Studio Visits: The Hidden Benefit

One of the benefits of being a gallerist is having an excuse to visit artist studios.  It's a great chance to see their current work, their new work, the work they've rejected, their old work, and the work they're maybe embarrassed about but is well worth showing.  It's a chance to learn about their techniques and learn more about their motives and motivations.  Makes it so much easier to talk about the art to potential collectors and buyers.


Today I was lucky enough to visit the studio and apartments of Rex Ray.  Marina and I are hoping to have a few pieces of his in our Inaugural Show at Post Street in April.  But as I am learning, we need permission from Rex's current gallery to include a couple of his pieces, and we'll need to share the commission.  If the other gallery says OK, that is.  


Either way, it was great to see Rex's current and older work.  He showed us some encaustic pieces from his college days in the 80s that seemed set in the 50s yet current even today.  He showed us pieces in progress, and pieces that were complete but he wasn't sure they were ready for the public.  


Then he showed us his private collection, both in his studio and his apartments in the same building.  Maybe you've seen his building:  it's the big green Atlas Box Building on Folsom between 17th and 18th.  


His private collection is amazing.  He has Warhols (including one he got for $.50 at a thrift store). Cindy Shermans, Yoko Onos (he did the poster for her recent show in Oakland), and a Rauschenberg.  There were more, but I don't remember them all.  Oh, Douglas Coupland.  The author of Generation X (one of my favorite books) is apparently an artist.  


Then we got to Jerome Caja's works.  I saw a photo of Jerome and mentioned that I had some of his work. That opened the flood gates.  I got to see his collection of Jerome paintings including one of the pieces Rex made from Jerome's ashes as a tribute to be distributed among their fiends after Jerome died in the 90s.  It was nice to share my appreciation of Jerome's work with a new friend.  See some of Jerome's best works in the book Jerome: After the Pageant.  It's out of print, but available from some booksellers.


Cheers!