Is your current exhibition open to the public by appointment? And does it matter who the “public” is, i.e. only prospective buyers, art critics, art curators?
In accordance with LA City and CA state ordinances, we are currently closed to the public and will remain closed until we are able to re-open safely and legally. Contemporary art galleries serve a wide range of visitors including collectors, curators, artists, art enthusiasts and people simply interested in looking at and learning about contemporary artists. I miss walking all visitors through my exhibitions and look forward to being able to share my artists’ work with the community. I am still going to the gallery a few times a week to work on my desktop with all of my essential files and check the mail. We also have to monitor the homeless situation on our property.

Installation of Brendan Lott’s exhibition, color shape texture scale, September 2019

Are you in touch with your collectors and are they still interested in buying art or are they showing hesitation due to the stock market slump?
So far we have done very little new promotion of artists and our current show since it does not seem appropriate with so many people adapting to financial struggles, homeschooling and working from home. I have mostly been in touch with clients who have commissioned artists before the pandemic to update them on the status of their artworks. I have also been in correspondence with a few shipping companies in regard to delivery of both sold works and works being returned from museum exhibitions. Everything is in standstill mode until the shelter-in-place ordinance is lifted. All of the inventory is secure and luckily, we did get the return of our Armory Show inventory from New York the day the ordinance was announced. We have been continuing our social media presence with images of artist’s work and that has piqued the interest of a few collectors. We did make a substantial sale to a new client last week who learned about the artist’s work at a museum lecture earlier this year. She is a new collector (both in general and to our gallery) who could not stop thinking about the work. We are working with her on this acquisition with monthly payments which is something we always offer to make the sale more convenient. Our website is set up with installation images of every current exhibition so essentially we have a virtual tour of our show already online. We plan to do a few video walk-thrus with our artists to talk in detail about their work.

Walter Maciel and Nike Schröder at the opening of her show, TAKE AWAY, February 29, 2020

In your opinion, how long will this temporary shutdown of the LA art world last?
We are planning through the early part of June as of this week, but that could be extended. I think the current official end date is set for May 3 but I am certain it will be extended. We opened our current exhibition, TAKE AWAY by Nike Schröder, one week before the CDC was advising business to close or be open by appointment only, so there has been a very limited audience for her new work. We will keep her exhibition on view for at least six or seven weeks once we can re-open to the public. Fortunately, I have the flexibility in my programming to make this happen.      

Installation of Carolyn Castaño’s exhibition, The Valley of the Sun/After Amèrica, November 2019

How are you overcoming the challenges we are now facing?
I am lucky because I work with my husband and we do not have any fulltime employees so that is a relief to not have to furlough wages or let staff go. That being said we need a monthly income to survive and the gallery is our only way of making money. I think positively and envision many collectors, consultants and art lovers coming to the gallery soon after we re-open and trying to be supportive however they can. I have worked for three dealers prior to breaking out on my own and it always amazes me how a handful of supportive collectors can keep a mid-level gallery afloat. We only need three or four monthly sales in the mid-price range to pay our basic expenses and ourselves enough money to live on to keep the physical gallery open.

Lezley Saar and Walter Maciel at the closing of her exhibition, A Conjuring of Conjurors, February 22, 2020

How can Artillery’s readers help galleries and artists while they are closed?
Simply put, buy art. Reviews are nice too but sales are what generate the revenue to keep the rent and many expenses of running a commercial gallery open.

Installation of small works by Cynthia Ona Innis in her exhibition, Hitch, September 2019

It’s common knowledge that most gallery pedestrian traffic doesn’t buy art, so how does the closing of your gallery affect your business? And can you see this as a trend for the future?
Unfortunately, commercial galleries have been struggling with daily attendance for a number of years now and way before the COVID-19 virus. This is due partly to many ways the viewing public accesses art online. Add the geography of a city like Los Angeles into the mix and now you have to make a commitment to travel from the east side, south bay and even nearby communities like Brentwood (crossing the 405) to my gallery near Culver City which many people opt against and simply view the work online. I will say being forced to close has made me very anxious as I miss my work and interacting with my audience. I have been 100% committed to my gallery and artists (and even the galleries I worked for during the first 14 years of my career) so not being able to do my job to the fullest is making me nervous. Again, I am hoping people will start coming out to see art once they are given the green light to be out in the world even in masks and employing social distancing, both of which will be part of our daily lives for months to come.

Installation of Lezley Saar‘s exhibition, A Conjuring of Conjurors, January 2020

During the Great Recession, were people still buying art? Can that still happen again?
People are always buying art even under weak economies as well as during the great recession of the years following 2008. There was certainly a slowdown and even those who were not financially impacted in dire ways were buying less art and focusing on community needs. Money that might be spent on art was going to charitable causes. There is no doubt that this pandemic will lead to a financial recession and it will be felt across the world. Hopefully, it will bounce back faster than the 2008 recession.

Walter Maciel and Jake Martinez at the closing of Lezley Saar’s exhibition, A Conjuring of Conjurors, February 22, 2020

Some Gallerists are worried, others hopeful and optimistic. How do you feel? Could the only silver lining of this situation be is that art fairs are now canceled? (just adding a little humor here). Is there anything surprisingly positive you have noticed so far? Or something you feel you or we all could learn from this?
I am a nervous optimist meaning I am hopeful things will get back on track once we are able to open and resume our current programs and business relationships, but I also know that business will be slower and we had a nice momentum going for the last year and a half. Whenever I get the most stir crazy I remind myself that I got through the 2008 recession while caring for a very ill partner all while working solo at the gallery and staying open to the public in between hospital visits morning and night. There were times when I was not sure if either would survive and both did so I am a fighter and hopeless optimist, I guess. Obviously, the silver lining is we are giving mother nature a huge break on a global level. Nothing but a viral pandemic could make that happen so as tragic as all the losses and complications are the earth is able to recharge a bit during this shelter-in-place order. Art fairs will certainly be back in full force once they can be which might not be until 2021 (or when a vaccine is widely available). I think we are learning to be more supportive of each other as humans and trying to help out our family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. On a personal note, I very much look forward to not have to wipe down my groceries and being able to buy my brand of toilet paper whenever I go to the store.