In the past, we've done the "How To Make It" series with artists in general, freelance photographers, freelance writers, freelance illustrators, street artists, and art directors. Now, we're bringing you a list of expert curators who have advice for a younger generation of artists and creatives. Especially during a time when the title "curator" gets thrown around a little too often, learn from those who are doing it best.
How To Make It: 10 Rules For Success From Art Curators
In the past, we've done the "How To Make It" series with artists in general, freelance photographers, freelance writers, freelance illustrators, street artists, and art directors. Now, we're bringing you a list of expert curators who have advice for a younger generation of artists and creatives. Especially during a time when the title "curator" gets thrown around a little too often, learn from those who are doing it best.
How To Make It: 10 Rules For Success From Art Curators
RoseLee Goldberg
RoseLee Goldberg
Performa
Rule: Art history, art history, art history!
"Curating comes from having knowledge across a broad spectrum of contemporary culture, politics, and economics as well as a vast knowledge of art history from the beginning of time. You need to be in a constant pursuit of this information, to bring an extensive understanding of the vast archive of ideas and the huge bank of visual references from the past into the present."
Recent Projects:
Derrick Adams at Louis B James
David Gilbert at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery
Rachel Beach at Blackston
William Popel at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
William Kentridge at Marion Goodman Gallery
Jens Hoffmann
Jens Hoffmann
The Jewish Museum
Rule: Have a vision.
"One needs to know what one wants to say as a curator, to whom one is talking and why. Vision is essential. It sounds basic, but I have met younger people who aspire to be curators and who think curating is about displaying a few objects that look nice together in a space. Ideally the vision is bigger than just one exhibition, it is a larger and more complex undertaking that stretches over an entire career and creates curatorial focus and consistency."
Recent Projects:
Paul McCarthy’s "WS" at Park Avenue Armory
"Jack Goldstein x 10,000" at The Jewish Museum
"For All the World to See," recently at the ICP
The 5th Auckland Triennial
"David Bowie is" at the Victoria & Albert Museum
Marc and Sara Schiller
Marc and Sara Schiller
The Wooster Collective
Rule: Choose artists who will set the bar high.
"The success of any curated show relies on the quality of the work, not the names of the artists who are included in the flyer. For our '10 Years Of Wooster Collective' and '11 Spring' shows, we knew that artists like Shepard Fairey and Faile would deliver very high quality work, so they were the first people we invited. Once they're involved, the bar is then set, and it's set at a very high level. All the other artists afterwards know that they need to 'deliver the goods,' otherwise they'll be showed up by their peers. It's this competitive pressure that creates a blockbuster exhibition."
Recent Projects:
11 Spring
"10 Years Of Wooster Collective 2003 – 2013"
TRESPASS: A History Of Uncommissioned Urban Art
The Sheboygan Project
Wooster On Paper
Martha Otero
Martha Otero
Martha Otero Gallery
Rule: Have a strong drive and specific goals.
"Acquiring experience and building relationships with artists, collectors, institutions, curators, and critics are vital components to the gallery's success. I’ve been programmed to do what I do by working for some of the best gallerists in the world, from Leo Castelli to Larry Gagosian. The gallery takes pride in developing collections that retain their value, where the artist serves as an intelligent, innovative commentator on contemporary culture."
Recent Projects:
"Getting Out Our Dreams"
Jacob Hashimoto "Forests Collapsed Upon Forests"
"Legal Tender"
James Jean "Rebus"
Jen Stark "To the Power Of"
Zach Feuer
Zach Feuer
Zach Feuer Gallery
Rule: Take it easy.
"Don't rush it. I've been doing this for almost 15 years now and have witnessed people in a rush to get to the top and spend so much timing obsessing about meaningless career choices, as well as people who keep their heads down and keep working. When you care about your work more than your career, you have a better career."
Recent Projects:
Jon Rafman "You Are Standing in an Open Field"
"Jew York"
Zach Harris "Central Park in a No Vex Cave"
Marianne Vitale "Diamond Crossing"
Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg
Matthew Higgs
Matthew Higgs
White Columns Gallery
Rule: Listen to artists.
"Curators of contemporary art, from my personal experience, don't have any original ideas. This is as it should be. The curator's role is to support the artist and establish a context for their ideas, this is more complicated than it sounds. The artist's role is to make interesting and idiosyncratic art, this is also more complicated than it sounds. Artists ultimately hold all the power in the art world—not critics, curators, gallerists, museum directors, or collectors. It is worth remembering that without artists there would be no art, no critics, no curators, no galleries, no museums, and no collectors."
Recent Projects:
B. Wurtz "Works 1970-201" at Metro Pictures, New York
"Everyday Abstract - Abstract Everyday" at James Cohan Gallery, New York (an exhibition that considered the relationships between non-representational art and everyday life)
"Dereconstruction" at Gladstone Gallery, New York (an exhibition about art's ongoing engagement with rupture and fragmentation)
"Words Fail Me" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (an exhibition about art's relationship with language)
"Illuminations" at Richard Telles Gallery, Los Angeles (an exhibition of artworks that contain or depict a light source)
Website / @WhiteColumns
Elisa Carmichael
Elisa Carmichael
Carmichael Gallery
Rule: Be patient.
"I believe the key to success in most aspects of life is patience, and this definitely applies to curating. It takes years to develop the knowledge, taste, relationships and vision that culminate in a successfully curated show. It does feel satisfying to accomplish things when you're young, but it's important to not be in too much of a rush at the same time. I started curating when I was 20 and opened my first gallery at 21, but six years later I'm still honing those four aforementioned elements, and expect to do so for years to come. Experience gives you perspective, and I find it exciting to know that if you continue to educate and push yourself hard, your best work is probably still to come."
Website / @CarmichaelArt
Sarah Anne Carter
Sarah Anne Carter
The Chipstone Foundation
Rule: Think beyond the gallery.
"The physical gallery is just one place where the work of curators can and should happen. Focused, argument-driven shows, like those created at Chipstone, are beginnings not ends. Leverage all the deep research that should go into every exhibition to create videos, to publish your findings, to mentor students, to reach out to community members, and to inspire your next project. Transform your exhibitions into idea hubs that allow you to extend their impact even after the all the objects go home."
Recent Projects:
Erin Goldberger
Erin Goldberger
Half Gallery
Rule: Don't stop reading.
"It doesn't matter if it's the New York Times art section, an old classic or a re-read of your favorite novel from a childhood summer. The power of a new sentence can empower, engage, and induce great thought and creativity within yourself."
Eli Klein
Eli Klein
Eli Klein Fine Art
Rule: It's ok for the audience to have a strong reaction to your exhibition.
"Negative feelings from viewers of an exhibition are often indicators of a successful show. It's much better for the audience to leave thinking about the artwork, even in a negative way, than with no emotional response at all."
Recent Projects:
Threads, EK Projects, Beijing, China (the first group show in China dedicated to the work of black artists)
Li Hui: Void and Substance, Zadok Gallery, Miami, FL
Shen Shaomin: I Touched the Voice of God, Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, NY
Material Object, Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, NY
Liu Bolin: Lost in Art, Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, NY
Website / @EliKleinFineArt
