The Covid Pandemic has challenged New York's galleries, who depend on an often highly personal interaction between artist, dealer and buyer.
The last major art event I attended was Art on Paper, an annual event held in early March, drawing a full range of galleries, art groupies, and publicity hounds. It's a fun event. But in March 2020, I already knew that the Covid Pandemic was about to change how such cultural events would be held for some time to come.
Indeed, New York’s art galleries have been dealt a triple whammy by the Covid Pandemic: Social distancing killed off the once glamorous opening nights; bars and restaurants which once served as the adjuncts to galleries, where clients and dealers could discretely negotiate the acquisition of the latest favorites in the art world are now shuttered; and the galleries themselves have been challenged by their erstwhile poor relations, the on-line art sites, where anyone could buy artworks while relaxing in the privacy of their homes or offices.
Prior to the pandemic, the art market was a vital part of New York’s economy, representing billions of dollars in economic activity each year. Until the pandemic forced the closure of many service industries, the gallery scene drove the hospitality industry in many of New York’s hottest neighborhoods, including Soho, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen and the Silk Stocking District on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It was a key factor behind the real estate boom in those neighborhoods over the past 40 years. And it was a leading attraction for tourists visiting the city.
Can the art market survive with restricted human contact? At the top end, prices for fine art at leading galleries and auction houses have scarcely wavered. But the social aspect of making, viewing and collecting art has changed dramatically.
The flashy galleries found in Manhattan’s fashionable neighborhoods are adjusting to circumstances, to offer some alternatives to a process once driven by personal contact. Gagosian, Jim Kempner, Tagliatella, Denise Bibro and Sikkema Jenkins – to name but a few – have all been aggressively beefing up their internet presence, using SEO tactics once viewed condescendingly as the sales strategies for cheap jewelry vendors and mass market stores selling shlock art.
It helps to look at the ways this elite part of the New York art scene is responding. See Part II for some examples of how galleries and other venues are coping.
Josh Martin
Comments