|
|
Re: How can art <u>work</u> for artists?
Posted:
Feb 9, 2004 12:18 PM
|
|
sam and lauren,
i've done the free storefront thing. in different ways, several times. the key, for me, was to have a relationship with someone. to start one. there's lots of empty spaces out there. in northeast especially. try the building across the street from the burger king on central. talk to the folks at artco gallery to see if the landlord is good people. go to the landlord (who has LOTS of empty space.) propose the show idea. one month for $200 say (they love that they're getting paid SOMETHING.) and tell them in return for reduced rent you will set up something so that the landlord can try to rent space to artists: a table with leaflets advertising space? when you approach the landlord, act like a business person: give them a resume' and references. they think in terms of money, get them thinking in terms of future benefits for themselves and their building.
one time i had a gallery space for 6 months for free. over two thousand sguare feet of primo space, tho in a bad neighborhood. they needed me to start attracting folks to the building, to put them on the map. they also wanted to show to their funders what good folks they were. and somewhere in there i think they might have been trying to get funding for artists (they were a neighborhood non-profit, but never let me know what they were up to). so i ran the space until they were ready to use it.
also, last year i approached artspace about using their empty spaces for shows by established arts groups (like nemaa or the maep or artrujillo or artjones or rogue buddha... anyone with a track record). we were in talks, but they dropped the ball on me. maybe i'll check back in with them.
one of the classics is to do hit and run art. find a building with an artist in it. have a show on saturday night. put it up saturday afternoon, take it down sunday morning. clean like mad. nobody in management needs to know. remember, 90% of the folks that see your art come opening night. why bother with the other 10%? and why bother with trying to look established enough to get the star trib or city pages to review you. ain't gonna happen. and when it does, it's pretty much inconsequential. you get some strokes from a few folks, but not much more. don't worry about the press. once i did an erotic art show in my space (1500 square feet) and the halls of my building. didn't tell the corporation that owned the building. 1000 folks showed up opening night. people looked at art in my space and the party went up and down the hall. management never found out. it was a good show... and the community loved the event...
one time bruce tapola (and this might be urban legend, i wasn't there) created an art exhibit in a u haul truck, lighting and all. parked it at an opening at the walker, ushered folks into his show as they were about to go inside the art center. stayed til the cops came. left, drove around the block for a while, then drove back and parked in front of the walker again. cops had to come back to get him to leave.
last time i was in paris i saw ultra small galleries. very cool. long, narrow closet style galleries that use the sidewalk or hall as their party space. they were poping up everywhere. then theyed disappear.
sean smuda has a gallery in the window of the roberts shoe store at chicago and lake. the opening occurs upstairs in his studio. why not make a deal with someone else out there that wants the publicity. there's alot of window space in the twin cities.
what about the sides of buildings? we have a very important election coming up, why not erect a political show outside this summer?
or what about the twin cities artist front? hit and run political art! very important, i think. have way between gallery shows and happenings.
speaking of which, we used to do happenings back in the sixties. the temporality of them was a basis for their beauty. i say "bring'em back!"
again, remember than the vast majority of folks come to any show opening night. that knowledge freed up my thinking.
finally, there's the old standby of renting a store as a co-op gallery. lots of folks have done it over the years in one form or another. most alternative galleries are, in some sense, co-operative. the alternative art history of the twins is litered with them: the space, fort mango, a-z, rosalux, no-name, art jones, rifle sport, wilenski arts, skunk house, etc, etc. whether founded around a group or a few individuals, it almost always took a group to keep them going.
if you're interested in building an ongoing audience and making money from art, that's an entirely different story. then you gotta march to a whole different drummer.
the only thing i can add is that i come from a generation that for various reasons enjoyed drawing outside the lines. nodays art is often about academia and career. which squares things up a bunch. i encourage all to get creative and whacky again. art world needs it bad.
best,
douglas
|
|
