【聯合報╱By ALYSON KRUEGER╱陳世欽譯】
Galleries Go Mobile To Save on Costs
On a recent Saturday, Elise Graham and her 23-year-old son, Aaron, pulled a van into a parking spot in Manhattan, swung open the back doors, lowered the aluminum stairs, and welcomed visitors inside their mobile Rodi Gallery.
Around the United States, art is on the roll. Inspired by the success of food trucks, gallery owners like the Grahams, who are based 65 kilometers north of New York City, have been taking their show on the road in the area. Rodi exhibits the work of emerging artists, like the vibrant still lifes of Torey Thornton, 23, who paints on slatted wood panels. In Manhattan, the van drew workers, tourists and art lovers who used Facebook to find its location. Ted Alexandro, 45, a comedian , admired “the DIY spirit” when he happened on the roving gallery . “Seeing art displayed inside a truck that felt like a gallery brought a big smile to my face,” he said.
Mobile owners say they are trying to avoid the confines — and politics — of the gallery system; to help people think about art in different ways; or to reach more communities, especially those with young and old people who tend not to visit art districts. That was what motivated Berge Zobian of Providence, Rhode Island, to create his truck in 2012, equipped with an exhibition space, a stereo system, security cameras, projection monitors and even a bar for making coffee. On one occasion he took 40 paintings to a church, one priced at $35,000.
“I’ve heard it all along,” said Mr. Zobian, who has also owned traditional galleries for the past 14 years. “People say, ‘I wish you had a gallery in my town,’ as if you can just get up and build a new gallery.”
Social media shows the trend catching on in Los Angeles; Seattle; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Tampa Bay, Florida; and Chicago . Twitter is full of people advertising their whereabouts with hashtags such as #keeptrucking. This is hardly the first time American artists have gone mobile. Gracie Mansion staged her “Limo Show” in 1981 in a rented limousine, parked in New York, where she invited passers-by into the back seat for Champagne while she pitched her friends’ art. Ann Fensterstock, a lecturer on contemporary art , said these galleries are a much more tangible way to exhibit art than another low-cost option: selling art online.
Some, however, point out that artists may not be taken seriously without gallery backing. The critics ask: Is it possible to become a force within the art world without commercial representation?
“If you are going to spend serious money on a painting, I think you want a committed gallery backing it,” said Andrew Russeth, editor of a New York art website. “So I think that’s where the truck thing breaks down.” Brenda Scallon, based in Seattle, turned from a traditional gallery to a mobile format with her Caravan Gallery-Parlor & Roadside Attractions . It has an artist residency program in the back. “I missed it,” she said of her traditional gallery, “but rents were really high, and to justify that, I would have to devote 12 hours a day, seven days a week.” Her overhead is now $300 a year, compared with the $1,200 a month she used to pay, which means she can charge artists a lower commission .
Ms. Graham pays about $395 a month for the truck, insurance and gas, and says that gives her the ability to take risks. “We have tremendous freedom to show the most cutting-edge Conceptual art that we want,” she said.
Among the artists she and her son exhibit is Brandon Ndife, who said showing his work at Rodi lets him test gallerygoers’ reactions without worrying only about sales. “There was a burst of energy after the show,” he said. “With that, I’m going to reach out.” Ms. Fensterstock did say the truck model has limitations. “It doesn’t make for return business; it doesn’t make for contemplation of the art by spending time with it; it doesn’t make for building a strong commercial place out of which the art gets sold,” she said. But that only matters if young people are seeking fame and fortune, she added.
For now, Mr. Graham said, “I have ideals I want to follow.”
中譯
最近某個星期六，艾莉絲‧葛蘭姆與23歲的兒子艾倫把麵包車開進曼哈坦的一個停車位，打開尾門，降下鋁梯，歡迎訪客進入他們的行動洛迪藝廊。
在美國，藝術已經上路。受到行動餐車成功的激勵，包括葛蘭姆母子在內的藝廊經營者已經把展品擺在紐約市一帶的道路上。葛拉漢母子的基地位於紐約市以北65公里處。
洛迪藝廊展出新銳藝術家的作品，包括23歲的桑頓畫在條板上的生動靜物畫。
在曼哈坦，這種麵包車吸引工人、觀光客與透過臉書掌握展出地點的藝術愛好者。45歲的喜劇演員亞歷山德洛某日巧遇這種行動藝廊，盛讚它的DIY精神。他說：「看到藝術作品在有如藝廊的卡車內展出，讓我笑逐顏開。」
行動藝廊經營者說，他們試圖避開藝廊體系的限制（與手腕），協助人們以不同方式觀照藝術，或者接觸更多社區，尤其是年輕人與老人不會去藝術區參觀的社區。這促使住在羅德島州普羅維敦斯的索比恩2012年設計他的貨卡，配備一個展示空間、一套立體音響、監視攝錄影機、投影器與調配咖啡的吧台。他曾把40件油畫帶到一座教堂，其中一件標價3.5萬美元。
過去14年索比恩同時也經營傳統藝廊。他說：「我老聽到人們說，『真希望你在我住的城鎮有間藝廊』，彷彿你可以興建一座新的藝廊。」
社群媒體顯示，這種潮流已經出現在洛杉磯、西雅圖、新墨西哥州聖大非、佛州坦帕灣與芝加哥。許多人透過推特介紹它們所在的地點，並附有#keeptrucking之類的井號標籤。
這可不是美國藝術家首次行動化。1981年，葛蕾絲‧曼森把一輛租來的禮車停在紐約，推出「禮車秀」。她邀請路人進入後座喝香檳，聽她推介友人的作品。
當代藝術講師安‧范斯特史托克說，這種藝廊是遠比另一種低成本選擇──網路賣畫具體的展出方式。
不過有人指出，畫家若無藝廊撐腰，恐怕不會受到重視。批評者的疑問是，如無商業性展出，能在藝術界立足嗎？紐約某藝術網站主編羅斯說：「我認為，如果你想為一幅畫花大錢，會希望背後有藝廊力挺。所以我認為這是行動展出的致命傷。」
基地在西雅圖的布蘭妲‧史卡隆以她的「拖車藝廊-接待室暨路邊吸睛」，從傳統藝廊轉變成行動形式。它背後有一個藝術家駐點計畫。
她談到她的傳統藝廊時說：「我懷念它。然而租金實在太高。我必須一天工作12小時，全周無休。」她目前一年經常性支出僅300美元，而以往一個月就要1200美元。這意味她可向畫家收取較低佣金。
葛蘭姆女士每月卡車、保險與油料開銷約395美元。她說，這使她得以冒險。她說：「我們擁有想展示最新銳概念藝術的極大自由。」
她與兒子展出的藝術家之一恩迪菲說，作品在洛迪藝廊展出使他得以檢驗參觀者的反應，而不必只擔心賣得好壞。他說：「展出後會爆出能量。我會據此伸出觸角。」
范斯特史托克不諱言卡車展出確有限制。她說：「它無法創造回頭客，不會因為花時間與它接觸而激發對藝術的沉思，無法創造有利作品販售的強固商業平台。」不過她接著說，只有追求名利的年輕人才在乎這些。
艾倫說，現在，「我有理想要追逐」。
留言列表
