Marketing Mondays: "Where Can I Show?" Part 2

Where Can I Show? Part 1

  Darra Keeton painting in the dining room at Drawer 158, Tribeca

 
This two-part post addresses the queries posed by several readers along the lines of this question: “Is a Non-Traditional Setting a Respectable Place for My Work?”  Entrepreneurial spirit has led to many respectable opportunities, including artists’ co-op galleries and open studios. Last week we looked at building lobbies, architecture firms, libraries and DIY spaces. So, yes, there are respectable non-traditional settings. In this post we look at more options.

The By-Appointment or Apartment Gallery

Private dealers are not new. Some once had commercial space but now work out of their homes or a small office; others simply prefer not having to be at a gallery for set hours each day. But I’m not talking about them. By-appointment galleries are different, typically located in private homes, lofts or apartments and run by people who have other jobs but wish to exhibit work they’re passionate about. (Plus they get to live with the work.) 
.

. Andrea Callard and Karen Cantrell  maintain the by-appointment space, Drawer 158, in the Tribeca loft of one of the partners. I learned of it when my friends David Headley and Darra Keaton had a show there in 2009. In addition to the gallery, Callard and Cantrell have curated a show of Headley’s large-scale paintings for the Citicorp atrium at 153 East 53rd Street, up now and running through the end of February (pics and info in Part 1).

. Artist Chris Ashley runs Some Walls, a curatorial and writing project, out of his home in Oakland, California. International in scope, the project mounts six exhibitions a year accompanied with an essay by Ashley.

"I'm surprised there aren't more Some Walls in the world," says Ashley.  "The smaller-venue project can be likened to house concerts; that's something widely accepted in the music world.  The one thing I think this project needs to carry weight is that it has to be written about; that's why I write an essay for each exhibition."

Chelsea gallerist Zach Feuer started out with an apartment gallery while still an art student at Boston's Museum School. You may not be interested in a career as a gallerist, but the by-appointment or apartment gallery can be a way to show your work and that of a select group of colleagues, to create dialogue and community. Ashley again:  "There are many small things artists can do to participate and contribute. I feel that as long as they're done with integrity with a genuine focus on the art, that there is a real critical and conceptual stance, then showing with small projects can have critical authority and lasting meaning. That's really important for a serious artist." 

Chicagoist.com raises and answers some legal questions about apartment galleries; the article may be specific to the Windy City, but the issues raised are worth investigating if you're thinking about starting or showing in such a venue.

Over to you: Have you shown in a by-appointment gallery space? What was your experience?

By appointment

Above: David Headley paintings at Drawer 158, Tribeca

Below: Douglas Witmer sculptures Some Walls, located in the Oakland home of artist Chris Ashley

Photo from the Some Walls website

Flat Files

There are some terrific venues in this category. Three I can name off the top of my head are Pierogi in Willimsburg, Brooklyn, founded and run by Joe Amreihn, a practicing artist; Kentler International Drawing Space in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a non-profit exhibition space founded by artists Florence Neal and Scott Pfaffman, which has extensive flat files; and the Boston Drawing Project, administered and curated by Joseph Carroll within his Carroll and Sons Gallery in Boston’s South End (disclaimer: I have work in this file). Flatfile Galleries in Chicago had expanded to wallspace exhibitions before closing its doors in 2009 after nine years in business.

There are different criteria for being included in a gallery's flat file, but typically the roster of included artists is far larger than the number who will show on the gallery walls. Still, inclusion in the file can be a good way to be part of something. Work in these files is looked at by curators, consultants, collectors. Many of the works are inexpensive, which means that even artists can purchase work. Only a very small percentage of the artists in these files are given prominent positioning, so unless you do your own marketing, it’s hard to stand out among 500 other artists. This is where the great flat file in cyberspace—your website or blog—may help you draw attention to your work in the physical space of a gallery flat file.

Sometimes the work finds its way out of the files an onto the walls. Carroll has mounted a show of selections from the Drawing Project; Pierogi has a regular program and takes the work to art fairs as well (and to connect the dots, Pocket Utopia presented a show of work from the Pierogi Flat Files); Kentler had a curated show, Degrees of Density, that traveled to venues around the country.
Over to you: Who has work in a gallery flat file? What have your experiences been?

The exterior of Pierogi, Brooklyn, located in what was once, you guessed it, a dumpling factory. Internet photo

Below: Pierogi took part in the Seven fair in Miami in December. The large painting, foreground, is by Ati Maier

The Kentler Drawing Space organized Degrees of Density, a traveling show of work from its flat files, shown here at the Illges Gallery of Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia. Photo from the gallery website

The space housing the flat files of the Boston Drawing Project, housed within Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston

The Storage Locker Exhibition

Last week  reader Randall Anderson mentioned a number of venues in which he had shown "self-initiated" projects: an empty building (in which he illuminated his work with his automobile headlights), a public park in Toronto and, my favorite, Manhattan Mini Storage in Chelsea, right in the gallery district. Anderson's show took place from August 29 to September 26, 2009.  He sent interested viewers the lock combination so that they could visit at their convenience. 

Interestingly, I'd had several conversations in 2008, just after the economy crashed, with dealers who were considering alternatives to their bricks-and-mortar spaces. One was thinking about giving up his gallery space in favor of a cyber presence (several dealers have since done exactly this); the twist was that he would keep work in a nearby storage locker.  "My clients will think it's an adventure," he said.

I wonder: What would happen if several artists organized a "Storage Locker Show"--or a more ambitious "Art Fair"? 

Over to you: Has anyone else shown in a storage locker? If so, what advice would you offer to anyone thinking of doing the same?

Above and below: The site of Randall Anderson's storage locker show in Chelsea in 2009. Photos from Anderson's website



Curated Online Projects

I know of two online curatorial projects: Minus Space, focused on reductive work, and Geoform, on abstract geometric art. Both projects, international in scope, have a physical presence as well. Minus Space founders Matthew Deleget and Rossana Martinez have created an open-on-the-weekends (and by-appointment) gallery in Brooklyn.  Geoform's editor, Julie Karabenick, has curated shows in New York City and Philadelphia. Additionally, Karabenick has conducted extensive interviews, posted on the website, with many of the represented artists (disclaimer: I'm one of them). I have included the interview in a catalog of my work, and other artists have done the same.

Above: A page capture from the Geoform website
.

Below: composite image from Order(ed), a group show or Geoform artists curated by the site's founder and editor, Julie Karabenick, at Gallery Siano, Philadelphia, in 2008
 Geoform photos
.

Views of the physical Minus Space

Above: the Brooklyn gallery space, with work by Gilbert Hsaio, Karen Schifano and Michelle Grabner

Below: Founder Matthew Deleget with a selection of books by and about the Minus Space artists

With dedication and a huge commitment of time, you could create something similar to what any and all of the artists/entrepreneurs have done here.  Should you not wish to be so consumed, consider the occasional curated post on your blog. I’ve done that just for the pleasure of bringing together artists whose work I like under a thematic umbrella.  My Cloth? Not, from last year, is one such post. Spring Greens, posted at the Vernal Equinox, is another; and My New Best Friends is yet another. And, sure, I include my own work in the posts. Just recently Pam Farrell posted a curated post on Pink, the opening image of which is posted below.
Over to you. Who has work on an online curatorial project? Who's maintaining a blog that features curated posts?

Art blogs give you the opportunity to show your work, curate online exhibitions, or provide an online "catalog" to a bricks-and-mortar show--or even a tour of a show you're in, which I did recently with Plane Speaking. Above, the opener from Pam Farrell's curated post, Pink

.

Bottom line: You have options, lots of options, to show your work. And if you can't find something that's right for you, do it yourself. Additional comments and ideas welcome.

If you have found this or other Marketing Mondays posts useful, please consider supporting this blog with a donation. A PayPal Donate button is located on the Sidebar at right. Thanks.

It's a Plane!

.

Installation view of Plane Speaking. This is what you see when you walk into the gallery and look toward your left

 Clockwise from left: Don Voisine, Reed Danziger, Joanne Mattera, Don Christensen; foreground, Tilman

All images mine unless otherwise noted

Plane Speaking, up through February 12 at McKenzie Fine Art, is a 13-artist show that examines the use of planarity in abstraction. Valerie McKenzie curated the show, the fourth in a series of January exhibitions at her gallery that focuses on one particular aspect of abstraction. I’m one of the exhibiting artists so I wouldn’t presume to review it, but as a participant I’d like to show you around. I took a lot of pictures, many of which I’ve posted here and below.

Don Voisine, Defarge, 2010, oil on wood, 24 x 20 inches

Image via McKenzie Fine Art website

As is often the case, once an idea gets posited, it seems to be everywhere. I love when that happens. As I’ve been making my rounds, I’m seeing a lot of planar abstraction. There’s planarity that remains rigorously aligned with the two-dimensional surface, some that creates the illusion of pictorial depth, some that extends from the picture plane into three-dimensional space, and some fully dimensional. This report will continue into next week with work by Steven Alexander (one of the artists in this show) and Taro Suzuki, both at the Heidi Cho Gallery; Sven Lukin at Gary Snyder Project Space;  Richard Bottwin at OK Harris; Tatjana Busch at 532 Gallery Thomas Jaekel;  Don Dudley at I-20 and others. Let's begin.

Installation view as you turn slightly to your right. Foreground, Tilman sculpture; clockwise from left: Brent Hallard, Dannielle Tegeder, Ion Zupcu, Kim MacConnel

Kim MacConnel, 11 Bunny, 2010, enamel on wood, 18 x 18 inches

Image via McKenzie Fine Art website

Tilman, detail view of New York Slant, 2010, acrylic on MDF, 36 x 100 x 36 inches

Closer view of the right corner: Hallard, Tegeder, Zupcu

Dannielle Tegeder, Rust Conductor Plan with Sound Frictions and Chroma-Construction, 2008; gouache, ink, colored pencil, graphpite and pastel on paper, 39.5 x 27.5 inches

Image via McKenzie Fine Art website

Ion Zupcu, November 11, 2009, #2, 2009, silver gelatin print, 15x15 inches

Image via McKenzie Fine Art website

Brent Hallard,  Nick of Red and Nick of Yellow, each 2010, acrylic on aluminum, 13 x 16.5 inches

Swinging around into the far corner, clockwise from left: Danziger, Mattera, Christensen; Tilman in foreground

Danziger, Mattera, Christensen (with a little peek of Sara Eichner's painting, far left)

Don Christensen, Timmy's Dilemma, 2010, acrylic on wood, wire, clamps; 62 x 32 x 24 inches

There's an exquisite tug of war between the magenta element that rises from the flat surface, which is painted to suggest a faceted diamond, and the actual dimensionality of the sculpture. (Can you  tell that the painting surface is the top of a table?)

An installation of six paintings from my ongoing Silk Road series

Below: Silk Road 148, 2010, encaustic on panel, 12 x 12 inches

Reed Danziger, Untitled, 2009, oil, pencil, pigment, shellac on paper on wood; 32 x 46 inches

This corner of the gallery, with work by Steven Alexander and Sara Eichner,  is not visible from the entrance

Steven Alexander,  Mother Tongue #8, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18 inches

Two from Sara Eichner

Above: Green Hexagons, 2009, oil and pencil on panel, 15 x 15 inches; image via the McKenzie Fine Art website

Below: Hexagon Intersection (Tan on Yellow), 2008, oil and pencil on paper, 15 x 25.75 inches

With Eichner's work to your back, this is the view looking toward the entrance

Below: the installation view to the right of the door

From right:  Heather Hutchison, Tilman, Karen Schifano, Don Voisine; Tilman sculpture, foreground

Heather Hutchison, True Fullness, 10.5 x 10.75 x 4.25 inches; and Resurrection,  12.25 x 11.5 x 2.5 inches; both 2010, enamel on acrylic sheet

Angled view of Hutchison's True Fullness

Angled view of Tilman's Stack, 2010, lacquer on MDF board, 16.5 x 12/75 x 3.25 inches

Karen Schifano,  New House, 2008, oil on canvas, 20 x 30 inches

Below: Schifano with her rectilinear backpack

For more images and a gallery essay, click here.

I'll have more planar work to show you next week.

Yeah, Right

“When we say ‘take up our arms,’ we are talking about our vote.”

She'll also tell you she has a good deal on a bridge in Lower Manhattan.

Marketing Mondays: "Where Can I Show?" Part 1

These are the kinds of queries that readers of this blog have sent in over recent months: 

. "Is it career suicide to show in a coffee shop?"

. "What non-gallery settings are OK to show in?"

. “I need to show. What are my options?” 

David Headley large-scale triptych in the atrium of the 153 East 53rd Street Building, New York City, up through the end of February

I'm following up on last week's post on Empowerment. Thanks to the artists who responded with really great comments and suggestions. Let's see if we can keep the converstion going here.

Artists want to exhibit their work. Until or if you get wallspace in a commercial gallery—and let's acknowledge that not every artist necessarily aspires to commercial representation—the answers here are worth exploring. In previous posts I have talked about open studios, co-op galleries, academic galleries in a two-part post here and here, all good, and the dreaded vanity galleries, which are not good, not good at all.  In this two-part post let’s consider some other venues. 

Restaurants and Coffee Shops

I’m not a fan of showing in these places. Coffee shops? Your work, especially work on paper, will come back reeking of of caffé—a lovely aroma in the morning, but not so much when it has permeated your work. Restaurants?  I fine with having my work in a restaurant if it has been purchased to be part of the complement of architecture, furnishing and art (OK, to go with the décor).  Same with commissions. But I don’t think exhibiting is a good option. The art is not the reason people are there; no matter how good it is, it’s going to be subservient to the food. And more to the point: No one is there to sell the art.

Over to you: Who has had a good experience with these venues? Have you had sales? Has the visibility led to a better opportunity? Or conversely, has it not been a good experience?
.

Design or Architecture Firms

This is a better fit. The people coming into the space are there to design or commission buildings, homes and renovations. Here, art is a more visible statement about how esthetic and utilitarian elements unite to form a habitable space. Bonus if the space is regularly used for exhibitions, has dedicated lighting, and holds openings.
Over to you: Have you shown in such venues? Your experiences?

Sarah Hinckley is an artist whose work I like immensely. I first saw her paintings at Sears Peyton, a commercial gallery in Chelsea, but here it's a 2010 solo at Steven Harris/Rees Roberts, a design firm in New York City. Hinckley shows widely at galleries around the country, as her resume indicates

Libraries

Even when art is not the primary concern, there's a gravitas to a library setting. Often there's space for exhibiting work. Larger venues may even have bonafide galleries--and the largest, actual gallery directors. Here's an example: The Flinn Gallery at the Greenwich Public Library, in Greenwich Connecticut, with a curator and exhibition space capable of hosting more than one show at a time.
Over to you: Have you shown in a library? Your experiences?

 The Greenwich Public Library (image from the library website) and sculpture, below, by Kim Bernard from a current exhibition (photo courtesy of Art in the Studio blog)

Residential Building Lobbies and Corporate Atriums

Corporations typically install in their lobbies artwork which has been purchased specifically for the spaces, or installed as the result of a corporate curatorial program. Ad hoc showing, then--"i.e. "May I show my work in your lobby?"--is not usually an option. 

Not everyone gets a banner to go with their atrium show. Well, not everyone gets an atrium show; this was curated by a duo of private dealers, Andrea Callard and Karen J. Cantrell, whose by-appointment gallery I'll mention next post)

David Headley banner above, at 153 East 53rd Street, aka the Citicorp Building, and another installation view, below. Bonus: the atrium is open 7:00 a.m. to midnight
.

Residential lobbies, on the other hand, may offer great opportunities, particularly if you live in the building or know someone who does. A personal experience: When I was president of my co-op, a modernist building in Chelsea, I initiated an exhibition program that drew work from friends and from my own studio to display on a marble wall that faced the entrance. Typically I showed one large work at a time.  Several sales came my way as a result of the exposure—a consultant occasionally brought clients into the lobby to show them the work—and having the work there freed up some storage space in my studio. But an equal benefit was to the community. Each installation enhanced the ambience of a building that 150+ residents called home.

Nancy Azara's 24-foor-long Heart Wall, installed in a Madison Avenue lobby as part of a curatorial program, remained on exhibition for close to a year

The program at DM Contemporary includes a changing exhibition in the lobby of work from gallery artists. Here it's a print by Mary Judge behind the concierge desk

In more commercial terms, a gallery I work with, DM Contemporary in Manhattan, maintains an exhibition program in the lobby of the building where it’s located.  The gallery has a strong presence in the lobby, the artists have visibililty in a gallery-installed show, and the residents get to see great art. Win/win/win.
Over to you: Have you shown in building lobbies? Your experiences?

Do-It-Yourself Spaces

The range of DIY spaces is vast, from an empty storefront to rehabbed office space. The Volta Art Fair, which takes place in March during Armory week in New York City, is not a DIY project, but it's located on one floor of an otherwise empty office building; likewise, other satellite fairs have been locating themselves in empty warehouse spaces around town.  These are good models for an ambitious (and well-funded) artists' project, especially if one of the participants has real estate contacts. On a smaller scale, there was the late, lamented Pocket Utopia  a narrow storefront space in Bushwick, which put on exhibitions, offered residencies, and brought a lot of artists together, the brainchild of artist Austin Thomas.

Two DIY venues

Above: Austin Thomas's Pocklet Utopia in Bushwick (photo via Newsgrist)

Below: Castleton Event Space in Hudson, New York

Installation of prints by Marylyn Dintenfass in the main exhibition space of the Castleton Project and Event Space in Hudson, New York. The show was curated by Lisa Mackie and Peter Mackie, and organized by John Stookey

Below: The Castleton building

.

Last summer I took part in a three-floor show curated exhibition in an enormous renovated building: the Castle Project Event Space, a gallery/workspace in a renovated Oddfellows Hall, in Castleton, New York, about 100 miles up the Hudson. It was unconventional but visually effective, 12 artists showing on three floors and an opening that drew the artists, their friends, some New York dealers, and local residents.
Over to you: Have you shown in DIY venues? Your experiences?
.

If you do it right, DIY projects can offer great opportunities. But they require no small amount of sweat equity. You—or someone—is going to put in a shitload of work to pull it off.  Sales? That depends on the venue. Publicity? Typically that's up to you.

Next week: The By-Appointment Gallery, Flat Files and Curated Online Projects

It's Show Time

Plane Speaking at McKenzie Fine Art, 511 W. 25th Street (2nd Floor), New York City

Opening: Thursday, January 6, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

More info: www.mckenziefineart.com or here

Plane Speaking  will open on January 6 at McKenzie Fine Art in New York City and run through February 12. I'm quoting from the email press release when I tell you: "This is the fourth January group exhibition in a series focusing on aspects of abstraction. In this instance, it is an examination of the use of planarity in painting, sculpture and photography. Work in the exhibition ranges from deceptively simple geometric work that consciously embraces the flatness of the picture plane to those using complex interactions of planar forms to construct the illusion of depth, volume and movement."  Click here for the online press release.  Better still, come on over to the opening tomorrow evening, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Here's a peek at two of my paintings:

 Silk Road 157, above; Silk Road 161

Both 2010, encaustic on panel, 12 x 12 inches

On Saturday, January 8, Baby, It's Cold Outside will open at Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Larchmont, New York. I'll be at that opening, too-- 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Come on in and get warm. These paintings are all at the warm end of the spectrum.  Artists in the show are Cecile Chong, Sally Egbert, Chris Gallagher, Margaret Lanzetta and myself. Hope to see you!

 Baby, It's Cold Outside at Kenise Barnes Fine Art, 1955 Palmer Avenue, Larchmont, New York

Opening: Saturday, January 8, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

More info: www.kbfa.com

Marketing Mondays: Empowerment!

.
Welcome to 2011. What better way to start off a new year of Marketing Mondays--the third year of this series--than to talk about the ways we as artists take control of our careers? No less an authority than Chicago's eminence gris, Paul Klein, writes this is a recent art newsletter:

"I want to see artists empowered. I want to see artists take responsibility for their careers, to not have to rely on the existing paradigm . . . Galleries are fabulous, but they’re not the only option. There are many artworlds and many ways to navigate them. Small apartment galleries, invariably operated by young folks, so enthusiastic they open their homes and their hearts to art-loving strangers, could only exist because the internet enables inexpensive and direct communication."

So this post is for anyone who is not gallery represented. How are you taking matters into your own hands to show and sell your work?  I'm thinking apartment shows, home salons, other kinds of DIY exhibitions, E-bay, blogs, open studios (feel free to include URLs to your projects).

More than just where you show, what advice would you'd give to others who are thinking of working similarly?  And if you're juggling representation or gallery affiliation with your own independent program, tell us how you're faring.

Related post from 2.8.10: Do You Really Need a Gallery?

Over to you.

This just in: Thanks to Katherine Tyrrell, author of the blog Making a Mark, for awarding me her Make Me Think Gong, an acknowledgment of the value of Marketing Mondays to artists and the art community.
"Joanne tackles the really routine issues relating to doing business and marketing your art which affect most artists.  Plus she also covers some aspects which are less routine but useful to know about. I find that she almost always manages to bring a fresh perspective on what might be thought of as the "same old topics"and she often manages to add some small nugget of information which I've not heard before.  She certainly makes me think."  Thanks, Katherine