Willamette Week, a good measure as any, lists about 41 art galleries in their calendar listings this week, October 22 2008.
How many will be remaining six months from now?
You guess is as good as mine. I don’t know what the natural attrition rate is, and this list below is a mix of institutions relatively unaffected by the ongoing financial fiasco, or businesses which have other revenues. My guess is 15 out of the 40 below will be closed by April 15, 2009.
For galleries dependent on the new rich with ample wall space, good times are over.
3d Center Of Art & Photography
Blackfish Gallery – NPO
Blue Sky Gallery
Bullseye Gallery
Butters
Charles A. Hartman
Elizabeth Leach Gallery
Eyeful Gallery
Floating World Comics – other revenue
Igloo
Laura Russo Gallery
Museum Of Contemporary Craft – NPO
Ogle Gallery
Oregon Jewish Museum – NPO
Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center – NPO
Pacific Northwest College Of Art – NPO / other revenue
Pdx Gallery
Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery
Quality Pictures
Tender Loving Empire
Vault Martini
Augen Gallery
Independent Publishing Resource Center – NPO / other revenue
Lewis & Clark College – academic
Littman Gallery – academic
Mark Woolley Gallery
Multnomah Arts Center – County-funded
Portland Art Museum – NPO / other revenue
Portland State University – academic
Leftbank Building
Rocksbox Gallery
Sandy Gallery
Cube Gallery
Extracto
12×16
Cube Gallery
Fourteen30 Contemporary
Jace Gace
Launch Pad
Metalurges Gallery
October 22, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Dear Kind Anonymous Sir,
While I am flattered to have ROCKSBOX be listed among such prestigious company. I can assure you that neither the gallery nor I will be ‘tanking soon’ as my ‘ample wall space’ and ‘new rich’ funding keep the gallery and all who show there rolling in the’good times’. I would in fact argue that historically artists tend to get back to the job at hand of making work in difficult financial times and after all it is the artists who control the future of the art world now isn’t it?
October 22, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Great. Good Luck. Your gallery is not “dependent on the new rich with ample wall space.”
But to write “after all it is the artists who control the future of the art world now isn’t it?” so misunderstands the art business your assurance of good fiscal management is in doubt.
We’ll see in six months.
October 23, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I think in your headline you probably meant to write “Galleries” instead of “Gallaries”. Not trying to be snarky about it though. I write typos on my blog (www.portlandarchitecture.com) all the time.
October 27, 2008 at 1:45 am
I found the results of the survey pretty darn interesting. Most of us said there would be MORE, not less. Is this because no matter what, we’re dreamers and impractible? With the exception of a few, no one goes into this business to get rich quick…
November 6, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Sorry…. but this is chicken little thinking and not terribly well thought out. If you know the business side of the Portland art scene at all you know people learned never to get let overhead kill a business from the Savage gallery Pearl space.
Patrick Rock is 100% correct, money has been a bit of a distraction to actual art making as of late (Pat old boy… I’ll be certain to wheel up to your Bentley with my Astin Martin and ask you to please pass the Grey Poupon?).
The truth is art people are used to doing a lot with a little and they just scale back… besides Portland galleries dont have the hyper-inflation of prices that New York galleries have had.
Id be surprised if even 5 closed… new spaces will continue to open too (there is always a lot of turnover even in good times)…. and how does Vault Martini count?
Restaurants and bars will take a much bigger hit.
I’ll have something on PORT in a day or two with a bit more perspective than Im seeing so far.
In fact some Portland galleries might do pretty well in the blue chip realm as the stock market is way more volatile than the top end art market.
November 7, 2008 at 2:27 pm
This is precisely the hype which what makes prospective investors to flee the art market.
The list of 41 is taken from a recent gallery list in WW – as good as any relatively impartial source.
Check back in April and we’ll run the list again – if WW is still in business.
November 7, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I seriously doubt any of this discussion will effect anyone who has or will consider buying art and though about or actually is bought art as an investment.
Proven artists (Warhol, Ellswoth Kelly, Pcasso) and the quality of specific works tend to buck other market trends because their rarity is their strength.
Does that work for Joe Artist at the corner coffee shop.
PS artists are still selling… just not at the same rate and it is usually just the very best works on a show.
November 7, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Which is why we’re having this discussion in a dark corner of the internet and not on the sales floor at an art gallery. I am prudent, but not a nihilist.
I think you’re right about original work from artists high school kids are familiar with. The value of that work will be somewhat stable, largely because of the lack of a market, and art buyers are not commodity dealers; few buy with the intention to sell.
But that stability leaves 99% of artworks at risk for a downturn.
What NW contemporary artist fits in this category? None. And if you find one which you like, I can mention 200 others which have shown in press release galleries in the past two years in the NW which aren’t. The exception is not the rule.
And unless a local gallery is bankrolled, it’s not a question of satisfying the market, it’s a matter of paying the landlord. Yes artists are used to starving and busing tables. But that’s a meaningless statement considering many of those restaurants are prepping now to close.
November 7, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I have these discussions on gallery sales floors and collector’s living rooms, nobody who collects art seriously will just stop doing so. It just slows down.
Artists with real markets and good dealers wont lower prices… they will simply sell less often…. many local artists (many who show internationally) fit this case. There wont be a downturn in the price of work for anyone with an established market (lots of artists)… they might make a few more smaller.
Some artists are actually selling better than ever.
It is my experience that the best works will still sell (if its the kind of work that sells)… it’s the lesser works in a show that might take longer to move. My article (maybe tomorrow) will lay out some much broader economic implications.
The restaurants are gonna be the ones with a lot of doors closing.