A special summer issue of Modern Painters, which will be published in installments on ARTINFO this month, surveys the world’s best galleries, across six continents and 36 countries. Throughout the issue you’ll hear from 50 of the most influential gallery owners and directors, discussing their achievements and envies, the artists they have their eye on, and the regional trends affecting this increasingly international market. Below you’ll find Q&As with six gallerists based in the U.S. To see other installments from the special issue, click here.
BALDWIN GALLERY | ASPEN, U.S.
ARTISTS: Jim Hodges, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tony Oursler, Carroll Dunham, Pat Steir
ESTABLISHED: 1994
CONTACT: baldwingallery.com; baldwingallery@baldwingallery.com; +1 970 920 9797
RICHARD EDWARDS, OWNER
How have you generally discovered new artists? Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about?
We tend to work with established artists.
What was your biggest show of the past year?
This past year was our 20th, and we are proud of the wide range of artists and types of work that we exhibited.
What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
Matthew Ritchie’s “Ten Possible Links” at Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, last fall.
What trend do you see happening in your region right now?
With the opening of the new Aspen Art Museum and the continuing concentration of serious collectors in this area, Aspen is becoming a more important venue for contemporary art.
What might you be doing if you weren’t a gallerist?
I was a lawyer living in New York and London who specialized in international litigation and who also collected contemporary art.
Name the last great book you read, art-related or otherwise.
Bad Boy, by Eric Fischl.
If cost were no object, what work of art would you have in your bedroom?
I have a Tom Sachs duct tape Mondrian, and I would not mind a real Mondrian to pair with it.
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IMAGO GALLERIES | PALM DESERT, U.S.
ARTISTS: Vik Muniz, Rachel Lee Hovnanian, William Wegman, Tom Wesselmann, Jennifer Bartlett
ESTABLISHED: 1991
CONTACT: imagogalleries.com; info@imagogalleries.com; +1 760 776 9890
LEISA AUSTIN, OWNER/PRESIDENT/GALLERIST
How did you get your start as a gallerist?
As an art consultant.
How have you generally discovered new artists? Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about?
I’m absolutely loving every single series and work that Rachel Lee Hovnanian creates, from photography and video to installation and neon to sculpture and assemblage. I could eat, drink, and sleep—dream about—her work.
What was your biggest show of the past year?
Hovnanian’s Perfect Baby Showroom [in “Plastic Perfect”] and “Pictures of Cars (After Ed Ruscha),” by Vik Muniz.
What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
Laurie Simmons’s “How We See” [at the Jewish Museum in New York].
What might you be doing if you weren’t a gallerist?
Architecture and design. I love the process of building.
Name the last great book you read, art-related or otherwise.
Paul Ruscha’s Full Moon. I spent 45 days in an RV last summer, and the highlights ranged from ArtCrush in Aspen to a magical night in Winslow, Arizona, with Paul.
If cost were no object, what work of art would you have in your bedroom?
Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Monkey. No question! I don’t even have to think about it!
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JESSICA SILVERMAN GALLERY | SAN FRANCISCO, U.S.
ARTISTS: Hugh Scott-Douglas, Ian Wallace, Julian Hoeber, Dashiell Manley, Susanne Winterling ESTABLISHED: 2008
CONTACT:
jessicasilvermangallery.com info@jessicasilvermangallery.com +1 415 255 9508
JESSICA SILVERMAN, OWNER/DIRECTOR
How did you get your start as a gallerist?
My grandparents were serious FLUXUS collectors, and I used to play with the art as a toddler. Then after going to art school, I did a master’s in the curatorial practice program at the California College of the Arts. During the course, I did a residency at the Frankfurt Kunstverein and ran a project space on the side.
How have you generally discovered new artists? Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about?
I recently started representing Nicole Wermers, a German artist based in London who is nominated for the Turner Prize. I loved her work at first sight when I saw it at Frieze London, particularly the way it rethinks everyday objects, and included her in a group show two years ago.
What was your biggest show of the past year?
“Meta Masculin/Féminin,” a solo exhibition by the “god-father of Vancouver photoconceptualism,” Ian Wallace.
What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
Adrian Rosenfeld hosted a wonderful show of Wyatt Kahn at a one-off space in Los Angeles in March.
Name the last great book you read, art-related or otherwise.
Sarah Thornton’s 33 Artists in 3 Acts, a must-read for anyone in the art world.
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REGEN PROJECTS | LOS ANGELES, U.S.
ARTISTS: Lawrence Weiner, Jack Pierson, Liz Larner, Lari Pittman, Elliott Hundley
ESTABLISHED: 1989
CONTACT: regenprojects.com; office@regenprojects.com; +1 310 276 5424
SHAUN CALEY REGEN, PRESIDENT/OWNER
How did you get your start as a gallerist?
I started out as a writer working for publications like Flash Art, Elle, Interview, and Financial Times. I moved to L.A. in 1989 and met Stuart Regen shortly thereafter. He was planning to open a gallery, and we decided to work together, opening the gallery in 1989. He hired me to be his director, and I’ve been in the art business ever since.
How have you generally discovered new artists? Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about?
We have given a number of our artists their first solo gallery shows—Matthew Barney, Toba Khedoori, Catherine Opie—and we have also worked with artists like Elizabeth Peyton or Lizzie Fitch/Ryan Trecartin when they were early in their careers, as well as with many international artists who hadn’t had much exposure on the West Coast: Wolfgang Tillmans, Sergej Jensen, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Gabriel Kuri, Gillian Wearing, Manfred Pernice, John Bock, Willem De Rooij, and more.
What trend do you see happening in your region right now?
It’s exciting to see so many international art people moving to Los Angeles. Artists, collectors, dealers, and writers. It’s apparent that the dialogue is only getting greater and more complex.
Name the last great book you read, art-related or otherwise.
William N. Copley’s Reflection on a Past Life.
If cost were no object, what work of art would you have in your bedroom?
Alighiero Boetti’s painting Stiff Upper Lip.
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SUSANNE VIELMETTER LOS ANGELES PROJECTS | LOS ANGELES, U.S.
ARTISTS: Nicole Eisenman, Charles Gaines, Andrea Bowers, Rodney McMillian, Wangechi Mutu
ESTABLISHED: 2008
CONTACT: vielmetter.com; info@vielmetter.com; +1 310 837 2117
SUSANNE VIELMETTER, OWNER
How did you get your start as a gallerist?
I worked for seven years in a small gallery in Los Angeles and then worked with emerging artists for another year before I leased a tiny storefront space. The money I earned during that year was my start-up money, so my gallery started out very modestly—but financially independent. In the beginning, I did everything myself, from installing to picking up the phone to packing a crate to ship to an art fair.
How have you generally discovered new artists? Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about?
From the beginning, it was important to me that my program be relevant to the cultural reality I saw in Los Angeles—and that meant that I wanted my program to be diverse and to reflect a balance in the number of male and female artists I worked with. Because I had my children very early in life and because I am not from this country, I’ve always operated kind of independently and not as part of a peer group. To me, it made sense to look at artists who I felt had something interesting to say and who were maybe overlooked or outside the mainstream. A new artist to the program whom I am especially excited about is Sadie Benning, whose work we featured at the gallery at the beginning of the year.
What was your biggest show of the past year?
My most ambitious installation was Edgar Arceneaux’s recent solo exhibition, “A Book and a Medal: Disentanglement Equals Homogenous Abstractions.” The exhibition was composed of an extensive site-specific installation which included the presentation of his recent film and took place in the two largest galleries.
What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
The exhibition “From All Sides: Tan- saekhwa on Abstraction” at Blum & Poe last September.
What trend do you see happening in your region right now?
It seems that many New York artists are considering Los Angeles to be a vibrant and stimulating environment to move to for good. It’s no surprise that so many new and established international galleries and other art professionals are following. I think that the discourse among artists in L.A. is often more radical and centered around the ideas of the work, less around career moves and the market. Los Angeles has a long history of this discourse, and it’s very much alive at the art schools here. It permeates the general conversation on every level: at the galleries, in the studios, at the museums, among the critics. I am very excited that more artists from the East Coast and abroad are recognizing this and feel that the art scene here is to be taken seriously.
Name the last great book you read, art-related or otherwise.
The Complete Stories, by Flannery O’Connor—a book that was recommended to me by my youngest daughter.
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KAVI GUPTA | CHICAGO, U.S.
ARTISTS: Glenn Kaino, Mickalene Thomas, Jessica Stockholder, Tony Tasset, Roxy Paine
ESTABLISHED: 2000
INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS: Berlin, Germany
CONTACT: kavigupta.com; info@kavigupta.com; +1 312 432 0708
KAVI GUPTA, OWNER/DIRECTOR
How did you get your start as a gallerist?
I started as a collector following in my family’s interest in contemporary Asian art; however, after continuing my studies in art history and marrying my wife, who is an art historian and contemporary curator, it became clear to me that my passion for building the careers of artists was where my future lay.
How have you generally discovered new artists? Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about?
This is what our gallery is known for, and we pride ourselves on this. We are looking for artists all over the globe and attend exhibitions continually. We have just debuted the work of Indian contemporary artist Manish Nai in one of our Chicago galleries, and we are extremely excited about his work, which mixes a very formal, Postminimal practice with strong narratives tied to the culture of the country.
What was your biggest show of the past year?
“Mickalene Thomas: I was born to do great things.” This extremely ambitious exhibition, which was two years in the making, was honored to win the AICA award for best exhibition in a commercial space nationally.
What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
Roxy Paine’s exhibition debuting his wooden diorama works at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York.
What trend do you see happening in your region right now?
There is a strong emphasis on looking at artists producing with a collaborative or social practice in the Midwest of the United States. Places such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago—places formerly on the fringe but now producing artists with a very strong narrative and view on the human condition, removed from commercial complications that exist for artists working in larger U.S. cities.
What might you be doing if you weren’t a gallerist?
Running an artist residency or foundation, or restoring and collecting prewar and postwar European rare automobiles.
