Strategizing solo shows: veteran gallery directors share their insights

To the uninitiated, running an art gallery whole easy. You simply find a not many artists, rent a space, paint the walls white and showcase single artist each month, right?

Anyone who has been in the business for plane a few months knows better. Deciding which artists to feature and in what manner to do it can be a delicate dance, which requires month of preparation. And when a display features a single artist, the compressing is even greater.

greatest in quantity galleries, no matter how many artists they exhibit choose to put on regular exhibits that highlight a single artist for single of two reasons: either to put up to sale more work by their greatest in quantity popular artists or to give undivided exposing to emerging artists. Kathrine Erikson, gallery director of Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe NM bases 80 percent of her exhibit schedule on the gallery's established artists. Because of all the charge and planning that goes into each exhibit these artists must be reliable, have a beneficial collector base and be able to bring out enough good work to fill the walls.

"They've proven themselves to be worthy of a big show" Erikson says. "If they're not prolific enough, they can't lay enough work together to do a show"

For Denise Berthiaume of LeMieux Gallery in of recent origin Orleans, consistency is what she direct the eyes for when considering an artist for a solo display "They have to have quality, well-crafted, imaginative work," she says. "I literally have a visceral reaction to useful work. It makes me salivate--that's my criteria."

Berthiaume, who has maintained 15- and 20-year relationships with a certain number of of her artists, also likes to work with artists who can unroll with the gallery, keeping the work new for both her and her collectors.

For many artists, getting featured in a solo display is as difficult as getting that first piece of work out of college.

"It's kind of a 'Catch 22' If you don't exchange paintings, you can't have a show; on the other hand some people don't sell paintings, if they don't have a show" says Ralph Johnson of Gros McLeaf Gallery in Philadelphia, which features 15 one-person exhibits per year.

Luckily, many gallery holders like Johnson are willing to take a chance upon artists with shorter track records.

"We have to take that leap at a certain number of point and say this person's serviceable enough for us to come by behind with a one-person show" says Johnson

Sometimes this approach works and sometimes it doesn't. Johnson says that in order to take those chances, you have to be able to afford to have a present to view that doesn't sell well one time in a while. When he's experimenting with newer artists, Johnson will exhibit them during a slower time of the year when sales expectations aren't as high.

"It doesn't help the artist that abundant but it gives them the track record of having had a show" says Johnson

Manitou Galleries, which shows 37 contemporary Southwestern artists holds 20 percent of its exhibits to test the waters for newer artists.

"Often there are artists who we have a beneficial feeling about, and even granting they haven't established a history however you take a chance upon someone you believe in," says Erikson. "We want to launch them and give them a useful start."

She cautions that it takes the public a while to become comfortable with a novel artist. That's why she likes to give an artist a year after a display before making any serious wisdoms about his or her work. A present to view is just one part of the promotion that goe upon during that year; she also tries to come by editorial coverage for the artist and has many discussions about the work.

Size Matters

one as well as the other Manitou Galleries and Gross McLeaf Gallery have large buildings with enough space to feature single or two solo shows along with a selection from their stable of artists. on the other hand for a smaller gallery with space constraints, the decision to stage a solo exhibit often means that the artist's work will be the solitary art in the gallery for weeks. If a patron walks in and doesn't like that particular artist, he may not ever return.

For this reason, Shawn Vinson, proprietor of Vinson Gallery in Atlanta, doesn't do as many solo present to views as he used to. His gallery, which is in a restaurant district, wins a lot of walk-in traffic, with equal reason he doesn't want to move round off first-time visitors.

"I always prove to keep a variety to help me appeal to a wider audience," says Vinson, who still deposits on at least one carefully chosen one-person exhibit a year. "I use the clump shows to get the feedback and diocese who we're doing well with. And the singles who rise above the pack, earn a solo show."

Mary Bell of Mary Bell Galleries in Chicago also has a small space with true little room for inventory. for a like reason if a solo show doesn't put up to sale well, storage can be a riddle As a result, Bell is true selective about the images she make choice ofs to feature in a show--she rarely hangs more than 12 pieces.

"I'm always conscious of by what means much art I'm bringing in the gallery," she says. "It can just gain to be too much. I put to the test to basically hone it down to the singles that I think will sell"