Art at the Dentist's: A Different KIND of Art Show for the 21st Century

One of our regular Red Dragonfly artists dropped by the gallery yesterday to give us an invitation to her next art opening.

She handed us a neatly printed invitation with a photo of one of her new paintings, and told us it was going to be "a pretty big deal."

Naturally, we congratulated her on getting a show — because we want all our artists to do well, regardless of whether it's with us, or elsewhere.

Then came the surprise...

"Stamens"

When we looked at the invitation, it turned out that the Art Opening was going to be taking place at a local dentist's office!

The New Marketing of Art

In the past, I have written some about the changing face of art sales, and how the "traditional" art gallery seems to be increasingly falling by the wayside.

Suddenly, here was yet another example — and, by extension, another answer to the gentleman who visited our store during one of our monthly "Gallery Walks," earlier this year: "What happened to all the galleries in this town? Where do you go to see art, anymore?"

Evidently, at a dental clinic.

"Cherry Blossoms"

Creative Marketing... BUT...

I'll be the first to admit that having an art show at a dentist's office is a very creative piece of marketing, but it does beg the question of how effective it is.

In a broader sense, that question could also be applied to all the many alternative art outlets we see, these days.

In looking around at art trends in our local landscape for the past three years or so, it seems that for every four or five "art venues" that open up, only one is actually a dedicated art space, while 3-4 are cafés, hotel lobbies, coffeeshops, dentists, real estate offices and now dentists.

In these venues — however well-meaning — art is basically a "side show" beside the main event, and not necessarily particular related to the primary business.

"Camellia"

Are We Being Re-trained... and HOW?

As I have also written in the past, the nature of art and how people interact with art has also been changing.

One of the trends we have been watching is that art is becoming less and less a commodity you own, and more and more an experience.

In that context, the idea of art increasingly leaving conventional gallery spaces and being shown in places like banks and dentists' offices makes more and more sense.

The idea of art as any kind of "retail trade" seems to be gradually fading from the landscape.

How that trend pans out for artists — in the longer term — remains to be seen, but sadly it may well sound the death knell for most art galleries such as ours.

Thanks for reading!

Red Dragonfly is a proud graduate through the @sndbox creative incubator program, part of the "Cohort 1" team of May 31st, 2018. Please support @sndbox and the @sndbox-alpha curation initiative!

The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.

2018.11.01