GALLERIES TEST NEW COVID BUSINESS MODELS, PART II

The Covid Pandemic has challenged New York's galleries, who depend on an often highly personal interaction between artist, dealer and buyer.

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Even the most established galleries are taking the plunge, seeking new ways to connect with their buyers as well as the general public.

Gagosian, which maintains two galleries in Chelsea and another in the heart of the Silk Stocking District on Madison Avenue (as well as a posh bookstore nearby), has a full internet marketing strategy to target potential upscale buyers. One recent example of how this plays out was seen in their recent mini-show of a major piece by the fashionable Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami.

The Murakami show was only open for a week, December 9 – 15 (much shorter than the

usual 4-week duration of an art exhibition) and only consisted of a single piece: Cherry Blossoms and Pandas, completed in early 2020. The price tag, $450,000 discouraged no one, and the piece sold long before the show ended. It measured just under 40” by 40”, meaning that the work cost more than $280 per square inch. The lesson here? Promotion is good for creating demand.

On a slightly reduced scale, a major show at Sikkema Jenkins, of new works by the painter Louis Fratino, was announced with a flurry of on-line publicity. It was also shrowded in announcements that conveyed the exclusivity of this event. The show, entitled Morning, ran from October 9 to November 14, displaying over 20 works. Although the gallery was open, attendance was strictly limited, and those wishing to see the show were urged to book a time slot on line, “as [only] a limited number of visitors are allowed inside at any given time.”

The consolation for those who limited their gallery-hopping as the Covid pandemic swept through the arts community was the gallery’s creation of a virtual catalogue, so fans as well as potential buyers could see the work without risking infection. The cost of designing and producing this elegant virtual booklet was well justified: Fratino’s paintings start at $10,000 and move sharply up from there.

Further down the art price scale is the stable of artists showing at Atlantic Gallery. But like the most elegant show spaces mentioned above, the Atlantic has significantly reduced hours and days for in-person viewing, in recent shows only opening for 3 days a week, rather than the usual six days. Face masks are mandatory both in the building (which houses a dozen show spaces), as well as the Atlantic Gallery itself. Art groupies are urged to make an appointment on line. But unlike Gagosian or Sikkema Jenkins, the Atlantic does not produce a slick catalogue, so buyers would have to show up in the brick-and-mortar space to view (and hopefully purchase) art.

In a post-Covid future, it could well be that brick-and-mortar galleries will no longer be as much of a necessity to facilitate the display and sale of art. Gallery owners may welcome this, having seen real estate costs for space in fashionable neighborhoods skyrocket in the ten years prior to the lockdowns prompted by Covid 19.

However, the very personal nature of the way art is created and sold means that the need for a brick-and-mortar presence will still be a necessity for a fully functioning art market. The internet does have its limits. Images and descriptions flickering on a computer screen may be a useful adjunct in the process of bringing artworks to a targeted audience. But for art lovers, including the wealthiest whose purchasing power drives the art market, the ability to physically interact with art and artist in a brick-and-mortar gallery remains a vital aspect of what makes it such a pleasurable relationship.

Josh Martin