Brick and mortar galleries tend to have thin profit margins. Many commercial galleries live on a feast or famine model, because of the hit or miss nature of the market. Galleries have to try things in order to survive. The art fairs have, for some galleries, been a great way to reach out to new collectors. However, the expense has also sunk other galleries. A traditional approach is to work at least a little bit in the secondary market. Dead or blue-chip artists help to generate some money to keep the lights on. Pop-up spaces is another strategy that gets people excited about the art. However, a new trend has started which gets the word out on an artist in a more contemporary way than the white walls of reality. The virtual exhibition has begun to get a little traction. Case in point, Cris Worley Fine Arts is having a Timothy Harding online exclusive exhibition titled Kool Skool featured on the gallery’s Artsy website.
Now, nothing extremely radical is happening here. Cris Worley posts exhibitions on Artsy already, it is just that this one you will not be able to see in her physical real estate. I have judged an online-only art show a few times. The advantage to the artists was no need for shipping cost, but the loss was that no one got to see the physical objects unless they bought them. Online shopping for art isn’t huge, about 5% of the market according to Forbes, but it is on the rise. A brick and mortar gallery has to tap into this market in order to survive and I think the Cris Worley Fine Arts gallery is at least willing to try something. Maybe this approach will work, then again the tried and true method is still being exhibited. The gallery also features in their physical space the blacklight art of Patrick Turk and the landscapes of Anna Elise Johnson.
Anna Elise Johnson has been to the desert and it shows in her shifting colored landscapes. The moment I walked into the room, I was transported to my experience with the American badlands. The wind and water erosion she depicts is broken up with patches of color. As if Johnson painted the landscape and then went back with photoshop and changed all the colors. Only that is observed because they are seamlessly painted images and not photographs. I am rarely excited about landscapes, but when Johnson shakes up the old formula for painting outdoor scenes. It is hard not to get excited.
Now, you might be a little turned off by even the mention of blacklight art and I really can’t blame you. Blacklight posters so far have been associated with the lowbrow or the stoner culture. Patrick Turk doesn’t try to elevate this fact, but rather celebrates the blacklight association with drug experiences. His sculpture is a mind-bending figure from the far reaches of our subconscious. The figure appears to be looking at small paintings on the far wall which also employs blacklight elements. The small paintings seem to scatter across the wall like someone might see in an altered state. I am still debating on if the show works, but I get the uncomfortable feeling it does. Mostly because I am still thinking about the work weeks after I saw it.
Online you can see Timothy Harding and the other artists as well. You can also visit Cris Worley Gallery’s physical address to see Anna Else Johnson and Patrick Turk until August 18th. Harding will be showing his work online through September 1st.