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Painful closures lie ahead for L.A. galleries.1/4 of respondents,nine of 35,said they r facing permanent closure of their spaces in 2020 if situation doesnât improve quickly. An additional 5 galleries,or 14%,say closure is a possibility. By @cmonstah https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-04-20/coronavirus-effect-los-angeles-galleries-pandemic
âNo one knows how this will go down,â says Jeff Poe, co-founder of Blum & Poe,âIt could go back to the Los Angeles that once was â in the â90s, when things were quieter.â It was in those recession-era days â 1994, to be exact â when he&partner Tim Blum established their gallery.â
So true «Galleries are private businesses through which art is sold, generally via a chimeric formula that involves talent and buzz marinated in artspeak. Dealers are generally loathe to tell a story that isnât rosy, especially when it comes to their own finances.»
«In Times survey, Nearly half of the 35 respondents r small spaces of three employees or fewer, more than a third are middle-of-the-road galleries of between four and 12 staffers and 14% have staffs of more than a dozen, some of them the L.A. outposts of international galleries.»
« Nearly 83% of the galleries that responded to The Times survey say online sales will not make up for traditional person-to-person methods. These include gallery openings and, to a larger degree, art fairs. »
«Vielmetter notes that of the various fine arts,it cld b the visual arts that bounce back first: âU canât go to movies. U canât go to the theater. U canât go to where there is a crowd. But u can go to a gallery. We cld set it up so there r only two ppl in the gallery at a time.â
« The galleries that do survive will also likely be more locally focused â at least until people feel comfortable flying again. »
