In the September/October 2014 Issue of Art New England, Ric Kasini Kadour took stock of the current state of contemporary art galleries in New England and profiled a number of galleries doing well in spite of the challenges: Kobalt Gallery in Provincetown, MA; West Branch Gallery in Stowe, VT; Clark Gallery in Lincoln, MA; Yellow Peril in Providence, RI.
State of Affairs: How New England Galleries Make Their Way
by Ric Kasini Kadour
As businesses go, the art gallery is simple. Artist makes art. Gallerist hangs art on wall. Collector sees art and buys it. Everybody is happy.
If only it were that simple.
Imagine a business whose primary focus is the exposition of ideas in the hopes that someone will be so dazzled by them that he or she is willing to spend a small fortune on them. Imagine those ideas coming from a horde of eccentric children whose temperaments and idiosyncrasies become the business’s job to appease. Now imagine that business existing in a society that doesn’t really appreciate abstract ideas. Now you are approaching the reality of the contemporary art gallery.