When I thought about the job of a curator, I always thought that it is a fun and creative job. Yet, after visiting all these galleries and after all those readings I came to the realization that it is a difficult position that requires a lot of thought and planning. When a gallery is being prepared for an exhibition so many things have to be taken into account: the colors of the paintings, the message the artist wants to get across, the limited amount of space, and list just continues. Many of the galleries we visited were in the white cube style, yet the arrangement of each art piece created different impressions.

Yvonne Jacquette, DC Moore Gallery

The first gallery we visited was the D.C Moore gallery on 535 W 22nd St. Upon entering I realized just how accurate Brian Dogherty was in his description of a white cube gallery. Every wall was painted in white with the only differences in them being the paintings exhibited. The flooring was wooden and each step made was heard in the entire gallery. The only lighting source was indeed the ceiling. This gallery portrayed the work of many artists and there was no common theme between them. Yet, the gallery was arranged in a way where each artist received a designated room or section of a wall. Some of the artists in this exhibition were Yvonne Jacquette, George Tooker, and Ben Shahn. The first artist that caught my attention was Yvonne Jacquette, as her work was exhibited in the main area. Her oil on linen paintings were spread out on the walls so that each gets around five feet in circumference. This allowed me to focus on one painting at a time. Her work depicts various aerial views of NYC in the daytime. From skyscrapers, to construction sites, to roofs of smaller buildings Jacquette trys to convey the changing architecture of the city. The white cube style gallery allows people to fully immerge into the painting and actually feel that they are looking at NYC from above. I loved her style of painting and the precise detailing that she had especially in her painting Three Ages of Construction II. However, to me the white cube also took something away from her paintings. All of her paintings were done in pastel shades, which is realistic as in NYC you would rarely see any buildings in vibrant bold colors. Yet, it turned out that the white wall was bolder than the paintings. In some moments this caused my attention to shift from the painting onto the wall, which I believe should not have happened.

Three Ages of Construction II by Yvonne Jacquette

In the case with the works of Ben Shahn the opposite happened. His work was fitted into a small room with each piece of artwork being about one foot from each other.  His work was done in bold red, yellow, and white colors. For example, in his offset lithography artwork Inflation Means Depression a contrast was created with the white wall. This allowed me to fully focus on his art. It brought me back into my U.S history classes where we would always analyze posters and propaganda created in times of war. The association I had with his work made it memorable and remembering even after visiting all the other galleries.

Inflation means Depression by Ben Shahn

The gallery that we visited right after DC Moore was the Sikkema Jenkins & Co gallery on 530 W 22nd St. While it was also a white cube gallery, the experience was very different. Their main exhibition was the work of Mitch Epstein, his photographs on property rights. Each photograph received one wall to itself. The photographs were huge, therefore they usually took up a good third of the wall. This technique allowed me to look over every little detail in the picture. The photographs mesmerized me and made me think about all of the ecological and social problems there are in this world. His photograph of the boy hugging the tree conveyed the current problems we are having with deforestation. Each photograph depicts something new and different compared to the previous one. Moreover, and probably most important to me was that in this gallery I did not even focus on the white walls. To me they were not even there as the photographs took up the entire space in my view. I believe that this gallery was very successful in presenting Epstein’s work and ideas.

Epstein’s Property Rights Photograph

Our group visited almost every gallery on 22nd street and almost all of them were in the white cube style. While each gallery created a different impression on us through their arrangement of work and style, we wanted to see something totally different, something we did not experience before. When returning back to the high line we accidently saw the Jim Kempner Fine Art Gallery on 501 W 23rdSt. This gallery was something fresh and engaging as it finally reared away from the white cube style. The flooring was no longer wooden, but it was a carpet that made you feel like home. The lighting was not only the ceiling, but some work had lamps while other work was light itself. When walking around you did not feel like you are in an intimidating gallery, but rather you were on a tour around a world of art. Paintings, sculptures, wood carvings were all together. It might seem as they were all chaotically placed, yet in actuality the placing of the art was art itself. In this gallery I was never focused on one piece of art, I kept on wanting to move on and see more. I believe the purpose was not to analyze this art but rather just enjoy its beauty and uniqueness. For instance, I first noticed the Mount Rushmore book sculpture by Long-Bin Chen. It was something I never saw before; it was done with precision and detail. However, right next to it was Jeff Chyatte’s Symbiosis metal sculpture. It was placed right in front of the floor to ceiling window making it seem as it could also be placed outside. The sculpture conveyed strength and risk, and when rotated could open up something new. This gallery was definitely my favorite as it was not overwhelmingly white as the others. I would definitely want to visit this gallery again to see its new exhibitions.

Mount Rushmore by Long-Bin Chen

Jeff Chyatte’s Symbiosis

Overall, this was an exciting experience that showed how the gallery space affects your interpretation and experience of artwork. Even galleries that are white cubes create different impressions because of varying arrangement, style, and color of artwork.