Loren C. Pgniolo wrote:
 
>I am very disturbed by your expressed lack of sympathy for dealers in the
>aftermath of the Northridge quake.  Without dealers how would the
>majority of artists earn a living?   The fact that dealers have
>been harmed has a direct economic effect on artists.
 
My post came out a bit more hard-hearted than I meant. Dealers have
insurance, artists often do not and even if they do the money can't
replace their work. But you bring up an interesting point: the fact
is that the majority of artists *don't* earn their living through
dealers. The trend, at least in New York, is for artists to go solo
or with an agent and concentrate on museums and other noncommercial
spaces. The Whitney Museum originally sold art and perhaps they still
do.
 
How does that idea sit with everyone?
 
BTW: If you ask the average artist in New York what they think of
dealers be prepared to duck. Of course there are exceptions. Paula
Cooper is, in my book, a saint. Everybody buy stuff from her.
 
Regards,
 
Robbin Murphy
(on the side of the angels)
NYU/Museum Studies
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Yours,
 
Loren C. Pigniolo                                 | voice/fax: 415/665-1827
Photographic Preservation Specialist              | voice: 800/484-9808 x7841
Photographic Preservation Services                | i/net: [log in to unmask]
1044 Judah Street #1 San Francisco, CA 94122-2052 | Please call before faxing
 
 
On Fri, 28 Jan 1994, Robbin Murphy wrote:
 
> In the "Inside Art" column of the NY Times today (1/28/94, C23) Carol
> Vogel reports that several art galleries in the Santa Monica area were
> damaged in the earthquake including Burnett Miller and Shoshana Wayne,
> which lost an entire Bruce Nauman installation borrowed from a Swiss
> museum. Does anyone have more information about other galleries in the
> LA area? One artist lost an entire show that was scheduled to open in
> New York next month. I have little sympathy for dealers but there may
> be a large number of artists who, as usual, have been overlooked in
> the rubble.
>
> Robbin Murphy
> NYU/Museum Studies
> [log in to unmask]
>