Castell Photography does New York…
A few weeks back Brie (gallery owner) and Heidi (gallery director) of Castell Photography went to New York for a bit of gallery research, and it was a whirlwind, to say the least!
The goal of the trip was, essentially, to visit as many galleries as possible, make as many connections as we could, enjoy lots of great art, and (of course) enjoy the city! As one of the only photography galleries in North Carolina and the only one in Asheville, we know it is important for us to see what photo galleries in cities like New York are doing, and to become aware of the sort of work they show, how they show it, etc etc. We made a similar trip to Atlanta last fall and are hoping for one to Chicago at some point in the future…
On our first day of gallery visits, we spent the afternoon in Chelsea lunching and gallery hopping with Sylvia Plachy & Gerald Slota (Gerald was our amazing tour guide for the entire trip), both mentoring photographers at this years Hatch Fest. Gerald was a hurricane of information and introductions, breezing from one gallery to the next. Brie and I could barely keep up! Sylvia was charming and lovely, of course, and also very quick to scan the work in each space and move onto the next spot. You can see she and Gerald (above) planning our route as well as her photographing (below)…what a treat!
In the following days we had a few meetings, and saw some galleries outside of Chelsea from Midtown to the Lower East Side to Brooklyn (who loves Brooklyn? WE DO). On Wednesday we went to an opening where we met Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith, arts critics for New York Magazine and The New York Times, respectively (!!!). Jerry loves North Carolina accents, FYI. On thursday we also hit a few openings, one at Ricco Maresca, one of our favorite spots, as well as a group exhibition, Altered States, which Gerald was a part of at Foley Gallery.
Other than that, we ate some amazing food (see crazy indian restaurant below, right), took advantage of New York City happy hours as much as possible (fyi: you can eat and drink for cheap in ny), met David Byrne, and walked about 967 miles. Whew! It was an amazing trip, we’ve come back with an awareness of what’s being shown and have been exposed to so many galleries, we’re energized for what’s to come at Castell Photography!
We will now be travelling back to New York a few times a year to attend openings and to maintain the contacts that we’ve made, and will bring all that we have learned and experienced back to Asheville! We will continue to maintain our unique salon style gallery, but are eagerly planning to continue exhibiting work that is relevant to contemporary photography, work that is interesting, that has a unique perspective, and, of course, that we love. Right now we’re amidst planning our 2012 show season — exciting things to come for Castell Photography!
Stay tuned…
