's painting; Rudolf Stingel, Untitled, 1999, carved styrofoam, 120 x 192 x 4 inches; Jan J. Schoonhoven, R 77-3, 1977, corrugated cardboard on wood
.

.

Stingel's sculpture; Ellsworth Kelly, Green Panel, 1980, oil on canvas, 72 x 88 inches
.

Kelly's painting; work by Anne Truitt and Josef Albers, described below

Below: Truitt's Breeze, 1978, acrylic on wood, 60.24 x 5.5 x 4 inches; Albers's Study to Homage to the Square: Vernal, 1978, oil on masonite, 17 7/87 x 17 7/8

(Barely visible in the front gallery: a painting by Agnes Martin )
.

.

In the street-facing front gallery: Agnes Martin, Untitled #10, 1994, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 60 1/8 x 60 1/8. (Even here the work is barely visible.)

Below, on the wall opposite Martin: John McLaughlin, #8, 1966, oil on canvas, 40 x 60 inches

.

In this museum-quality exhibition, with one work per artist, the spare installation provides an opportunity to immerse yourself in each work while finding yourself in the middle of visual conversations between the geometric elements. It turns out there's a lot going on with these "simple gestures." As a title, Stripes/Solids is something of an understatement.

.

Greenbaum and Green at D'Amelio Terras

.

Installation view: Joanne Greenbaum at D'Amelio Terras

.

.

Joanne Greenbaum's paintings hit me right in the solar plexus. Sure, I took them in with my eyes first, but their demanding materiality, almost Day-Glo palette, and agressive compositions produced a visceral response. These are not paintings you "like." You either love them or hate them. I happen to love them for all the reasons just noted. Plus Greenbaum handles paint like nobody's business.

Moving around the gallery, above: all paintings are 2009, oil and acrylic on canvas, 80 x 78 inches
.

Two more, below

.

A surprise for me was the work of Elliott Green in the smaller gallery. These easel-size paintings, lyrical and poetic, were a perfect fit for the space. There's a narrative in there, I think, but I was content to go with the flow of a purely visual experience.

.

Both shows are up at D'Amelio Terras through October 31.
.

Installation view: Elliott Green at D'Amelio Terras

.

Below, Pudding Shadows, 2009, oil on linen, 18 x 24 inches

.

Marketing Mondays: How Dealers Are Considering Artists Now, Part 2

Click here for Part 1

.

“Man, it’s hard out there now.”

—Kathryn Markel, principal, Kathryn Markel Fine Art, New York City

“Be positive despite rejections, and always let dealers know you appreciate the time they have taken to view your work.” —Gregory Lind, principal of Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco

.

"A rejection is for now, not forever."

—Hope Turner, Arden Gallery, Boston

.
.

Do your homework. Keep networking. Galleries are split between those that look at unsolicited packages and those that don’t. Best advice here: Read the gallery’s submission guidelines. What’s equally relevant now: Understand that times are as tough for the dealer as they are for the artist. Keep working. Don’t give up. .

.

Q: Do you look at the unsolicited j-pegs or hard-copy packages artists e-mail to you? Have you ever responded favorably?
. Hope Turner: “Yes.”
. Melanee Cooper: “I always look.” She breaks down her response this way: “One third of the artists who send in work are extremely talented but don’t quite fit in with the esthetic; one-third are just not right for the gallery; one third are not of the quality we're looking for." Yes, there has been an occasional positive response: “When you see it, you know it.”
. Midwest Dealer: “I do look but I almost never respond favorably. I try not to be annoyed by hard-copy packages, since it says on the website not to send them, but I understand that artists are trying really, really hard [to find gallery representation].”
. Kathryn Markel: “Yes, but I prefer a [link to a] good website, with current work.”
. Benjamin Tischer: “We do look at everything, though not in a timely manner. If the work looks interesting, I usually send a note that I would like to be kept on their mailing list. As of now, no unsolicited work has made it into the gallery, but there are two artists I am watching develop.”
. Valerie McKenzie: “Yes. While most of these packages and e-mails show work that is not appropriate for the gallery, here and there I have received packages that made sense and looked strong—usually because they were from someone who was a frequent visitor to the gallery and knew what type of work we show, or who was a referral from someone I know. Once in a while I have worked with some of these artists.”
. Nancy Toomey: “I rarely look at a package unless [the artist] has been referred. My director looks at the unsolicited emails. If he likes something, he passes it on to me, but that is quite rare.”
. Chelsea Dealer B: “I look quickly, but very, very rarely respond at all, favorably or otherwise. It’s stated on our website that we’re not currently looking,” said
. Leigh Conner: "No."

Q: What one piece of advice would you offer artists who are looking for representation now?
. Chelsea Dealer B: "Figure out which galleries are most likely to want to work with you and then network your way in through the artists, curators, collectors that gallery trusts”
. Benjamin Tischer: “Read the blogs [so you who’s showing where]. Take it slow. If you come to the gallery once and demand a studio visit, I am not likely to spend the time. But if you have come to five exhibitions and had actual conversations with me about the work on exhibition, pro or con, then I might want to see what you are working on.”
. Leigh Conner: “Read Art/Work, Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber’s book on being a successful emerging artist.” [I’d add Jackie Battenfield’s The Artist’s Guide and Edward Winkleman’s How to Start and Run a Commercial Gallery, different views of the same world, and I'd Rather Be In The Studio by Alyson B. Stanfield, a Midwest-based author and former curator. Taken together, these four books offer a current take on what to do and how to do it.]
. Kathryn Markel: “The most important thing for an artist is to show a consistent body of work. She must also do her homework to make sure the gallery she’s approaching has a similar sympathetic sensibility.”
. Chelsea Dealer A: “It is never easy being an artist, and it is difficult to get work exhibited and to sell it, especially now. Having said that, there are still hundreds of galleries in New York City. If an artist feels they have something unique to say, they should pursue that. Become familiar with they galleries and programs the like, and try to meet the artists and people who work there.”
. Hope Turner: “Understand that galleries see many presentations, and even if my response is favorable there may not be an opening for a show. Keep a gallery aware of your work by sending show cards of email images of a new work. I like to say that a rejection is for now, not forever.”
. Nancy Toomey: “Unless you sweat blood if you don’t create every day, consider a day job that will sustain you.”
. Midwest Dealer: “Do your homework, the same as always. But understand that now the challenge is greater as some galleries scale back their investment in new artists while trying to conserve their resources. Get a day job if you must, but keep working in the studio, free of the pressure of having to pitch yourself. Many artists who are already well represented are doing this, just as their galleries scale back to find the next successful model for the art market.”

So what can we learn from all of this?

Much of the same advice applies now that has always applied: Visit the galleries. Network. Sending unsolicited material is a crapshoot (odds are increased if you read and follow each gallery’s submission protocols). Don’t allow yourself to be crushed by rejection. However, it was a surprise to me to see how many galleries do still look at and consider unsolicited material.

At least half of the responding galleries have been affected by the economy, which means they are downsizing in terms of space, work size or price point. But I want to close with a dealer who wished to remain anonymous:

“At the same time that I am pulling back and tightening up, I am also more open to artists I would typically hesitate to show because there is less risk at the moment in taking a risk. If safe work is not selling, I might as well show work that really turns me on, even though it may not have commercial appeal. Going out on a limb may well help to invigorate the personality of the gallery.”

Ha! So while the reins have been tightened and protocols are in place there’s always room for a wild card. Like the lottery.

A Peek Into the Back Room

.
So call me intrusive, but I love to see what's in a gallery's back room. I happened upon two visual treats this way recently:

Beatriz Milhazes in the library at James Cohan Gallery
.

Clint Jukkula in the office at Jeff Bailey Gallery. Actually Jukkala's work was conceived as a small show, but it requires you to peek into the space--a voyeuristic act for which, in this instance, you are welcomed

.

.

Color-Time-Space at Lohin Geduld

.

Looking in: This view, through closed doors, will orient you to the tour below

Painters Joanne Freeman and Kim Uchiyama curated a sublime geometric show, Color-Time-Space, for the gallery that represents them, Lohin Geduld, on 25th Street. I'm writing about it on the last day of the show, and you're seeing it posted four days later, but not to worry: I'm going to show you around.

In making their selections, the curators noted the relationship between art and music. Rhythm, tone, and visual space (or musical time) are shared elements within the two disciplines. Seeing each perfectly chosen piece initially, I wasn't sure why the premise was necessary. Each work does indeed have a visual musicality, but the visual relationships between the works are substance enough.

Yet as I think about the installation, I can see how well orchestrated it is. Flat, saturated color is a feature of each painting, amplified and echoed in a kind of high-volume harmony in relation to the others. More persuasively, each work has a percussive rhythm in its repeated geometry--rectilinear, angular, banded, curvilinear, pah pah pah, pah pah--a polyrhythmic syncopation as the angles and curves pulse and snap.

Starting with the view through the window, above, we're going to swing to the right: .

On the wall facing the door: Thornton Willis, Blue Sky with Lattice, 2008 (first seen in a solo at the Elizabeth Harris Gallery earlier this year)
On the right wall: Joanne Freeman, Bent, 2009; Gary Petersen, Wish You Well; Kevin Wixted, Flowering Tree, 2009

.

Clockwise from above: Better views of Freeman; Uchiyama's Untitled, 2009, which you glimpsed in the doorway, top, and Petersen

Swinging back to the wall facing the door: Julie Gross, Trema Disc, 2005, and a glimpse of Stephen Westfall's My Beautiful Laundrette


Arc over to the left: Jennifer Riley, Modernissimo, 2009; Yvonne Thomas, Untitled, 1963; Stephen Westfall's, My Beautiful Laundrette, 2009

In the smaller back gallery: full view of Westfall's painting; foreground, Laurie Fendrich, Don't You Dare, 2007
.

James Biederman, Ben LaRocco and Kazimira Rachfal were also in the show. You can see images of their work on the gallery website. (Rachfal, a lovely surprise.) A second part of this curatorial effort took place at the Janet Kurnatowski Gallery in Brooklyn.

.

On the sidebar of this blog, right, you might want to try out the new "Search This Blog" feature. I've written previously about a number of the painters in this show. Type in any one of these names for more about them: Joanne Freeman, Julie Gross, Ben LaRocco, Gary Petersen, Jennifer Riley, Stephen Westfall, Thornton Willis, Kevin Wixted.

.

Marketing Mondays: How Dealers Are Considering Artists Now, Part 1

.

"We're not taking on as many new artists. We feel responsible to the artists we represent."

--Melanee Cooper, owner and director, Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago

.

While the Dow has begun to edge up and there seem to be a few more red dots in the galleries, the art world is still reeling from the recession that began 13 months ago. Gallery closings and relocations continue, and many artists who once had representation now do not.

.

I posed five questions to 40 art dealers around the country—half from New York City, and half from elsewhere. The 12 responses I received, representing that geography in about the same proportion, are not enough to provide a statistically accurate current picture, but anecdotally they create a good sketch of how dealers are considering artists now, particularly because the responses are of a piece with informal conversations I’ve had with dealers in Chelsea and elsewhere.
.

The Respondents
Leigh Conner, principal, Connor Contemporary, Washington, D.C.
Melanee Cooper, principal, Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago
Julian Jackson and Rene Lynch, principals, Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn
Gregory Lind, principal, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco
Kathryn Markel, principal, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, Chelsea

Valerie McKenzie, principal, McKenzie Fine Art, Chelsea
Benjamin Tischer, principal, Invisible-Exports, Lower East Side
Nancy Toomey, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco
Hope Turner, owner, Arden Gallery, Boston
Chelsea Dealer A, who asked to remain anonymous
Chelsea Dealer B, who asked to remain anonymous
Midwest Dealer, who asked to remain anonymous

What’s new in this economy
While some dealers are continuing as before, at least 50 percent of our respondents—and by extension, I’d guess a similar percentage of dealers nationwide—are retrenching in some way. As they take fewer chances, there are fewer spots for new artists. Newly minted MFAs, not so long ago the darlings of the dealers, are now more of a liability because they have no experience working with a gallery.

.

That makes the tried-and-true advice more important then ever: Show regularly—including in non-profits and alternative spaces—so that your work is visible. Network, network, network so that you’re in the loop. Have an online presence. Those unsolicited packages you send out with such hope have a slim chance of hitting their mark—but the odds are increased if you’re doing all of the above

..

Q: Has the current economy changed the way you consider artists for your gallery?
The responses are almost evently split.
No:

. Kathryn Markel: “Not yet.”

. Chelsea Dealer A said the same thing, adding, "But I am scrutinizing each piece that comes through the gallery door, asking, ‘Is this something really special?’”
. Gregory Lind: “The current challenge has not changed the way I consider my artists. I either love the work and feel the artists should be exhibited and eventually become part of the gallery program or not.”
. Julian Jackson and Rene Lynch: “We continue to curate the gallery with the same criteria we have used from the beginning. The economy has not changed our focus.”
. Valerie McKenzie: “Not really. The current economy can’t last forever.”
. Leigh Conner matches and ups McKenzie’s optimism: “The economy has not changed the way we consider artists for your program. As a gallery we are always looking to the future—five, ten years down the road.” .

Yes:

. Chelsea Dealer B: “I’m being much more careful in thinking about whether I can actually sell an artist’s work before considering working with them.”

. Nancy Toomey: “I guess I would have to say that I’m more interested in scheduling exhibitions for artists who already have a track record, and I’ve also considered exhibitions that have work at lower price points.”
. Midwest Dealer: “I’m less inclined to take on new artists who will require a good deal of resources. Mostly this means shipping. So smaller works, smaller shows are more likely to happen. I’d rather show in a conservative number and scale and sell the larger works via jpegs while the actual works stay in the artists’ studio.”
. Hope Turner: “We have decided to do have more two-person shows. The featured artist is shown in the front room and in the window facing the street. A second show is mounted in the middle room, which is a smaller space; this show may feature a new artist or one we do not show in regular rotation.”
. Melanee Cooper: "Artists are dropping off and picking up, because we can't bear the shipping costs right now. We're being more careful with our advertising budget. We’re not taking on as many new artists. We feel responsible to the artists we represent.” (“That said,” she adds, “I’m always looking for the right artist.”)

Q: Even though you may not be actively seeking artists for your gallery, you always have your eye out for new talent. Where might you look for and where you have found artists to exhibit?
The number-one way they find artists: recommendations and referrals. If you haven't been networking, this should noodge you into doing so. Art fairs are also up there on their list. This may seem unfair if you're trying to get your foot in the gallery door, since artists shown at those art fairs are already in someone's gallery--but not all of the exhibiting galleries are big-city venues.

. Chelsea Dealer B: “Recommendations from artists I’m currently working with are the number-one source of new considerations. After that, artists I’ve read about who are getting serious attention. After that, artists I meet socially.”
. Nancy Toomey: “Referrals from artists or collectors I respect, art fairs, picking up artists coming out of art school (in my case, often from the San Francisco Art Institute).”
. Midwest Dealer: “The order has changed recently: One, recommendations from other artists who know me, my program, and the artist they are recommending; two, discovery as I travel to art fairs and, sometimes, other galleries; three, unsolicited submissions, about one in a million.”
. Chelsea Dealer A: “It’s now almost always by referral from another artist or gallery. If I see someone’s work in a group show (gallery or non-profit) who is not represented, I might pursue a studio visit.”
. Gregory Lind: “One, seeing an artist’s work exhibited at a gallery or sometimes at an art fair; two, through one of my artists or other artists I know; three, although seldom, receiving a submission per email or packet.” He also admits to coming across the occasional artist while navigating the net.
. Valerie McKenzie: “I listen to referrals from people I trust, keep my eyes open when I look at group shows and go through art fairs, and sometimes just seize an opportunity when it comes my way.”
. Hope Turner: “We are always looking for new talent. This includes scouting at art fairs, ads in art magazines, and recommendations by gallery artists.”
. Leigh Conner has these priorities: “Visiting alternative spaces to see what is on the edge of their discourse; watching an artist over time; referrals.”
. Benjamin Tischer: “I would say that 75%of the people we have shown in the gallery, even in group shows, are friends, or friends of friends. While this comes off as nepotistic, the art world is ultimately very small, first and foremost a community.” (Tischer, a model of optimism, opened his gallery in the middle of the recession.)
. Kathryn Markel gets the last word here: “I always look. I love to look. And I always look at unsolicited e-mails, the web, everything.”
.
Q: Many artists think that an invitation to join a gallery happens in a snap. What does it take for an artist to be invited to join your roster?
Typically, time is the main ingredient, followed by a positive client response to the work.
. Melanee Cooper: “Every gallery runs differently. We’re looking for a response from our clients, and then we go from there.”
. Kathryn Markel: “I work with a lot of artists, but don’t necessarily give all of them exhibitions. I’ll just take in the work of a new artist and try it out on my clients. I like to live with the work for a while and see how I feel after the initial response.”
. Nancy Toomey: “Let me try to market the work to my collectors (three to six months) and then possibly a two-person show. That can take up to a year.”
. Hope Turner: “Shows are usually scheduled one year in advance, so an invitation to join the gallery is not immediate.”
. Chelsea Dealer B: "It can take years. We will sometimes work an artist into a group exhibition to learn how well we talk about their work, how well we work together, how much interest there is among our collectors."
. Valerie McKenzie: “It actually can happen in a snap, but rarely. It’s like any other relationship: You have to feel mutual respect and trust. I have to feel that the new artist isn’t just another version of an artist I already show, but someone who will add depth and breadth to the program. And I have certain interests and points of view that I want to maintain.”
. Benjamin Tischer: “If a gallery is including an artist on their permanent roster, the gallery should be able to sell enough of the work for that artist, or at the very least believe they will be able to do so in the future. It’s a long-term commitment.”
. Gregory Lind: “I need to have a strong feeling for the work. I also need to know that the artist and individual I am dealing with seems mature, reliable, and reasonable in their expectations and has some sort of perspective about what they want from their practice and the gallery system of presenting their work. Many emerging artists have not had much, or any, experience working with a commercial gallery, and there is a learning curve for both them and the dealer.”
. Midwest Dealer: “Of course the work must be strong and individual. It can’t overlap or compete too much with artists already in the program. And I have to feel the artist is mature (not chronologically, but in their understanding of the art world) and professional. They need to understand I cannot be their sole source of income or career building.”
. Chelsea Dealer A: "It's the unique quality of the [artist's] work and how it fits into the gallery's program. It's evidence of consistent dedication to their work and career." But more than that, he points out, "Since the gallery is already working with a number of artists, there has to be room for someone new, and the dealer has to be able to dedicate the time and resources necessary to develop the artist's career."

. . . . . . . . . .

.

“The art world is ultimately very small, first and foremost a community. "

–Benjamin Tischer, a principal of Invisible-Exports, New York City, explaining why referrals and networking drive so many dealers’ choices

Part 2 will appear next Monday
.

Instant Karma

This 34-second video is the best example of karma you're likely to see in a while. Listen for the screeching of tires. Go granny.

WTF? AE=MM@15'

.

Get up from your computer and stand about 15 feet away from the screen. Albert Einstein will change before your eyes into . . . .well, you'll just have to back away from your computer to see. (If you're looking at this on a Blackberry, hold it at arm's length and squint.)

It's back to more serious blogging on Monday with Part 1 of a two-parter on How Dealers Are Considering Artists Now.

.

Image (and neat trick) from the Internet
...

Sculpture Roundup in Chelsea

.
There was a lot of good sculpture in Chelsea this month, more that I can write about in individual posts, so this is a collection of exhibitions that I saw, liked and photographed. This post is more show than tell, but I have slipped in some info from press releases and, quelle surprise, a few opinions.
.
.

Jaume Plensa

In the Midst of Dreams, Galerie Lelong, through October 24

Working with true subjects, Plensa then altered their faces for these illuminated cast-resin heads so that race and/or gender are indeterminate

.

Below: Serenity in proportionally altered, laser-cut stone
.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

Rebecca Warren

Feelings, Matthew Marks Gallery (22nd St.), through October 24

Warren presents the female form--in plaster, unfired clay, painted bronze or welded steel--in a range of expression from figuration to abstraction, and with an attitude that swings from humorous to aggressive. She's in thorough control of her metier, but to be honest, with all those materials and points of view, this feels more like a group show. And is it me, or does this piece seem to channel R. Crumb?

. . . . . . . . . .

.

Linda Stein

Women of Valor, Flomenhaft Gallery, through October 24

Stein focused on armor and superheroes in this two-artist show (with painter Jaune Quick-To-See Smith). You probably can't see it without a detail, but the surface is swathed in laser-print copies of Wonder Woman cartoons--a totemic expression of power and protection

. . . . . . . . . .

David Kennedy Cutler
No More Right Now Forever, Derek Eller Gallery, Through October 24

Views above and below, with sculptures barely visible: Clear plexiglass sheets heat-molded with the impression of the artist's body



. . . . . . . . . .

Vincent Fecteau
New Sculpture, Matthew Marks Gallery (24th St.), through October 24
.


.
For these fluid forms I thought felt, but no. They're painted papier mache. What's more, they all began over the armature of a semi-inflated beach ball. I'm reading from the press release now: "The works have similar looking curves because of their shared beginnings, however each piece has been worked into an entirely new form."
.

. . . . . . . . . .

Nancy Graves
Nancy Graves, Ameringer/McEnery/Yohe, through October 24



The late sculptor, known for large-scale welded forms that referenced animal life (her famous camels) and a jungle of botanical life, is here represented by an installation of small polychromed bronze sculptures from the 1980s
.
From the press release: "During these years, Graves used bronze casting to create elements from a variety of organic and manufactured items, which she then arranged, welded together, and painted with rich and colorful patinas."

My favorite, below: Wax Works VII, 1987, bronze with baked enamel, 10 x 17.5 x 14.5 inches



. . . . . . . . . .


Andy Yoder
Man Cave, Winkleman Gallery, through October 24



.
From the guy who brought you the 10-foot licorice wingtip shoe comes a show that subverts the idea of masculinity, of what makes guy things guy things. I'm not sure the fur life preserver and gilded bowling pin make the point as much as his rose-covered garage door or lead crystal hubcaps, but in the process he also forces one to question what makes flowers and lead crystal girl things).

. . . . . . . . . .

Type A
Ruled, Goff + Rosenthal, through October 17
.

Type A is Adam Ames and Andrew Bordwin. The piece you're seeing is a gallery installation of 2000 plumb bobs, which occupy so much of the space that you have to flatten yourself against the wall to get past it. I'm not sure I would have been so drawn to the work if it hadn't been for the collaboration of the sun.

.

The strong afternoon light created a staccato rhythym via shadows that hit the floor in sharp perpendicular to the plumbs, below. I'll have to revisit the installation on a cloudy day and let you know

. . . . . . . . . .

Anselm Reyle

Monochrome Age, Gagosian, through October 24

I didn't respond to most of the work in this show. I found it too big, too shiny, too full of itself. But I did like the work above, a modular relief (possibly of pressed or cast steel) modulated from behind with changing lights. I managed to get two shots before the guards rushed over to say "No pictures."

..

Marketing Mondays: The Art of the Trade

..
The recession has done wonders for my personal art collection. I've been trading a lot lately with my artist friends. When the market was going great guns, it was hard to give up work that I knew would sell; this is how I support myself, after all. But after the market crashed and sales slowed to a crawl, trading has allowed me to make the very best of a bad economy.

Steven Alexander, with whom I recently traded a painting, thoughtfully puts the process in perspective: "Those of us who devote our lives to making art objects place a particularly high value on aesthetic experience -- and it is little bits of that experience that we trade among ourselves. It is distinctly different from buying a work, which very few artists are able to do, or from the notion of "building" a collection in any commercial sense. It is more connected to life experience, personal relationships, and shared affinities. The whole process is based on a deep and fundamental understanding of mutual respect and appreciation."

Based on my personal experience here are some observations about the art of the trade. Feel free to add your own comments to the discourse.
.
Trade with your Peers
Some years ago I saw a fabulous show of work on paper by an artist with a more advanced career than mine (I'm being purposely vague). I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I proposed a trade. She looked at me as if I had six heads, all of them empty. I felt like an idiot, as well I should have. My enthusiasm got the better of my good sense.
.
Offer Work in an Equal Price Range
Your quid pro quo need not be painting for painting, or sculpture for sculpture, but it needs to have a reasonably equal "street value." Surely there's some leeway with friends--but not too much.

Offer Your Best Work
This is not a yard sale, it's a trade. You want good? Give good.

If You Can't Show the Work in Person, Make a Good CD
Sounds like a no-brainer, but if you or your trading partner want to be satisfied, the J-pegs need to accurately reflect the work. Recently I selected a painting from a CD whose images were not all that great, but I knew the artist's work and palette, so I felt secure in my choice. The artist included a recent catalog of his work, so not only did it clarify any issues I might have had with the less-than-perfect Jpegs, I was delighted to have the catalog for my library.
.
Create Your Own Parameters
Maybe you want to trade just work on paper? Maybe there's just one series you’re willing to trade? Maybe you want to keep things small? Then that's what you should do. Trading is fun. If you feel pressured into trading something you're prefer to keep, that's not satisfying and you shouldn’t do it.

It's OK To Say No
I have a friend whom I like, and whose work I like, but there were just a few pieces for which I was willing to give up one of my paintings. When it turned out that the ones I wanted were unavailable, that trade lost its appeal. I kind of weaseled out by not following up. I'm a forthright person, as is my friend. I should have been able to say, " I really liked paintings X, Y and Z, but without them as a choice, I'd like to postone the trade for a while."
.
How Will the Work Be Exchanged?
If you're in the same studio building, no problem. If you don't live nearby and cannot arrange for a mutual dropoff, send it via a carrier of your choosing. You pay for sending yours; she pays for sending hers.

Where's the Dealer in All of This?
To be honest, I haven't brought up the subject with the dealers I work with. I'm not hiding anything. No money has changed hands. As Alexander notes, this is a personal connection between two people with shared affinities, not about making money.
.
Do You Need Paperwork?
I know everyone I've traded with, so paperwork has seemed unnecessary. If you feel the need for it, bring up the subject with your trading partner. If the two of you agree to provide an invoice of exchange, or whatever, you should probably be the one to initiate any paperwork since it's your idea.
.
Bartering for Professional Services
This is a different ballgame. Instead of trading for fun, you’re bartering for need. I bartered for legal help once, and it was a wonderful experience. The attorney had a wall full of good art, and he understood the quid pro quo. I also know artists who have traded for dental work. Regular bartering for professional services will probably plunge you into IRS waters. This may be where paperwork is worth doing. Who has experience and advice here?

Related: Painter Antonio Puri has created an exhibition project called Art 4 Barter. No money changes hands. The exhibiting artists list the items or services they'd like to receive in exchange for their work. Indeed, Puri often trades his artwork for the gallery space in which to hold the exhibition.

Over to You
Have you traded work? Do you have any stories, comments, advice?.
.

Maya Lin: Three Ways of Looking at the Earth

.

My intention is not to take you on a tour of the elements, but in the new exhibition of work of Maya Lin we move from the water of previous posts water to earth here.

.

Banner for Lin on 22nd Street, not far from the gallery

.

Once again Lin shows herself to be one of our best sculptors. In Three Ways of Looking at the Earth at Pace Wildenstein's 22nd Street gallery, Lin uses three topographic systems to depict specific environments, producing them in different materials on a scale that allows the viewer to navigate around and through them.

When I was there recently, two pre-teen girls scampered up a 10-foot hill of 2x4s. At first I thought it was a performance, but they were too young and they kept looking back toward Lin. Her children? This kind of joyous freedom seemed so antithetical to the gallery's attitude, but you can see them for yourself. (Normally Pace maintains a rigorous no-photography policy but when the kids started climbing, the cameras came out. )

It's tempting to think of Lin as the anti-Serra, working with the earth, or with the idea of earth, rather than imposing her will on it. But of course that's not true. Lin's work is every bit as assertive and dramatic (and her permanently installed Wave Field at Storm King shows you just how imposing she can be), just in a kinder, gentler way. The installation at Pace is up through October 24.

2x4 Landscape, composed of 50,000 vertical 2x4s, suggests a hill

The press release says the 10-foor-high installation occupies 1900 square feet of floor space. The climbers had someone's approval. Judging by the way Lin was watching them, and the way they surrounded her afterward, I'm guessing they were her kids. Certainly no one else attempted the same climb

.

Walking the perimeter of the work, I shot it at its far end, taking in a bit of each of the other two works in the space

Blue Lake Pass, 20 units composed of contoured particle board

.

Let me quote the press release here: "Based on terrain from the Rocky Mountains, Blue Lake Pass explores a specific region of Southwestern Colorado that is personally familiar to Lin, whose family vacations there each summer. Lin imposed a three-by-three-foot grid on the topography, which was then scaled down and sectioned into 20 individual units that form narrow passageways through the mountain pass."


Water Line, aluminum-wire , 19' x 34' 8" x 29' 2"

The contoured grid of this work suggests a mapped section of ocean in the Antarctic. The experience of walking on the ground through an airy grid meant to depict water is viscerally thrilling



The sculptor in conversation while the young climbers scaled the wooden hill just beyond her right shoulder .

.

Update 10.6.09:

View Loren Munk's three-minute video of the installation

.