TuckUnder Gallery
5120 York Avenue South,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
info(AT)tuckunder.org
For Galleries
Tell me about your
gallery.
We
are quirky, kooky and a tad bit off centered from the typical white cube
gallery. If one was to stop by the gallery, you might smell our morning
pancakes and bacon still lingering in the air.
From the street level, the
gallery appears as an anonymous Archie Bunker styled home. We have three hokey
butterflies, a fake woodpecker, a broken water pump, a scenic overlook, an
Astroturf sculpture pad, and a raspberry patch that adorn the site. The humble
midcentury environs present a peculiar and idiosyncratic interior and exterior
site specific and art viewing platform.
Officially,
TuckUnder is a temporary, independent artist exhibition space and sculpture
site located within the Fulton neighborhood of Southwest Minneapolis. As
an alternative, hybridic home-based contemporary gallery, TuckUnder specializes
in unrecognized emerging artists and curatorial collaborators, tactical
institutional critique, participatory initiatives and conceptual curatorial
projects. Artistic quality is based upon artist’s tactical aesthetics,
participatory exchange, and conceptual fortitude rather than traditionally
conservative art fair and gallery criteria.
We are attempting to give control to artists and curators in what they choose to produce and exhibit. As an activist creative startup and non-commercial site, it has been funded by an MRAC Community Arts grant, and within the economy of the artist household. Its success is not grounded in sales, press or conventional measures set forth by the international art apparatus, but by the individual criteria set forth by the artists, curators and their exhibits. We like to engage ideas of artistic process and studio practice rather than institutional art distribution. We consider our visual artists, curators and collaborators to be partners and co-creators working in a larger ecosystem of visual cultural production.
We are attempting to give control to artists and curators in what they choose to produce and exhibit. As an activist creative startup and non-commercial site, it has been funded by an MRAC Community Arts grant, and within the economy of the artist household. Its success is not grounded in sales, press or conventional measures set forth by the international art apparatus, but by the individual criteria set forth by the artists, curators and their exhibits. We like to engage ideas of artistic process and studio practice rather than institutional art distribution. We consider our visual artists, curators and collaborators to be partners and co-creators working in a larger ecosystem of visual cultural production.
Who are three or four
local artists who represent the quality and style of work you exhibit at your
gallery?
Frank & Pamela Gaard:
Lisa Bergh & Andrew Nordin:
For Artists:
How do you prefer
artists contact you regarding exhibiting in your gallery?
We prefer direct
one-on-one in-person contact and love having unfocused free association
meetings with coffee and/or frosty malt beverages. We are a participation and
exchange model, and we begin by starting a conversation about art, ideas and
project development. These dialogues happen over a period of time and a
relationship is fostered. It is important that artists visit and experience the
TuckUnder site as it is rather small and has unique environs. We have a call
for artists/projects in January-February for the forthcoming season that is
listed on our website at http://tuckunder.org/Submissions.html
What general advice
would you give to artists trying to show in local galleries?
The art world and
gallery scene on a local scale is meek, fickle and foible. Showing locally takes time. Be prepared for
immediate and ongoing rejection. Have patience.
Be persistent. It may take a year or more for a gallery to make a
selection. Remember that gallerists and curators are human and often have lives
outside of the arts. It is vital to remember that failure is a significant part
of artistic success. Consider creating and developing your ideas/artwork
outside of the main art stables, academic and careerist tracks.
Despite the ongoing standard
portfolio models of presenting 10-12 pieces with a canned, two to three
paragraph art marketing statement, and static two page art resume, I prefer
seeing lots of images, multiple portfolios and long, well written articulated
statements. Unlike the push button uploads of 8 Photoshopped jpgs and a 500 character
count MS Word documents for nonprofit grants and gallery cattle call deadlines,
I would prefer to see idea development, large scale bodies of work, conceptual process
and detail shots. Being vulnerable and showing a willingness to think outside
of the application box is key to setting yourself apart from the perfectionist documentation
tendencies so rampant in the fear driven art world. Show only your best work—but
please move beyond showing the linear two dimensional—as we are conceptually
process and project driven. Breath mints help!
For Collectors:
What is the typical
price range for works for sale in your gallery?
We are not a retail
“selling” gallery or commercial gallery per se. Collectors are directed to the individual
artists for any possible negotiable sale.
TuckUnder does not follow traditional art boutique or art fair selling practices,
and does not pursue large institutional nor nonprofit commodification
techniques. As a provider of a visible alternative site for the future
commercial exchange of artwork and artists projects, we are not a typical contemporary
art dealer. We do not list prices nor put prices on the artworks. We prefer
that the potential collector talk directly to our artists. Artists retain a
sense of fiscal agency, financial power and economic prowess by being on the
front lines of their sales. The work
that has shown in the past has a liminal mid level price point.
Do you have any advice
for collectors looking locally to buy art?
Please look well beyond
the institutional, status driven fundraisers, and arts organizational social
circles for your art. Often, some of the best visible emerging art does not take
place within the traditional museum settings and conservative art galas. Rather,
artistic gems are often found off the beaten formal art paths. Unique and high valued work often occurs in
the fringes, non-traditional sites and smaller venues. You do not need to go to
NYC, Miami, LA nor Berlin to find collectible artworks—we have a vivacious
plethora of excellent, under recognized midcareer and emerging artists in
Minnesota. The majority of artists in Minnesota are under collected, under
represented, and under monetized. Thus, they are a very good value, and a local
collector could easily begin and develop an incredible thematic and/or
stylistic collection(s) of high prominence and integrity without spending much
time, energy, and capital by simply participating locally.
If by chance all of the
local art galleries were having opening receptions on the same night, where
else would you recommend people go to maximize their art experience? (Include
website links please)
Highpoint Center for
Printmaking
www.highpointprintmaking.org
Tuck Under Gallery Artists Featured on LAI:
Holly Streekstra June 2013
Jeremy Szopinski May 2013
Pamela Gaard 2012
www.highpointprintmaking.org
Tuck Under Gallery Artists Featured on LAI:
Holly Streekstra June 2013
Jeremy Szopinski May 2013
Pamela Gaard 2012
