One of the Creative Stars is currently undertaking an internship in an independent gallery in Colombia for the summer! Check out what Zack is up to with this latest update.
Since the gallery I am work in is still very much early days in its existence, the first assignment of my internship is to find tips on how to survive as a gallery in Colombia! So, I start my trip around the City on the search for ‘successful’ Colombian galleries dedicated to promoting contemporary art.
I start my gallery tour in north Bogota, the Capital City of Colombia. I visit 5 different galleries in one long, rainy, afternoon and quickly come to realise that the contemporary galleries here are all rather ambitious with the art they are exhibiting! The ones I come across are displaying a mixture of edgy and not so edgy pieces, treading a fine line between something that works and that definitely doesn’t. Some examples of these exhibitions include a cutting edge iphone photography show, a show that combines Pop Art and Renaissance classics (such as ‘The Death of Marat’ an iconic painting of the french revolution) and one displaying old school Hollywood movie still images.
I believe it is essential that contemporary art exhibitions are innovative and challenging however the problem here is that I don’t think the Colombian art market is developed enough to digest and embrace all of these new concepts.
The receptionist in LA Galeria (one of the many galleries I visited) answered some of my questions about the Colombian Art Market. She said that compared to Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, Colombia’s art market is only just getting started and that there are currently only a small group of collectors. Art history education here is also very underdeveloped- it it isn’t even offered as a course in the best Universities in Colombia.
In the next couple of days I will be helping to put up the upcoming exhibition at the gallery I am working at. It will be an exciting but challenging experience! I will let you know how it goes!
Written by Creative Star, Zack Peng (August 2011)