Art amateurs and veterans work under the same weight. While amateurs are pressured to find outlets that will give them new exposure, older artists fight against a similar type of current in which they have an increasing standard to prove themselves amongst an onslaught of artists vying for limited amount of workspace and little to no compensation. Such conditions often place challenges on exhibitors on what to showcase as well. In a place like New York City, where many travel to succeed in art from all over the world, and with limited space on any given wall, the roster of artists, like a boa constrictor, squeezes more space out of artists’ and gallery directors’ opportunities.

“We’re trying to reverse trends,” said Carla Goldberg, director of Skylight Gallery NYC in Manhattan. “While it’s important for new artists to have their spaces to grow and learn, we are here for mid-career and established artists, whose work have grown and continue to get better over time despite some opinions to the contrary.”

Citing a similar trend for older artists as with younger ones, Goldberg illustrates the struggle that artists and art galleries face in just existing, “Older artists are seen as worthless sometimes, in haste to make room for newer ones. This is a tough business to make money in; all the costs involved and the shows could end up being a total bust.”

Goldberg, in a chorus with practically every art gallery director or operator, highlights the necessity for the artist to also be a business person, and think economically. Minimizing risk, keeping costs down, and marketing are just as important as the work itself.

Gazdik and the Mars Gallery used to show artists outside the Chicago area. In the early ’90s, however, she decided to make the focus more on local artists after the market got too “hot” for outside pieces. An important business facet is to know your customers, Gazdik identified the soaring demand and similarly soaring prices outpacing her customers budgets. Bigger prices can mean bigger profits, but a sale has to be made first.

“We carry mostly local artists, not terribly expensive, once again, it’s knowing what your customers are looking for,” Gazdik said.

Every owner and gallery operator knows they work under the same rules, the same capitalist system of prices, supply, and demand.  Yet, one thing that makes this world so unique, is the sense of coexistence and support galleries have amongst each other, and the concept of competition, many say, doesn’t apply traditionally.

The lack of adversarial attitudes in the end helps everyone: the art galleries, the artists, and art fans around the world. This isn’t meant to stir up elitism against the larger exhibitions, more along the lines of respecting and recognizing one’s place in the art world. Larger venues and museums have their place too as well as their struggles.

“Recall how Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and many artists in the Renaissance period were commissioned by the religious – their legacies being the majority of Christian art found in the world’s major art galleries,” David Payne, Visitors Officer of Southwark Cathedral in London, said.

Southwark is currently exhibiting a large metal depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Die Harder by sculptor David Mach. Payne notes that sometimes a lot of money is needed to accomplish works of larger scale and ambition, also portraying the uniqueness in the purpose of his space. “Cathedrals, as successors of monastic/religious communities, have historically always been active in commissioning the arts; calligraphy, music, sculpture, painting and performance.” Such a principle extends to every art space.

“Every gallery does something different or serves a different purpose, it simply wouldn’t be fair to compare what I do to a museum or large gallery, or even another small gallery like mine,” said Gazdik. “Different galleries have different goals.”

Mulley states that, while in theory he is in competition with larger galleries and other art venues, it really isn’t the same, and what competition is there, doesn’t bother him.

“I don’t really feel their competition, yeah; to some extent it’s true. It’s more bothersome that media attention doesn’t trickle down to smaller venues a lot. I just wish they’d acknowledge this more.”

For business nowadays, one has to have something to bring people in. Galleries often host music to accompany artists’ exhibits and usually have complementary beverages and food. The party sets the tone for an evening of culture and keeps art accessible, both in price and palate to the people.

“I love, when artists sell their work. I have very little problems in displaying anyone, because the work will speak to someone given the right conditions, one of them is time,” Mulley said.

His approach on what he exhibits can be very instinctual and he projects a concept that truly builds new artists. An example of this can be derived from an anecdote that Mulley recalls where a man bought three distinctive unique pieces.

“I don’t know, I think he was drunk, it was late. He bought three separate pieces, and I don’t know how one links three different ideas like that together, in that sense, and says ‘I got to have these,'” he laughs, “but another thing is that I can’t let my opinion get in the way, if I did, those pieces may not have been sold, and nobody wins there.”

Despite the growing pains of existence in a downtrodden economy, nobody has any plans of slowing down. College Street will be celebrating its 15-year anniversary in October. Mars Gallery will soon have a quarter century in exhibiting art, and Skylight and Southwark are continuing to strategize and exhibit artists. For independent gallery operators, a sense of pride radiates from the idea that they are in fact independent, having found value in not only the destination, but the drive as well.

“Well, I guess there’s a little vanity,” Mulley said. “I’ve been very fortunate, I am self-employed, and I self-promote. I like not working for someone else.”

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