Becoming a Gallerist (Fini)

After the Miami At Fairs, I decided this is what I wanted to do.  Yet, I still didn't know exactly what it meant to run a gallery.  Marina, Andre,  and I spent a lot of time figuring out how a partnership would work in the new expanded gallery.  (Actually, it was mostly me and Marina -- Andre kept saying "anything is fine with me, I just need to sell art.")


So the three of us signed a "Letter of Intent" in December to join together in an LLC, with a certain amount of investment, certain amount of voting rights, and general rules on how we will interact and work together.  (Including 6 weeks vacation for each of us!)


When I asked Marina, how do you run a gallery, she said "It's not like there's a book or manual on how to run a gallery.  We've learned what works best with our clients and our artists over time."  But, aha!  Just a couple months before, a book was published called "How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery."  It's a great book, and even Marina said she learned a few things from reading it.


The LOI turned into an outline for an LLC Operating Agreement.  I hired my attorney to put together the papers we need.  It took a couple months of reviewing and finalizing, but we signed the papers on March 25.  


On top of that, we have to register the LLC with the California Secretary of State.  Normally, this process takes 2-3 weeks, but  it's now 6-8 weeks after furloughs and layoffs due to the California budget.  So we're still waiting to be "official".  We signed a lease in late February.  After searching and negotiating for a space for 6 months, we felt we couldn't wait.  Bank account just opened last week.  They were nice enough to open the account prior to the Secretary of State's formal certification.


Now we're negotiating a cooperation agreement with our sister gallery in Berlin.  How do we share artists?  How do we jointly participate in art fairs?  How do we share commissions when we cross sell items from each others' inventory.  Or are we even allowed to do that?  

And Saturday this week, we took possession of the new gallery space.  Sunday was spent moving art and furniture from storage and the temporary space.  Today and tomorrow, we're receiving new art from artists for the inaugural show.  Big crates today from Michael Tole.  More big crates from David Buckingham tomorrow.  Big tube from Patrick Gabler came to my house a few days ago.  And more.  We're still updating our website, but my current favorite from this new batch of artists is Mason Eubanks.  His art in person is amazing -- the pictures don't do it justice (see photo on the right -- close ups on his web site).


As for the gallery, signage goes up on Wednesday and Thursday.  First day of business is Friday, April 9.  And the grand opening party is Friday, April 16.  And lots to do!


In the mean time, I've been learning the gallery business from Marina and Andre.  Learning consignment agreements, packing and shipping art, being the "registrar" for managing the inventory, and trying to sort out the 4 distinct and (unfortunately) out-of-sync contact databases.  (Wish me luck on that one.  As a former database guy, there's some serious normalization to be done on this data!)  And learning how to deal with artists from a business point of view.  Fortunately, with Marina's history and experience in running a successful gallery and Andre's success at selling art, my contribution will help them be more efficient in their areas of expertise.


I hope all of you in San Francisco can join us for our opening party on 4/16 from 5-9 at 251 Post Street, Suite 210.  For those of you not in SF, I hope you can stop by on your next visit to the city.  Our regular hours are Tuesday-Saturday 11-5, but call ahead and I can give you a private tour any time.


Cheers!


Update May 4, 2010.