Remembering Ann Nathan Gallery

More galleries seem to be closing than opening -- at least, the galleries that I like.


Ann Nathan's gallery showed more dramatic figurative painting than any other gallery in Chicago, and I began visiting many years before I began writing about what I saw.

The middle brow market wants sweet and  sentimental  figure painting.  The high brow (and investment grade) market wants darkness, irony, and nihilism.  Her shows were somewhere in between - which is where I also like to be.

In some ways the closing of an art gallery has much more impact than the passing of an artist.  When a gallery closes, many artists drop out of sight.

The lifespan of an established art gallery really ought to be celebrated at a place like  the Chicago Cultural Center -  gathering together the many artists whom the gallery has shown over the years  to mark a distinct moment in the history of Chicago culture.


I'm really going to miss her.

But on the bright side,  her assistant, Victor Armendariz, will be opening
his own gallery in March, with many of the same artists.

I can't wait!

 

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Here are the Ann Nathan shows that I reviewed over the past 8 years:

Christian Vincent

Bruno Surdo

Mary Borgman

Robert Guinan

Chartow and Bogosian