The art of the print with Jeff Bergman, director of Pace Prints

Jeff Bergman
Director
Pace Prints

THE HISTORY OF PRINTMAKING DATES BACK AS EARLY AS THE 15th CENTURY. IN GERMANY, INDIVIDUAL PRINTS OFTEN DEPICTED RELIGIOUS IMAGES AND WERE CARRIED BY CRUSADERS ON PILGRIMAGE. FROM CIRCA 1402 TO 1425, THE FIRST PHASE OF THE WOODCUT DEVELOPED, HAND-COLORED AND INCREASINGLY COMPLEX IN WHICH SINGLE IMAGES ON A BLANK BACKGROUND EXPANDED TO INCLUDE LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS. IN 15th CENTURY ITALY, PARTICULARLY IN THE CULTURED NORTHERN CITIES, SUCH AS FLORENCE AND MILAN, THE RENAISSANCE MOVEMENT STIMULATED ARTISTS’ RECEPTIVITY TO EMBRACE PURELY AESTHETIC AND DECORATIVE CREATIVE PATHS.

TODAY, PRINTMAKERS NOT ONLY CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN THE LEGACY OF TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES BUT ALSO TO EXPLORE NEW INNOVATIVE PROCESSES AVAILABLE THROUGH MODERN TECHNOLOGY.

PACE PRINTS, LOCATED IN NEW YORK UPTOWN AT 32 EAST 57th STREET OFF MADISON AND IN CHELSEA AT 521 WEST 26th STREET, IS A WORLD-CLASS PUBLISHER AND DEALER FOR MODERN MASTER AND CONTEMPORARY PRINTS THAT IS A WORLD CLASS PRINT PUBLISHER AND GALLERY.

Dick Solomon
Founder, Pace Prints

FOUNDED BY RICHARD SOLOMON, IN 1968, PACE PRINTS IS A EXCEPTIONAL  RESOURCE FOR BOTH CONTEMPORARY AND MASTER PRINTS OFFERING AN EXTENSIVE ROSTER OF INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED ESTABLISHED AND CUTTING-EDGE ARTISTS. PRINT EDITIONS HAS ALWAYS PROVIDED THE ART ADVISOR AND COLLECTOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE WORKS BY CONTEMPORARY LUMINARIES AS CHUCK CLOSE, SOL LEWITT, ED RUSCHA AND FRANK STELLA WITHIN MORE MODEST BUDGETARY PARAMETERS.

http://paceprints.com/

TODAY, THE LRFA BLOG IS DELIGHTED TO INTRODUCE JEFF BERGMAN,  DIRECTOR OF PACE PRINTS, TO INFORM US ABOUT THIS VITAL AREA OF ART-MAKING.

JEFF, MANY THANKS FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION. HOW DID YOU FIRST BECOME INTERESTED IN ART?

Well first off, thanks for involving me in your project!

The Aldrich Museum
Ridgefield, Connecticut

I became interested in art as a child.  My grandfather was a graphic artist for a Jewish Department Store in Midtown.  I had been drawn to visual art from an early age but my formative experience with contemporary art was at The Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, CT.  I was a student docent there in the mid-90’s when Harry Philbrick was running the program.  He went on to run the Aldrich for many years.  He and Nina Carlson trained high school age kids to really discuss the work they saw.  We were grounded in the physical first and then went on to make our own associations.  We were handed research materials like a grown up docent was and were given an education.  I loved being in front of art and having those conversations.  I still do.

Wassily Kandinsky
Illustrative composition in
Point and Line to Plane

WHAT EDUCATIONAL STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO DEVELOP THIS INTEREST?

Beyond the Aldrich, I went to a public HS that had a surprisingly good Art History course.  After HS I went to Hampshire College in Amherst, MA and did a concentration in Art History and Theory, writing my thesis on Wassily Kandinsky’s text Point and Line to Plane.  Hampshire allowed me to craft my own course of study.  I took classes at Smith and Amherst often, utilizing resources at all 5 colleges.

Studying Kandinsky and the Bauhaus in an undergrad program alongside brilliant professors was a true gift.  Sura Levine, a brilliant scholar and a good friend to this day, was my advisor from day 1.  Hampshire had contemporary artists teaching innovative courses and I took a sprawling foundation class with Walid Raad, Jacqueline Hayden and Joan Braverman that introduced me to much of the art theory I would dive into over the next 4 years.  We were told to buy the recently deceased John Berger’s slim treatise Ways of Seeing that first day of class.

FEATURED PRINT
Kate Shepherd
Teddy 2016
Monoprint
40 1/4 x 60 1/2 inches
Unique
Published by Pace Editions, Inc.

Later I took courses with Barbara Kellum at Smith and Christoph Cox at Hampshire that allowed me to think more critically about the theory and critique of visual art.  Ultimately I was happy to ground my studies in Kandinsky’s concrete notions at the birth of abstraction.

Sol LeWitt: Prints
Installation view
September – October 2016
Pace Prints

HAD YOU ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN PRINTMAKING OR WERE YOU INITIALLY DRAWN TO PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURE?  WHAT ARTISTS FIRST RESONATED WITH YOU AND HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THEM TODAY?

Printmaking was something I came to during college as I looked at the work of Bauhaus artists, and generally at the work of early 20^th century art in Europe.  Initially the work that really excited me was Kandinsky’s which was always on view at the Guggenheim and MoMA and then Sol LeWitt at the Aldrich and Mark Rothko at the Tate (now Tate Britain).

My good friend Katie Commodore who is an artist and printmaker was always kind enough to let me see what she was working on at RISD so I got a sense of contemporary printmaking that way.

FEATURED PRINT
Robert Rauschenberg
Cock Sure 1993
Color silkscreen, hot wax, silver pigment dust and acrylic
Edition of 17

IN THE NEXT LRFA POST, JEFF WILL INFORM US OF HIS PROFESSIONAL HISTORY AS CURATOR, SCHOLAR AND DEALER IN PRINTS.

PLEASE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HIS EXPERTISE AND DEDICATION TO THIS FIELD, AND ASK THIS GENEROUS GUY ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.

THANK YOU!

 

Alexis Johnson, Associate Director at Paula Cooper, a moving force in the cutting-edge art world

Alexis Johnson
Associate Director
Paula Cooper Gallery

PAULA COOPER GALLERY, THE FIRST GALLERY TO VENTURE DOWNTOWN, OPENED IN SOHO WITH A 1968 EXHIBITION TO BENEFIT THE STUDENT MOBILIZATION COMMITTEE TO END THE WAR IN VIETNAM. THE SHOW INCLUDED WORKS BY CARL ANDRE, DAN FLAVIN, DONALD JUDD, ROBERT MANGOLD AND ROBERT RYMAN AS WELL AS SOL LEWITT’S VERY FIRST WALL DRAWING. UNKNOWN IN THE ART WORLD AT THE TIME, THESE ARTISTS  ARE NOW THE LUMINARIES WHO DEFINE THE MINIMALIST MOVEMENT AND INFLUENCE A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF ARTISTS TODAY.

Paula Cooper Gallery on Wooster Street in Soho, 1976
Photo by Yuri

IN PAULA COOPER’S DIRECTOR ANTHONY ALLEN’S BEAUTIFUL WRITTEN AND RICHLY INFORMATIVE CONTRIBUTION TO THE LRFA BLOG, WE LEARNED OF THE UNIQUE HISTORY OF THE GALLERY; NOT ONLY ITS SUPPORT OF ARTISTS BUT ALSO ITS ONGOING CONTRIBUTION TO THE ART WORLD, THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE AND TO NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/

Sol LeWitt executed his first wall drawing in 1968 at Paula Cooper Gallery in New York.

PAULA COOPER GALLERY CONTINUES TO MAINTAIN ITS IMPECCABLE STANDARDS OF QUALITY IN ITS JUDICIOUS ADDITIONS OF NEWER CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS TO ITS ROSTER, ARTISTS AS INNOVATIVE AND INFLUENTIAL IN THE CURRENT ART VERNACULAR AS JUDD, LEWITT AND RYMAN WERE TO THE MINIMALIST MOVEMENT.

TODAY, I AM DELIGHTED TO INTRODUCE ALEXIS JOHNSON, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AT PAULA COOPER GALLERY, WHO WILL SHARE HER KNOWLEDGE AND ENTHUSIASM FOR THE YOUNGER CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS AND PROJECTS THE GALLERY SUPPORTS.

Bruce Conner
PAULA COOPER GALLERY, New York
April 30–June 26, 2015

ALEXIS, SO MANY THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO PARTICIPATE IN THE LRFA BLOG. I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU TRAVEL AND JUGGLE A VERY FULL SCHEDULE!

TO BEGIN, PLEASE TELL US HOW YOU BECAME INTERESTED IN ART? WAS THIS AN AREA OF FOCUS FOR YOUR FAMILY?

My mother instilled in me at an early age an appreciation for the arts. I was an only child, i.e. portable, so she took me everywhere. We went to gallery openings, museum exhibitions and dance performances. I definitely grumbled from time to time about being dragged to all of these places. Of course, now I realize how important that level of exposure was in framing my life experience. I am deeply appreciative that my mother took the time to encourage this in me.

WHAT IS YOUR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND WHAT LED YOU INTO THE BUSINESS SIDE OF THE ART WORLD?

I graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Sociology. I do not have a formal education in art. I often say, “I tripped, landed and fell into the art world.” After graduating college I pursued a career in acting. In 1998, I was waiting tables at a restaurant in Los Angeles called Lucques. The chef-owner of the restaurant would occasionally have her boyfriend at the time, Brian Butler, help out in the kitchen. Brian had recently opened 1301PE gallery on Wilshire. Brian asked if I knew anyone who would want to work part-time in the gallery and I said, “me!” Although I knew very little about contemporary art, Brian was very generous in sharing his knowledge with me. I relished the experience of being introduced to the work of artists such as Martin Kippenberger, Diana Thater, Pae White and Jack Goldstein. I used to say to friends, “I am getting paid to learn.” I continue to learn on the job.

Robert Grosvenor
PAULA COOPER GALLERY
April 25 – July 2, 2015

WHEN DID YOU JOIN PAULA COOPER AND WHAT WERE YOUR INITIAL RESPONSIBILITIES?

I worked at 1301PE for two years. In 2000, I decided I wanted to do more theater so I moved to New York. When I arrived in New York, Brian suggested I contact Rirkrit Tiravanija, one of the artists he represents, because Rirkrit needed an assistant. I worked with Rirkrit for about two years. Yet again, I found myself in an extraordinary situation working with an incredibly smart and generous person. My experience with Rirkrit helped to expand my vision of what art can be.

Rirkrit Tiraganija
untitled 2002 (he promised), 2002
Guggenheim Museum, New York

I returned to Los Angeles in 2003 for what I thought would be an extended summer vacation. While there, Brian asked if I could help out in the gallery for a couple of weeks while he was giving a public talk in New Zealand. Two weeks turned into five years and during that time I was promoted to gallery director.

I joined the staff at Paula Cooper Gallery in 2010. My initial responsibility was to oversee the space at 465 W. 23^rd Street. Paula encouraged me to propose exhibitions and I organically began working with artists.

IN OUR NEXT POST, ALEXIS WILL SPEAK ABOUT CURRENT ACTIVITIES AT THE GALLERY WITHIN THE MORE CONTEMPORARY SECTOR.

PLEASE DO COMMENT AND POSE ANY QUESTIONS TO THIS EXPERT IN THE CUTTING-EDGE SIDE OF THE CONTEMPORARY ART WORLD.

WITH THANKS!

Tis the season! very special gifts culled from Ursus Books by Doug Flamm

ARTISTS’ BOOKS ARE MADE AND CONCEIVED BY ARTISTS AND COME IN MANY DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES. DOUG FLAMM, OF URSUS BOOKS, A NEW YORK BASED BOOKSTORE SPECIALIZING IN ART BOOKS AND ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, HAS A DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF AND PASSION FOR THIS UNIQUE AREA OF PUBLISHING. PRIOR TO JOINING URSUS,  DOUG WAS AN INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLER, DEALING IN THESE EXTRAORDINARY BOOKS THAT RESONATE WITH ART AND BOOK CONNOISSEURS ALIKE.

URSUS BOOKS PROVIDES AN INTERNATIONAL CLIENTELE WITH A COMPREHENSIVE SELECTION OF ARTISTS’ BOOKS, REFERENCE BOOKS, EXCEPTIONAL COPIES OF RARE BOOKS IN ALL FIELDS AND FINE ANTIQUE DECORATIVE PRINTS.  LOCATED ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF 699 MADISON AVENUE AT 63rd STREET, URSUS IS AN INVITING AND WELL-STOCKED NICHE WITH A WELCOMING AND INFORMED STAFF. http://www.ursusbooks.com/

IN HIS ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE LRFA BLOG, DOUG EXPLAINED THE REVOLUTIONARY INFLUENCE THAT ARTIST ED RUSCHA HAD ON ARTISTS’ BOOKS (FORMERLY IN THE FORMAT OF LIMITED EDITIONS BY 20th CENTURY MASTERS SUCH AS PICASSO AND MATISSE, OFTEN CONTAINING AN ORIGINAL ETCHING OR LITHOGRAPHY BY THE ARTIST.)

Ed Ruscha turned this category on its head. He changed the definition of what an artist’s book is. He conceived of ideas and projects using the commonplace technology of off-set printing. He selected very banal subjects (as he does in his paintings and works on paper) – parking lots, gas stations, swimming pools, and produced these images in a rudimentary way that parallels his artistic genre. In so doing, he created extraordinary objects that don’t fall within the traditions of livres d’artiste but have a value and vitality very much their own and liberated this form of artistic invention.

 

Douglas Flamm
URSUS BOOKS

 

 

I WAS DELIGHTED WHEN DOUG AGREED TO GATHER TOGETHER A WONDERFUL SELECTION OF ARTISTS’ BOOKS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT URSUS – A MEMORABLE GIFT FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON OR A GREAT ADDITION TO ONE’S OWN LIBRARY YEAR ROUND.

 

Olafur Eliasson

ELIASSON, Olafur. Your House.

908 pp. Illustrated by Olafur Eliasson using computer-aided laser die-cuts. Oblong folio, 285 x 440 mm, bound in original cloth. New York: Library Council of the Museum of Modern Art, 2006. (#157176) $18,500.00

Conceived by Olafur Eliasson as part of the Contemporary Editions series at The Museum of Modern Art, this book is one of the more exciting new achievements in book making in the 21st Century. The subject of the book is Eliasson’s house in Denmark that is rendered in a vertical cross-section through an elaborate laser die-cut process of each page. The format of the book allows Eliasson the space to fully realize his idea on a scale of 85:1, so that each leaf corresponds to 2.2 centimeters of the actual house.

Eliasson summarizes the experience of viewing this book, “Reading a book is both a physical and a mental activity. It is like walking through a house, following the layout of the rooms with your body and mind: the movement from one room to another, or from one part of the book to another, constitutes an experiential narrative that is physical and conscious at the same time.”

Signed by Eliasson on the colophon. One of an edition of 225 copies. Condition is as new.

Born in 1967, Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist whose sculptural and installation works are deeply informed by culture, ecology, and the nature of human perception. His works are inspired by his investigation of the relationship between subjective perception and natural phenomena. Perception, according to Eliasson, is as much an immediate sensory experience as it is rooted within the cultural framework of our memory.

Among the recurring themes in Eliasson’s works are light, ephemerality, and the environment. Such projects like The Weather Project (2003) in which an ecological model is placed into an institutional model frame of the Tate Modern, are fundamental rejections of object-based art. In creating environments and situations that engage our most basic sensory responses, Eliasson’s works democratize the experience of art. Participation and the act of viewing brings Eliasson’s works to life as he once explained, “I like to think that my work can return criticality to the viewer as a tool for negotiating and reevaluating the environment—and that this can pave the way for a more causal relationship with our surroundings.”

LEWITT, Sol. Complex Forms.

Comprised of four (4) large double-folded colour screenprints, 355 x 1420 mm (14 x 56 inches). Square folio, 360 x 360 mm, bound in thick paper over board, lettered spine and both covers with original colour screenprints by Lewitt. Preserved in black cloth folding box. Zurich: Annemarie Verna & New York: Brooke Alexander, 1990. (#156784) $30,000.00

Sol LeWitt

Edition limited to 15 copies signed and numbered by Lewitt. These four original coloured screenprints printed by Watanabe Studio in New York capture on paper the amazing Lewitt series of wall paintings that the artist conceived in 1987-88. Complex Forms represents Lewitt’s experiments with fracturing the cube into component parts. The application of four colours juxtaposed in variations of hue and saturation further expands the visual experimentation.

 

A key factor to emphasize is that Lewitt’s wall paintings were executed directly on the wall for a limited duration, usually a month or two. When a given exhibition was over, many of his creations were not sold and carried away like a painting or sculpture. They were simply painted over and permanently lost except for the original drawings and/or colour gouaches.

Sol Lewitt

“The essence of Lewitt’s work is the original idea as formulated in the artist’s mind. Because it emphasizes conceiving rather than implementing, this kind of art has often been referred to as conceptual art” (Andrea Miller-Keller, Sol Lewitt: Twenty-Five Years of Wall Paintings 1968-1993 in the exhibition catalogue of Addison Gallery, University of Washington Press, 1993, p.37). Condition is “as new.”

Sol LeWitt, whose deceptively simple geometric sculptures and drawings and ecstatically colored and jazzy wall paintings established him as a lodestar of modern American art. Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1928. As a child, he attended art classes at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. LeWitt completed a BFA at Syracuse University in 1949 and then served in the United States Army in Korea and Japan during the Korean War. In 1953 he moved to New York, where he took classes at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and did production work for Seventeen magazine. LeWitt subsequently worked in graphic design in the office of architect I. M. Pei from 1955 to 1956. During the first half of the 1960s, LeWitt supported himself by working as a night receptionist at the Museum of Modern Art, where he met future critic Lucy Lippard and fellow artists Dan Flavin, Robert Mangold, and Robert Ryman.\

LeWitt is regarded as a founder of both Minimal and Conceptual art. Inspired by Eadweard Muybridge’s sequential photographs of animals and people in motion, LeWitt incorporated seriality in his work to imply the passage of time or narrative. Two important essays by LeWitt, in particular, defined the new movement: “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art” (1967) and “Sentences on Conceptual Art” (1969). The earlier text proclaimed: “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” He began making wall drawings in 1968. The earliest consisted of pencil lines—in systematized arrangements of verticals, horizontals, and diagonals on a 45-degree angle—drawn directly on the walls. Later wall drawings included circles and arcs and colored pencil. LeWitt would eventually use teams of assistants to create such works.

In the early 1960s, LeWitt made paintings and reliefs before concentrating on three-dimensional works based on the cube in the mid-1960s. For these, he used precise, measured formats such as grids and modules, and systematically developed variations. His methods were mathematically based, defined by language, or created through random processes. He took up similar approaches in works on paper.

RUSCHA, EDWARD. Every Building on the Sunset Strip.

Every Building on the Sunset Strip
Edward Ruscha

Accordian fold artist’s book illustrated in b&w. 8vo, wraps preserved in a new cloth box. 1966. (#105867) $7,500.00
First Edition, first printing. Photomontage showing contiguously every building on both sides of the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

Sunset Strip
Ed Ruscha

Approximately 22 feet long when folded out to its full length. Ruscha identifies street numbers and the names of cross streets. The folded accordion paper of Ruscha’s “Sunset Strip” has an extra 2″ flap of paper folded over behind the last page, therefore making this a true first edition. The final Jaguar building is pictured alone on this last half page. All other editions are cut evenly on the final page, including later printings that say “first edition” in front. Apparently the printer made an error in estimating the proper folding length of the printed paper the first time, but this was corrected in subsequent editions. Chip to silver mylar of slipcase and slight crease to spine of book, else a very good copy.

Sunset Strip
Ed Ruscha

Ed Ruscha’s photography, drawing, painting, and artist books record the shifting emblems of American life in the last half century. His deadpan representations of Hollywood logos, stylized gas stations, and archetypal landscapes distill the imagery of popular culture into a language of cinematic and typographical codes.  The ironic choice of words and phrases that are a dominant feature in his work draw upon the moments of incidental ambiguity implicit in the interplay between the word and image. Although his images are undeniably rooted in the language of a piercing observation of  American life, his elegantly conceived art addresses complex and widespread issues regarding the appearance and function of the world  at large and our transient place within it.

Ruscha’s artist books have proved to be deeply influential. They have widely influential other artists who have adopted their disaffected look. Their influence also extends to architects: Denise Scott Brown, Robert Venturi and Frank Gehry, who has known Ruscha since the 1960s. Inspired by the unassuming books that he found on street stalls during a trip to Europe, in 1962 Ruscha published his first artist book, Twentysix Gasoline Stations under his own imprint, National Excelsior Press. 

MORE SPECIAL ADDITIONS TO YOUR HOLIDAY GIFT LIST IN OUR NEXT LRFA BLOG.

 

 

Anthony Allen, director of Paula Cooper Gallery, explores changes in the gallery world and art market

 

Liz Magic Laser: Absolute Event
Exhibition View, 2013

 

PAULA COOPER OPENED HER FIRST GALLERY IN 1968 IN SOHO – SETTING A PRECEDENCE OF INDEPENDENCE AND IDEALISM THAT CHARACTERIZES THE HISTORY OF THE GALLERY AND CONTINUES IN FULL FORCE TODAY. THE GALLERY SERVES TO INTRODUCE AND SUSTAIN NOT ONLY ARTISTS  OF UNIQUE VISION AND AESTHETIC INTEGRITY BUT ALSO PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE COMMUNITY SUPPORTING THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CAUSES THAT RESONATE WITH PAULA. SINCE ITS INCEPTION, PAULA COOPER GALLERY HAS INTRODUCED THE WORK OF NUMEROUS ARTISTS, NOW INTERNATIONALLY RESPECTED LUMINARIES, AND JUDICIOUSLY ADDS NEW TALENT TO THE GALLERY ROSTER. LAUNCHING REMARKABLE MUSEUM QUALITY EXHIBITIONS, FOR EXAMPLE, THE GALLERY STAYED OPEN CONTINUOUSLY IN JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011, GIVING THE ART COMMUNITY THE OPPORTUNITY TO VIEW  CHRISTIAN MARCLAY’S, “THE CLOCK”, THE EXTRAORDINARY 24-HOUR FILM THAT WEAVES TOGETHER THOUSANDS OF IMAGES AND MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF CINEMA AND TELEVISION, EACH CLIP MARKING THE PRECISE MOMENT THAT THE VIEWER IS EXPERIENCING IN REAL TIME. THIS WORK WENT ON TO THE CENTRE POMPIDOU IN PARIS AND THE MONTREAL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART. http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/

 

TODAY, WE ARE FORTUNATE TO CONTINUE OUR CONVERSATION WITH ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, ANTHONY ALLEN, ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE GALLERY IN TODAY’S WORLD AND THE CULTURE AND CHARACTER OF OUR CURRENT ART MARKET.

ANTHONY, IN 1999, THE GALLERY OPENED A SECOND SPACE ACROSS THE STREET ON 21^st. DOES THIS SPACE HAVE A DISTINCT AND SEPARATE CHARACTER AND FUNCTION FOR THE GALLERY?

Our second space has different proportions and a different layout, and it gives us more flexibility in scheduling different kinds of exhibitions.  Each space has its own set of challenges and opportunities, its light, its ‘flow’, etc.  We also maintained a smaller third space on 23^rd Street – perfect for projects and very focused exhibitions – and since September 2013 we’ve had a temporary ‘pop-up’ space on 10^th Avenue, which we’ve just closed.  The pop-up space allowed us to present an exhibition of early Alan Shields works, to commission a new performance and video piece by Liz Magic Laser, and to do one-person exhibitions with Liz Glynn, Beatrice Caracciolo and Justin Matherly. We like to expand and stay local at the same time! It’s really about taking advantage of opportunities, whether it is about giving additional visibility to our artists or going out on a limb and doing something new and unexpected.

THE ART WORLD HAS CHANGED RADICALLY SINCE PAULA COOPER OPENED, NOW GLOBAL IN SCOPE, WITH GALLERIES, ART FAIRS, MUSEUMS, COLLECTORS, ADVISORS AND AUCTION HOUSES ACTIVELY APPROACHING, PURSUING AND ENGAGING IN A WORLD WIDE DIALOGUE.  HOW DO YOU SEE THE GALLERY’S ROLE IN EMBRACING AND PERSONALIZING THESE ENORMOUS SHIFTS IN THE ART MARKET?

I think these shifts are exciting to the extent that they attest to contemporary art’s greater visibility overall. But there is a real risk of “depersonalization”. We participate in art fairs, but selectively. For the last decade or so, we’ve done three a year (Art Basel, Art Basel Miami and FIAC). This year we’re adding Frieze Masters to the mix. But our primary focus remains our gallery program and our exhibitions.  We also try to use Internet in a way that suits the gallery and the needs of our artists best – we’re developing our presence on the web and on social media, etc.  The challenge is to take advantage of these shifts while at the same time remaining first and foremost a “real” space that people visit to have a direct and immediate experience with art.

KELLY WALKER
Exhibition View, 2014
Paula Cooper Gallery

WHAT ARTISTS DOES THE GALLERY REPRESENT NOW?  WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE ARTISTS AS SHARING THE CONCEPTUAL AND MINIMAL SENSIBILITY OF THE ORIGINAL ROSTER OR IS THE PRIORITY QUALITATIVE OR REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CURRENT DIVERSITY OF STYLES, MEDIUMS AND ART FORMS?

The terms conceptual and minimal have become much too broad to describe anything. The gallery’s program has always been more independent, and even more eccentric, than these labels imply, though it is unified by Paula’s vision and sensibility. The artists we represent today, each in their own way, express an expanded idea of art that has its roots in the art of the 1960s and 1970s but continues to evolve and respond to the social and political, as well as material and technological shifts of the 21^st century. An artist like Kelley Walker, for example, is acutely aware of Warhol’s legacy, but filters or reworks that legacy through a markedly 21^st-century prism.

AS THE ART WORLD HAS SHIFTED TO A GLOBAL ENTITY SIGNIFICANT IN BOTH AESTHETIC AND ECONOMIC INFLUENCE, IN THE NEXT LRFA BLOG, ANTHONY WILL EXPLORE THE IMPACT OF THESE CHANGES ON THE GALLERY AND ITS PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.

I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR COMMENTS AND HOPE TO ANSWER ANY AND ALL QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

 

Anthony Allen of Paula Cooper Gallery on his initial art world experiences

Anthony Allen
Paula Cooper Gallery

PAULA COOPER IS  A LEGENDARY PIONEER IN THE CONTEMPORARY ART WORLD WHO LAUNCHED THE FIRST GALLERY IN SOHO IN 1968. THE OPENING EXHIBITION WAS A BENEFIT FOR THE STUDENT MOBILIZATION COMMITTEE TO END THE WAR IN VIETNAM. IT INCLUDED WORKS BY CARL ANDRE, DAN FLAVIN, DONALD JUDD, ROBERT RYMAN AND ROBERT MANGOLD—ALL NOW ESTABLISHED AND GREATLY SOUGHT AFTER ARTISTS BUT EXTREMELY CEREBRAL AND INNOVATIVE CHOICES AT THE TIME.  THAT WAS JUST THE BEGINNING! THE GALLERY’S DEDICATION TO CONCEPTUAL AND MINIMAL ART AND ITS THOUGHTFUL EXPANSION, OVER FORTY YEARS, TO EXHIBIT AND SUPPORT CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS SUCH AS SOPHIE CALLE AND KELLEY WALKER, DIVERSE IN AESTHETIC AND CHOICE OF MEDIUM, IS GREATLY ADMIRED.

THE HISTORY OF PAULA COOPER GALLERY TRACES THE HISTORY OF THE CONTEMPORARY NEW YORK ART WORLD. AS WELL AS FEATURING SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, THE GALLERY HOSTS CONCERTS, MUSIC SYMPOSIA, BOOK RECEPTIONS AND, FOR EXAMPLE, STAYED OPEN 24-HOURS A DAY TO SHOW CHRISTIAN MARCLAY’S EXTRAORDINARY FILM, THE CLOCK.

I AM VERY PLEASED TO INTRODUCE ONE OF THE GALLERY’S DIRECTORS, ANTHONY ALLEN, AND APPRECIATE THAT HE HAS TAKEN THE TIME TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE LRFA BLOG.

ANTHONY, WELCOME! PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR OWN PROFESSIONAL HISTORY BEFORE WE EXPLORE THAT OF THE GALLERY’S. WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND IN THE ARTS AND WHAT LED YOU TO JOIN THE ART GALLERY WORLD?

My background is in literature and not in the visual arts. I studied French and English literature in Geneva, where I grew up, continued my studies in Paris, then moved to the US and got a doctorate in French Literature. My specialty was the medieval period. But I was also very interested in contemporary art, so when I started teaching French literature, I also started taking art history classes.  One class, in particular, was a kind of epiphany (it was a class on Bataille and the “formless”), and it made me want to switch careers. Eventually I moved to New York and looked for a job in the art world.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST PROFESSIONAL JOB IN THE ART WORLD AND HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO PURSUE THIS CAREER?  WHEN DID YOU JOIN PAULA COOPER GALLERY AND WHAT PROMPTED YOUR DECISION?

I happened to start at Paula Cooper Gallery as a summer intern, while I was still in teaching.  It was a great way to learn more about the gallery world.  Just as I was finishing my internship, a position at the gallery became available. I left my teaching job and started as a full-time employee in October 2000.

HOW WOULD YOU ADVISE SOMEONE INTERESTED IN THE BUSINESS ASPECT OF ART TO GET A PROFESSIONAL FOOTING IN THE GALLERY WORLD?

I think internships are a great way to start if you can afford an unpaid position for a while.  As an intern you interact with the entire staff at the gallery and get a better understanding of everyone’s roles and responsibilities.  You meet the artists and have a first-hand experience of their work.  You participate in the gallery’s life. You get to learn a lot if you pay attention.

IN THE NEXT LRFA BLOG, WE HAVE THE PLEASURE OF LEARNING ABOUT AN EXTREMELY INNOVATIVE AND TRANSFORMATIVE TIME IN THE WORLD IN GENERAL AND THE ART WORLD IN PARTICULAR. AS ANTHONY SHARES THE HISTORY OF A GALLERY OF GREAT RESPECT AND INTEGRETY, WE TRACE AS WELL THE CLIMATE OF THE TIMES IN WHICH SOHO WAS AN OUTPOST FOR A SMALL, DEDICATED GROUP OF GALLERISTS AND COLLECTORS.

ANTHONY IS A GENEROUS AND KNOWLEDGEABLE EXPERT AND I AM SURE WOULD ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS WITH GREAT THOUGHTFULNESS AND INFORMATION. DO ASK!