June 2, 2014
I was asked to help out at the gallery on the Lower East Side where I had done my NYU internship last year. A sudden personnel shortage prompted them to ask me to watch the gallery for a day. It was a quiet day on the Lower East Side. A week day. Not a lot of street traffic, but some. And each time someone “dropped in” I engaged them in conversation. First, of course, about the current exhibition. Then about the gallery, it’s history, the kinds of shows it puts on, the kinds of artists it represents. And then about other matters—other galleries where they might find something of interest, museum shows, the Kara Walker piece at The Domino Sugar Factory. Everyone that I engaged in this way thanked me. And a number of them told me that I was the only person they had talked with at any of the galleries that day.
Now I know as well as anyone that most of the people who visit the galleries on the Lower East Side and Chelsea are not “buyers,” But that does not mean that they are not worthy of our time and attention. When people enter our galleries they become our guests and, I think, they should be treated as such. That there is, ultimately, a reward for us financially in this attitude is, for me, beyond question. Goodwill, I believe, eventually pays off. But even without the notion of financial gain—is it really so difficult to see the people who visit our neighborhood to look at art as guests? I’m not suggesting you make everyone a cup of tea. But really, can’t you get out from behind your Macintosh screen and greet people? Ask them f they are familiar with the artist or the gallery. Hand them a press release and tell them a little something about what is now surrounding them. Have them leave with something more than what they came in with. Make them a little smarter and make them feel a little bit easier about what, to them, may be terribly difficult and what, to you, may be your greatest source of pleasure—contemporary art. Help them join you in that pleasure. You may be creating the next collector as well.