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Sovereignty inside the Art Empire
Without stellar contacts, to make it in the gallery circuit, you have to become an aggressive, ruthless bastard, lying to and wounding everyone in your path. Then, once you've maimed everyone and sabotaged all the competition, the gallery directors force you into an assembly line where you simply crank it out and never stray from what the buyers expect. In the process, you inevitably become a phony shark, and everyone you surround yourself with are phonies just like you, who have injured so many people and gotten so far away from themselves that their products are now just some meaningless blurs of nothingness because those embers of passion and sensitivity that initially made them even remotely great are now cold and dead. Such is what happens when art becomes business, and anyone who denies it is either rationalizing or naïve. This is the cost of getting that "big name" everyone dreams about. Why? "Gotta pay the rent," the gallery owners like to say. The catch is, until you have a big name, the galleries won't touch you. And until you get into the galleries, you can't get a big name. What a nightmare. This is why it's important to explore the underground, non-commercial venues which are willing to take a chance on high-risk emerging artists, rather than play it safe with the big sellers. It's always nice to see one of these rogue galleries pop up, because they provide the community with a much-needed alternative to the slick commercial galleries. Recently, Gallery Sovereign opened its doors on Pearl Street in what appears to be the biggest non-commercial art venue to ever grace the east mall, and perhaps the city. The directors are ambitious, they have vision, they're serious, and upwards of 700 visitors came on the opening night. The four owners, Max Reinhardt, Ryan McInnis, Marianne McGrath and Mike Napolitano, decided to launch Gallery Sovereign after seeing a niche for an emerging artist gallery in Boulder. Their aim is to provide an option for both serious art collectors and local artists who are underrepresented in the mainstream galleries. Of the 27 artists now showing, all are in their 20s and 30s, and according to Reinhardt, about 80 percent are debut exhibitors. The work shown is highly varied, with well over 100 pieces including ceramics and bronze sculpture, to photography, oils, acrylics, chalks and wood, hung and staged across 2,000 square feet of floor space and a total of four rooms. Unlike many of the upstart galleries of this sort, Sovereign isn't the typical graffiti lounge for punk art. Since the gallery is run on a pay-per-space basis without a set theme besides "we're not in it for the money," the gallery caters to a diverse clientele, ranging from serious collectors who pride themselves on discovering promising hot new talent, to local art aficionados, and curious passersby. The great thing about Sovereign is that it creates an outlet for local artists who wish to stay true to their own calling rather than conform to the rule. The result is an ability for overlooked experimentalists and traditional artists alike to mature their voices with a public outlet where the private gallery doors have been slammed in their faces. Nicely, Sovereign has an open submissions policy, which will promise equal diversity at coming openings, scheduled for the first of each month. This is simply a long-overdue, refreshing addition to Pearl Street, and the Boulder art scene. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com "Boulder County Arts Celebration and Auction." Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, 303-447-2422, Thursday, June 20. "Chinese Art of the Tang Dynasty from the Sze Hong Collection." Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Pkwy., Denver, 720-865-5000, through Dec. 2003. "Cultural Coatings." Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Pkwy., Denver, 720-865-5000, through June 16. "Denver Comic Art Festival." Heart Studio and Gallery, 4325 W. 41st Ave., Denver, 303-480-1053, through June 21. "Enhancements: Handcrafted Functional Objects." Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, 400 Quail Rd., Longmont, 303-651-8374, through Aug. 11. "Executive Order 9066: Photographs of WWII Japanese Relocation Camps." Boulder Public Library, 1000 Canyon Blvd., Boulder, 303-441-3100, through July 21. "History Under Construction." Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, 400 Quail Rd., Longmont, 303-651-8374, through June 8, 2004. "Longmont Perspectives." Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, 400 Quail Rd., Longmont, 303-651-8374, through July 14. "Metamorphosis: Modernist Photographs by Herber Bayer and Man Ray." Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Pkwy., Denver, 720-865-5000, through Oct. 6. "Observations: Photographs by Nancy Carabell." Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, 303-447-2422, through June 14. "Other Lives Revealed: Voices of Black American Women of Boulder." Norlin Library, CU Boulder, through July 5. "Thomas Mann." Boulder Arts and Crafts Cooperative, 1421 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-443-3683, through July 12. "We Are Landscape: Works by Clare and Pamela Forster." Boulder Public Library, 1000 Canyon Blvd., Boulder, 303-441-3100, through July 28. "West Point/Points West." Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Pkwy., Denver, 720-865-5000, through July 21.
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Economically, art is a dumb career choice. If you don't believe me, ask any cab driver. So many young people get into it without a clue as to the coming sacrifices, and only the strong survive. After the art schools rob you blind, life suddenly transforms into this massive uphill battle to gain recognition. Only one of maybe ten applicants to fine art grad schools are accepted, and only one of these ten eventually find a good gallery to represent them so they can quit their day jobs. The rest are stranded in this ugly world of cutthroat art politics, where most eventually get so discouraged they give up, running around when they're 50 bragging to their fares with a neurotic flush, "Me, I'm an artist," even though they haven't laid a brush to canvas in 25 years. After getting that bachelors degree, some artists quit after hearing "no" ten times. Others can stomach it 100 times before they throw in the towel.
