Rumor Squashers: Death Stalks the Galleries

Rumors are flying that local galleries are closing their doors. In every case but one, the reports are an exaggeration. City Arts sorts out what’s true on the art front and finds that the traditional art gallery business model is changing fast.

Lawrimore Project death rumor: False
It would be horrifying if the five-thousand-square-foot gallery that critic Jen Graves called “the closest thing contemporary art in Seattle has to a center” were really closing – and ironic, since it’s packed every opening night and its vanguard conceptual art won lengthy coverage in the New York Times Magazine last month. “The gallery will continue,” says owner Scott Lawrimore. “Our five-year lease is up October 31. I’m playing checkers with my landlord. It’s to my benefit to sit on my hands while they posture. We are exploring all options, including leasing a traditional gallery space in the heart of Pioneer Square, continuing here, or acquiring our own building so we’d have equity as opposed to a lease. It’s a good time to reevaluate precisely what we’re doing.” What they’re not doing is relying primarily on local collectors: most of Lawrimore’s sales are outside the city.

Martin-Zambito Fine Art death rumor: False
True, this gallery, which specializes in reviving the reputations of unjustly neglected midcentury Northwest artists (plus the non-neglected, like Paul Horiuchi), shuttered its Pike Street home. But it reopens this month at 1117 Minor Avenue. “The new space is smaller but a nicer location,” says co-owner David Martin. “You cannot imagine how much work it was [to move] after being in that space for twenty-one years. I wanted to cut back on the walk-in traffic to concentrate more on my upcoming publications.”

Two Vaults Gallery death rumor: True
The Tacoma hot spot that exhibits Seattle’s Karl Krogstad has gone cold. “There’s lots of people coming in,” mourns owner Paula Tutmarc-Johnson. “It’s just that people aren’t buying. It used to be we’d have a thousand-dollar Friday, a thousand-dollar Saturday. Now we’ll have the same amount of people, but we’ll sell two or three art cards. They still want to see the art, but they won’t buy it. I haven’t sold a thousand dollars in four months. For the past year I’ve been going back and forth: Oh, if you stop now, you’ll feel like a loser, a quitter. No, you’re saving yourself from financial ruin.” •