Galleries to Artists: Drop Dead

So much for greedy artists abandoning their mid-sized dealers for the blandishments of mega-dealers. Speaking at the Talking Galleries conference, dealer Ed Winkleman revealed the results of his survey of artists, dealers and collectors (the basis of is fort-coming book):

Winkleman opened the conference with an analysis that turned the issue of artists’ loyalty to their galleries on its head by instead asking how loyal the dealers are to their artists. Winkleman has collected evidence (through surveys, interviews and independent research in preparation for a book due out next year) that shows that, contrary to the common perception, galleries in New York were letting go of their artists more than vice versa.

His findings were emphatically backed by Rainer Ganahl, the Austrian-born, New York-based artist, who was not shy in coming forward about his previous relationships with the dealers Philomene Magers (now the co-founder of Sprüth Magers), Timothy Blum (the co-founder of Blum & Poe), Per Skarstedt and the Milan and London dealer Massimo di Carlo. “They all kicked me out,” Ganahl said.

Without having heard Winkleman or seen his data, it should be commented that dealers dropping artists may simply be the obverse side of sales crowding into fewer successful names making it difficult for dealers to support their artists.

Update:  The talk is now available on video so you can get past the hyperbole of this post’s title and hear what Winkleman has to say.

Loyalty is a two-way street  (The Art Newspaper)