Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
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Also this issue: Amy Wynn Pastor Girl, Power House of Style Home, Again Dirty Pitchers |
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May 9-15, 2002
cover story
Get Hooked
 Illustration By: Don Haring Jr. |
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There comes a time when one’s decorating tastes change, usually for the better. So say you’re past the van Gogh Starry Night poster phase of your life. You’d like something less tacky -- or at least something that doesn’t require tacks. You’d like some original art, maybe support some living artists -- perhaps even some local ones. Where do you start?
Molly Dougherty, director of the Galleries at Moore College of Art + Design, says that there are certainly local galleries where you can plunk down "$1,000 to $5,000, which is great if you're a Center City lawyer and want to decorate your Shore house -- but if you're just out of college and have loans to pay, etc., then maybe the place to look are student exhibitions."
It is just this range of options that lets Philadelphia art lovers get a good deal. Inexpensive art doesn't necessarily have to be run-of-the-mill or of low quality; there's more than just couch-sized paintings of a sunset in your tax bracket. Cheap art -- let's call it "affordable," shall we? -- can be innovative, fun, daring and of a quality on par with that at blue-chip galleries. You just need to know where to look -- and what to look for.
Luckily there are some people out there willing to help.
"I think a lot of people really, really want to have art in their houses, but don't have the confidence for one reason or another to make the leap to actually buy something," says Shelley Spector, owner of Spector gallery at Fifth and Bainbridge streets -- one of several locals that has adopted a more liberal philosophy about art's availability to the public.
Spector thinks that the apprehension has to do with the fact that much contemporary art shown in galleries these days is "esoteric," not exactly approachable either in concept or execution. "People tend to veer toward what's safe," she says.
Which is why, she believes, many people simply default to the artistic whims of Ikea or other stores where they might be shopping to decorate other parts of their home. It's well-presented, framed and sold by a place that sells other things they like. It's easy.
Dougherty agrees, saying, "People spend $100 on a framed poster from the mall when they could have an original piece of art for the same or less."
There's the possibility, too, that the art itself might not be the problem at all: "There's definitely a fear of art, but maybe not so much of art, but of art spaces," says Spector. An artist herself, she says that even when she goes into some galleries she gets "freaked out" by the "cold, austere, intimidating" feeling they emit. She thinks that the way art is marketed is often the culprit of its reputation, "the idea of art as a money-making venture" rather than a source of personal enjoyment.
It is essentially these beliefs that have brought about a bit of a revolt among those who felt as if they were stagnating in their little insulated art worlds. Collectives and cooperative galleries like Space 1026, Vox Populi, Third Street Gallery and Artists' House have gained both critical and popular success by simply taking back the idea of a gallery and returning it to the artists. "Artists who open galleries are definitely sensitive to these issues," says Spector. When Spector began her venture, and word spread about her art-for-everybody credo, "the place filled up with artists [wanting to show at the gallery], which made me realize that artists want it this way too."
Both nationally and locally, artists have been seeing the value in a more democratic approach to creating and selling art. Rock 'n' roll-minded Brooklyn artist Stephen Keene came to Moore College in 1997 and knocked out more than 1,000 paintings for lucky locals who snatched them up for $5 or less. Since 1998, Dissentia Curatorial Services (a.k.a. discontents Nick Cassway and Chris Macan-Wilson) has been bringing novice-friendly events to Philadelphians, including its art-from-a-truck enterprise art2U and the kleptomaniac's dream "Steal This Show."
But often, galleries still need to be the middle man in the art-to-the-people game, and even the higher-end galleries are trying to reach out. Christine Pfister, of Pentimenti Gallery in Old City, says that she gets a lot of first-time art buyers, and most are apprehensive about the process. "People have a concern about art in general, that they have to have studied art in order to understand it," she says. "That is true, but you can also learn -- and it can totally be based on your passion for it." Her advice for first-timers? "I tell them that they need to look at a lot of work and find a direction, a medium, subject, whatever, that they like and go with it. I always say that the eye is a muscle and you need to train it."
Rene Micheli of Snyderman Gallery says that something as simple as explaining an artist’s technique can make a difference. “Listening to someone wondering aloud how something was made, I said that it was actually all hand-strung and handmade from fibers, and [the visitor] was like, ‘Wow, really?’ It makes people really aware and appreciative.”
Most gallery owners agree that it helps to develop a good relationship with someone who carries artwork that appeals to you, someone that you trust, someone whose aesthetic taste coincides for the most part with your own.
“It’s also a matter of the right piece for the right place,” says Pfister. In a very feng shui sort of way, many gallery owners might be willing to work with you during the installation of your new acquisition, look at it in your home with you and help you choose an appropriate space for it. And as for its “maintenance” outside an artist’s studio or a gallery wall, well, ask for help with that too: Just like anything you purchase for your home, you want it to have a long life of looking good.
Sometimes gallery folks take this aspect of the buying process very seriously -- you don’t have to know a lot, but you have to know why you like it. If it’s a fleeting impression like “it’s pretty,” then there’s a danger of eventual boredom. What if your sense of “pretty” changes next week? Art is a little expensive to be purchased on a whim. If you have figured out a budget for artwork and can afford a bigger investment, some galleries like Snyderman and Schmidt/Dean, depending on the circumstances, might allow you to do installments. Galleries care both about the work and their buyers, and they want to give the art a happy home, and in turn make the home happy with the art.
There are certain types of artwork that are, by nature of their materials and technique, generally more affordable than others. For example, one could focus his or her collection on works on paper, like photography, printmaking and drawings. Textile works, jewelry and ceramics can also be more affordable.
Opportunities for getting art on the cheap in Philadelphia are abundant and year-round.
Perhaps the most low-key event coming up is InLiquid’s “Art for the Cash Poor” and its accompanying block party on June 1, from 2 to 7 p.m. Besides the possibility of walking away with a work from the likes of local artists Robert Asman, Marc Brodzik, Judy Gelles or Sara Lee -- and for $150 or less -- there’s a DJ, Yards beer and food from Old City restaurants, the dance troupe Bald Mermaids and even an after-party at Silk City with local DJs and rock bands. (Orianna Street, between Race and Cherry and Third and Fourth.)
The city also has a surfeit of well-regarded art schools with annual exhibitions at which innovative and skilled students put their work up for sale. The prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts’ annual student and graduate thesis exhibitions offer paintings, sculpture, prints and mixed-media works, ranging in price from $100 to more than $1,000 (May 10-31). The University of the Arts (
www.uarts.edu) has several end-of-school-year exhibitions, including crafts (May 8-15), photography (through May 24) and a general, all-media show (May 22-June 30). Other area art schools that have student exhibitions in all media include Moore, Philadelphia University, University of Pennsylvania, Tyler School of Art and Arcadia University in Glenside.Each fall, the people who make 915 Spring Garden St. and 314 Brown St. their artistic homes open their studios to the public for a weekend. More than 100 artists exhibit and sell their work -- an easy way for you to meet the artists, and buying directly from them is a nice alternative to buying from a gallery (www.915studios.com).
MANNA has an auction every year to benefit its cause of delivering healthy meals to those living with HIV or AIDS. This year it's "A Show of Hands," featuring paintings, sculptures, ceramics and jewelry on May 17 at Moore College (www.mannapa.org).
Besides its year-round print shop, which sells reasonably priced ($1 to $250, although they can go as high as $1,000) lithographs, woodcuts, photographs, etc., The Print Center also has an annual fundraising auction, this year on Nov. 20.
Finally, around the holidays, when everyone's pockets are emptying, lots of galleries have discount sales. Spector comes through with its Red Dot sale: Walk out with something for as little as $10, but never more than $100.
Smart shopping is a work of art in itself.
