{"id":1689,"date":"2010-04-07T19:50:48","date_gmt":"2010-04-08T02:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp\/2010\/04\/seattle_art_galleries_-_the_ho\/"},"modified":"2010-04-07T19:50:48","modified_gmt":"2010-04-08T02:50:48","slug":"seattle_art_galleries_-_the_ho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/2010\/04\/seattle_art_galleries_-_the_ho.html","title":{"rendered":"Seattle art galleries – the banality of hotness"},"content":{"rendered":"

The question of hotness is not fruitfully addressed to art galleries. It pitches the discussion below the level of substance and implies that galleries have nothing better to do than titillate the fickle. Hotness runs in the same circles as buzz, a word I heartily dislike unless bees are doing it.<\/p>\n

An exquisite example of the hotness-and-buzz genre is Tim Appelo’s Charlie’s Charge<\/i><\/a> in City Arts Magazine, Seattle edition. I appreciate Appleo<\/strike> Appelo personally and enjoy his writing, but in visual art, which is not his forte, his insouciance is grating.<\/p>\n

Appelo:<\/p>\n

Why is Seattle’s most-buzzed art scene in Ballard instead of Pioneer Square? Only one Seattle gallery sent artists to December’s big Miami art fair (sic: Ambach & Rice was at NADA<\/i>), and only one in the whole Northwest went to last month’s New York Armory Show: Charles and Amanda Kitching’s Ambach & Rice<\/a> in Ballard. “Howard House had it, James Harris had it, Scott Lawrimore has had a long run,” says one gallerygoer. “Now Charlie is the new hot thing.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Galleries are like Darwin’s finches. Those who find a niche are the most successful. Beyond that, whether Ambach & Rice is in Ballard or Pioneer Square, it’s part of the small community of Seattle art dealers who represent artists who matter.<\/p>\n

Back to Appelo’s article. Ambach & Rice did not “raid” another gallery. What are artists in this construction, the loot? The artists in question came to the Kitchings, not the reverse. Then there are the personal remarks:<\/p>\n

Charles Kitching has got youth, sharp looks, savvy and savoir faire. So some resentfully dismiss him as “Charlie Ka-CHING!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s two anonymous quotes from the school of buzz. Unless there’s a compelling reason, everybody in a story should be on the record, including the casually snide.<\/p>\n

Not that everybody on the record scored this time out. Assuming Portland dealer Elizabeth Leach was quoted fairly (I am going to assume that, given Appelo’s solid record in journalism), she offered a great example of double-speak: the official position first, followed by what she really thinks. <\/p>\n

“It’s easier to be jealous,” says Leach, “but it makes more sense to be
\nsupportive. Northwest galleries that go to fairs are ambassadors for all
\nof us.” She does think hard times have made the Armory “less
\ncompetitive. One could get into the Armory if one applied.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Who is this “one” who could get into whatever fair one wanted?<\/p>\n

Appelo appears to take a similar position: <\/p>\n

How come other galleries didn’t go to the Armory Show? One reason is money. “It costs easily twenty to thirty thousand dollars to go,” says top Portland gallerist Elizabeth Leach.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

One reason is money.<\/i> Appelo doesn’t mention any others.  Assume for a moment you’re a high school senior with a B average. You’re considering Podunk U or Harvard. One reason you’re not going to Harvard is money. Can anybody think of another?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The question of hotness is not fruitfully addressed to art galleries. It pitches the discussion below the level of substance and implies that galleries have nothing better to do than titillate the fickle. Hotness runs in the same circles as buzz, a word I heartily dislike unless bees are doing it. An exquisite example of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}