Whoopee! Winner of the
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DINNER FOR TWO: WAYNE CAUBLE You can win, too. Here’s how: Send an email with the subject line
Glorious Food Then write your full name and send to
trobba@comcast.net
Whoopee! Winner of the
ICON monthly drawing for
DINNER FOR TWO: BOB & LYNN MILLAR You can win, too. Here’s how: Send an email with the subject line
Glorious Food Then write your full name and send to
trobba@comcast.net 62
ICON
NOVEMBER 2011
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29 / FEATURE / OLD CITY ART
got second place in the dirtiest category!” LaPelle blames the city for making it tougher for art galleries to flourish. “In Philadelphia there’s a 2% sales tax, a use and occupancy tax on commercial use of the space even if I make no sales. I pay on gross receipts whether or not I make any net profits. The economy of Philadelphia is so bad that the bookends of business, Goodwill Industries and the Mafia, both went broke here. And do you want to know something else?” he asks, “the Parking Authority is not giving money to the schools despite a 2007 agreement they made in which they were supposed to do this. The PPA has accumulated some 48 million bucks but now the city wants to raise taxes because they can’t collect the money from PPA.” Get LaPelle going and he’ll tell you how he once met art historian, architect and Philadelphia Museum of Art Director Fiske Kimball; how he used to have amiable Rittenhouse chats with Henry Mcilhenny (while the latter walked his poodle) and about the time that Whoopie Goldberg visited his gallery and promised to buy something at “a later date.” “Though Whoopie said, ‘I’ll be back,’ I’m still waiting. I try to outwait everyone,” LaPelle says. On any given First Friday, you’ll find soda and cookies at LaPelle’s, but not wine. “I don’t want to compete with restaurants,” he says, “and I don’t want to deal with a drunken crowd. But yes, we stay open till they stop coming, and that’s after midnight sometimes. I sold a $2,500 painting after midnight recently. That’s a good time for chats and to dispense advice to young artists. I tell these young artists that if they see stuff that’s a great bargain and if you have 100 bucks, buy it. I try to tell them about the time I bought a print for eight bucks and sold it for $3,500.” While almost all Old City galleries are at street level, the James Oliver Gallery at 723 Chestnut Street is a 4th floor walkup. For serious collectors willing to walk the four flights of stairs to Oliver’s upscale “perfect space” environment, a glass of wine awaits. Oliver’s easy manner can perhaps be attributed to his Austin, Texas roots and the fact that for many years he was a musician by trade. “We went all out to make this into a really beautiful space,” he tells me. “For starters, we have beautiful arched windows overlooking Chestnut Street.” Then there’s the art, mostly minimalist, with the accent on contemporary paintings, sculpture, photography and glass art installations. Very often there are “theme-inspired” shows in the gallery that Oliver says are designed to attract the more sophisicated art lover. “The fact that not many galleries in Old City and in Philadelphia have not closed because of the economic downturn is something positive to recognize,” he says, “but overall sometimes the galleries in the city are a little wanting—often there’s a lack of consistency in the whole gallery scene in general.” Oliver admits to having some reservations about the First Friday crowds, which are not only getting larger, but younger. “People generally have heard through the grapevine that it’s become more of a younger crowd, college aged, or they witness this fact for themselves. I sometimes get a little frustrated with it because the whole thing is more like going out for a party. People in crowds will walk by someone looking at a painting without acknowledging that the person is looking at a piece and that they need that space. “ Oliver says that while the economy has forced him to do
some things out of pocket, generally the gallery is moving along and getting a fair amount of attention. “We’ve always had a fair amount of press,” he adds confidently. “We started from the very beginning to have very strong shows. We always try to up the ante.” Christine Pfister, of Old City’s Pentimenti Gallery at 145 N. 2nd Street, maintains that while Pentimenti has been affected by the economic downturn, Old City is still the place in Philadelphia to shop for art. “There’s no doubt about that. We are over 26 galleries over two blocks, all on street level, with the exception of James Oliver, of course. Pfister, who hails from Switzerland, says Pentimenti is doing fine. “We’ve been in business for 18 years. I think the longevity of the gallery is a help to the current crisis in a sense, and I do have clients who have always collected art.” The art scene in Old City, she says, reminds her of Chelsea rather than SoHo. “Because Chelsea is the place in New York for art today, not SoHo.” “First Friday is still important because it’s when a large number of people will actually come to our city. Serious collectors, if they want to buy work at your gallery and if they know that this show is upcoming, will come before the opening.” Pfister thinks that despite the social aspect of First Friday—“people meeting and having a good time”—the event is still important. “I’ve had people in town from San Francisco stop in and buy something to take home with them. You never know who you’re going to meet.” Old City’s Gallery Joe, at 304 Arch Street, was opened by Becky Kerlin in 1993. Originally from Ohio, Kerlin lived in New York City for a while before heading to Bucks County in the late 1980s. Intent on establishing a more urban environment, Kerlin traded Bucks County for Old City “because opening a gallery in New York City wasn’t really an option.” Old City, however, was the kind of place where Kerlin felt she could grow and learn rather than “disappearing” in Manhattan. Gallery Joe deals in contemporary drawing, mostly abstract, with at least half of the exhibiting artists from Philadelphia, the other half, as Kerlin says, “from all over the world.” For Kerlin, Old City “has been great. She’s also pleased with the area, where she says that only one or two galleries have closed, although she’s quick to explain that in some cases “closed” just means they moved and reopened elsewhere. She mentions a couple of student galleries that have come and gone but for the most part she’s adamant that Old City as an art Mecca is pretty stable. For Tereza Gowden, a native of Brazil, and assistant manager of the Knapp Gallery (162 N. 3rd Street), First Friday is the best thing “they ever did for the city.” The Knapp Gallery, which opened in 2006, is owned by Rebecca Knapp. It’s a mixed-use space. In 2010 Knapp hosted a staged event presented by the Center City Opera Theater. As for contemporary art sales, Gowden tells me, “Well, we cannot complain. We are not selling five paintings a month but we are selling them. Of course it’s not enough. It could be better!” That refrain is echoed by The F.A.N. Gallery (221 Arch Street) owner Fred Al-Nkb, who says that Philadelphia galleries in general don’t make enough money to compete with New York galleries. “There’s no consistency in sales. One December could be good, another December terrible. But I can’t complain,” he adds philosophically, “I have a lot of loyal clients that buy from me, and I enjoy their business.”