Planning the layout of an art gallery is an extremely complex job. The planner must take into account a variety of factors: the spacing between each artwork, the color of the walls and its effect on each painting, the number of artists that will be on display at the location, and much more. This creates an immense amount of diversity within the structure of art galleries—as can be seen by the following two galleries I visited in Chelsea.

 

This is Metro Pictures Gallery, with Judith Hopf’s “Alifi” on display. Hopf makes use of the viewer’s perspective very wisely—one can look at the arrangement of brick structures through the circular wall cut-out or from the opposite end of the room and feel like they’ve witnessed two separate works of art. The sketch-like paintings on the wall initially seem like simple drawings, but, after taking a step back and looking at the room in its entirety, it is clear that the drawings enhance the view of the brick structures. The room that houses this artwork is extremely large and contains only this one artwork—with that comes the benefit of being able to space out each aspect of the entire artwork with rather wide spacing. The walls are completely white so that the viewer focuses only on the artwork at hand and nothing else. The white walls and canvas frames do have a strange effect on the paintings, however, where it makes them seem like they are drawn on an extension of the wall rather than on a canvas that is separate from the wall.

 

The pictures above were from the same “Alifi” exhibit; however, this art piece is located in a different room. Although this room is smaller than the last, there seems to be a lot more open space. The walls are still white and the artwork itself is a combination of various different art pieces that include sculptures and paintings interacting with each other. By using large rooms with completely white walls, the gallery is able to really emphasize the artist’s two separate sets of artwork and keep the attention entirely on the art while allowing viewers to see completely different pictures from various angles.

 

These images are from Mike Dargas’s “Reflection of Dreams” exhibit at the upper level of the C24 Gallery. At first glance, these artworks can be mistaken for photographs; however, I was notified by an employee at the gallery that these artworks are, in fact, hyperrealistic paintings. The way the upper floor of this gallery is utilized is very similar to Metro Pictures Gallery where white walls draw attention to the paintings and there is sizeable spacing between each drawing. The main difference is that this exhibit only houses paintings that are similar in style but don’t really interact with each other, meanwhile, the exhibit at Metro Pictures Gallery was a combination of various pictures and sculptures that come together to form one large artwork.

 

This exhibit is on the lower level of the C24 gallery; however, it looks like an entirely different gallery. All of the artworks on display are from different artists, yet the artists’/artworks’ names are not explicitly displayed anywhere. Also, these artworks are extremely packed together—very little spacing exists between each artwork. This makes it very difficult to focus on one specific art piece: while looking at an individual painting, your eyes naturally wander towards nearby artworks. There is a mixture of drawings, physical sculptures, and videos to examine and it seems like no actual theme exists between each artwork. There is evidently a very stark contrast between not only this exhibit and the exhibits in Metro Pictures Gallery but also between this exhibit and the one situated upstairs. The lack of a central theme and ample spacing guides the viewer’s perspective away from individual smaller artworks and towards the larger/more bizarre pieces. This exhibit juxtaposes Metro Pictures Gallery where the viewer’s perspective is more so fixated on how each art piece interacts with one another to form a larger picture because this exhibit guides the viewer’s perspective solely towards individual pieces. These two examples clearly portray the effect that a gallery planner has on the viewers of a gallery: they shape the viewer’s perspective by indirectly leading them towards what they should be looking at and how they should be examining it.