"Fable" by Matt Phillips, pigment and silica on linen, 66 by 54 inches (Image courtesy Reynolds Gallery)
This spring there won’t be any people crowding the art galleries on Broad and Main streets or wine and cheese receptions on First Fridays or Third Thursdays. But Richmond galleries will still be sharing art, albeit digitally.
At Glavé Kocen Gallery, 1620 W. Main St., exhibitions by Ed Trask and Matt Lively will open on April 24 as planned, but online. “I think it’s important for people to see others are still trying to move forward,” says gallery co-owner BJ Kocen. “To make this virtual exhibition different from the others we’ve seen, we’ll continue to pepper it with entertaining content throughout the month.”
Kocen, Lively, Trask and Jennifer Glavé, Kocen’s business partner and wife, will simultaneously open the virtual exhibition from different corners of the gallery and guide their followers through the show, each from their personal social media accounts. The virtual exhibition on Facebook, Instagram and the Glavé Kocen website will also include skits with scenes one would stereotypically see at an opening, such as a couple negotiating with each other over a painting or a guest hanging out by the bar, talking up the staff. “We hope that we offer a connection, a connection that we can’t have right now,” Kocen says.
While Glavé Kocen is not currently open to the public, collectors can make an appointment to view the show in its entirety. The gallery, which is following all of the recommended safety guidelines, will welcome one client per hour.
Reynolds Gallery, 1514 W. Main St., one of Richmond’s oldest art galleries, is also going virtual. “We are aware that right now, the gallery exists through the digital world,” says Julia Monroe, Reynolds Gallery co-director, “and we are creatively working to expand our digital presence.”
Although the gallery has postponed the Richard Roth and Matt Phillips exhibitions originally scheduled for April, they’re offering a truncated version of the shows on the gallery’s website, along with the artists’ insights and biographical information. Collectors can make an appointment to view the artists’ work at the gallery, which is currently closed to the public, or request an in-home presentation.
“We thought a lot about how we can stay true to our mission of inspiring others through contemporary art,” says Alice Livingston, co-director. To that end, the gallery launched “Home School Art History,” a weekly Instagram video featuring favorite names in American art. The first installments include the work and lives of Alexander Calder, Max Ernst and Kiki Smith. The gallery is also planning “Togetherness,” a virtual group show featuring new work by Virginia artists produced during the quarantine and scheduled to open in mid-May.
