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Fortifying Art
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Theo Konrad Auer
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Last Updated on November, 25 2008 at 11:58 AM
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This August, Esteban Sabar Gallery quietly closed after a
two year run that saw more than its share of controversy and buzz. It
was the first commercial contemporary art space in the well trod art
corridor of 23rd Street and Telegraph, which roughly forms the
epicenter of the popular Art Murmur art walk.
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This August, Esteban Sabar gallery quietly closed after a two year run that saw more than its share of controversy and buzz. It was the first commercial contemporary art space in the well trod art corridor of 23rd Street and Telegraph, which roughly forms the epicenter of the popular Art Murmur art walk. Its detractors took aim at the gallery for a perceived lack of compelling art and a sensibility that some described as putting sales before the art itself. Its supporters loved it for an unpretentious and welcoming spirit that its owner was known for -- as well as monthly shows that were aesthetically diverse and at times well reviewed by local critics. After its closure, there was much speculation about what would occupy its large, almost labyrinthine, space, which encompassed five rooms and three hallways of art on display.
Some I spoke to wondered if a commercial gallery would take its place. Others ventured that it would remain empty or that another type of business such as a bar or café would move in. Off the record, Sabar told me of several individuals who were vying for the opportunity to develop a new gallery at 480 23rd Street. To describe the property as prime is an understatement. Even in an economic downturn, development tenuously coexists alongside over a dozen art spaces -- most of which are decidedly more art driven and experimental than market driven. When such spaces exist, they provide an innovative mix of progressive social engagement and opportunity for local artists and craftspeople to make a living or supplement their incomes through their creative endeavors. Even amongst art galleries that have a more active role in the art market such as Johansson Projects, there has been a focus on the low to middle spectrum of the market. Last month at Johansson Projects, a $40,000 mixed media work was marked as sold in a show where the pieces in a neighboring room were all priced within the lower range. There was nothing for more than $500 in the exhibit that was very aptly named Collapsitalism by conceptual artist Zach Houston. To a dedicated and regular observer, it has become apparent that on an economic level as well as a cultural one, a revolution is taking place in which newer business models and practices are displacing the blight and seemingly calcified stagnation seen in the once empty downtown area.
This October during the first Friday monthly art walk, Fort Gallery debuted with a show initially titled “Illusion of the Reverie,” which was subsequently shortened to “Reverie.” An animated violinist provided impassioned accompaniment to the art in the airy expanses of the gallery’s first room, where the work of 19-year-old, self- taught artist Carrie Dietz was on display. It could be described as being the midway point between Gustav Klimt and illustrative art, and was recently featured on a 7” record of popular indie rock act Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. As I made my way into the gallery’s second room, a street theatre troupe called “Hungry Leaders” poured in performing a stirring song and dance routine that began in the gallery and ended on the street. It was a scene in the best sense of the word and summoned the spirit of Esteban Sabar. Although the spectacle was aimed to the dominant art murmur demographic: the social conscious bourgeois bohemian meets its more grungy D.I.Y. cousin alongside a smattering of older art lovers.
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Fort Gallery’s young director Vanessa Maida as she gave me tour of her space. After a few minutes, it became evident to me how much she has in common with Esteban Sabar, the space’s previous tenant. Both Maida and Sabar share a warmth and gregarious personality that contrasts with their small statures. Both are relative newcomers to the world of art dealing and curating. The two also have a highly developed sense of style. While Maida’s personal style reflects much of the fashion you find on display at every art murmur with a look I could sum up with the words vintage and craft, for Sabar, it was couture and high heels. Maida’s aesthetic sensibility is one more in keeping with most of her neighbors such as Rock, Paper, Scissors, Hatch Gallery and Mama Buzz, having shown work that runs the gamut -- from illustrative to conceptual to community-based, like this last month’s show, which featured photos and a live performance of Bay Area Girls Rock Camp.
We began by sitting in the gallery’s comfortable yet stylish lounge that takes up what was once Esteban Sabar gallery’s rear exhibition space. I learn that this is Fort’s third incarnation with the last two having been in Emeryville and in the emerging art epicenter of the Mission district of San Francisco. While the two spaces hosted regular shows, they focused on music -- particularly folk performances.
Maida breaks down her personal approach to the business, “Sometimes your buyers don’t really start buying until they test the waters with you. They want to know what kind of person you are…want to know if you are kind of person they talk to in the future…it is the whole process and I am beginning each time with each new space…at this point for me – it is not a time thing, it is a relationship thing.” She goes to elaborate future plans for an adjoining outdoor patio to further complement the social atmosphere that the gallery’s lounge attempts to encourage.
As we make our way into the gallery’s second room, Maida riffs on the whimsical illustrative narratives that are key to the work of Jon Carling’s drawings. I ask her what some of her favorite local art spaces are -- and the list is revealing as much for aesthetic concerns as it is for insights into what sort of art gallery Fort Gallery could be. She lists Lobot Gallery, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, and Needles and Pens. While each of those spaces has a different mission, all three have similar aesthetics and share solid reputations in the local art world. The latter two are in the business of selling work of emerging and mid-career artists, with Needles and Pens being a store that specializes in craft goods and zines as much as art.
There are new business models being tested by young artists around the country that recall the many innovative businesses that sprung from the firmament of the sixties’ subculture such as the Cheeseboard Collective Coop. in Berkeley. In Oakland, one doesn’t see many parallels with some of the more dated and purely commercial galleries that one encounters commonly in San Francisco’s 49 Geary “art mall.” Of the two more high profile commercial contemporary art spaces in Oakland, Johansson Projects and Swarm Studios – both have close ties to the local community and the latter’s director is a photographer. Even Maida keeps a studio in the large back room.
Fort gallery’s two previous shows were a mixed bag. But there was enough for one to make a habit of stopping by each month. Maida is planning a future show with one-time housemate Monica Canilao, an Oakland-based mixed media artist and rising star, who recently received a lengthy multi-page spread in Juxtapoz Magazine. She is also working on a future show of her own art in New York. At the end of my tour, Vanessa speaks to and about, her own bohemian nature having moved in between Oakland, New York and San Francisco in the last few years, having undertaken creative projects involving either art or music in each. “I can’t keep away from Oakland. I have so much love for [this city]. The gallery gives me a reason to hang with the people that I love. I just go where I am told to go by whatever is out there. Whenever something calls, like this place – I have no choice!”
Fort gallery’s next show “Vivid Wild” opens December 5, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
For more on Fort gallery, visit myspace.com/fortgallery
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