Galleries downsize amid art boom

SINGAPORE - Despite the visual arts boom in Singapore, it is not all boom for art galleries.

At least four galleries have closed or will soon close their brick-and-mortar spaces, and have changed the way they operate over the past few months. Another two galleries have downsized, citing increased competition and high rentals.

They point to alternatives to maintaining a brick-and-mortar gallery, such as operating online and at the growing number of art fairs such as the bi-annual Affordable Art Fair, where they can rent booths and sell their works over a few days.

The shutters have come down on Artesan Gallery+Studio at Raffles Hotel Arcade and The Gallery of Gnani Arts at Tanglin Shopping Centre. Artesan's director Roberta Dans will now focus on participating in art fairs as well as at pop-up shows at other venues. Gnani Arts has moved to a warehouse space in Kallang Pudding Road, where viewings will be by appointment only.

It also plans to do two major exhibitions a year at other venues as well as participate in art fairs.

Another gallery that has closed is John Erdos Art at Dempsey Road. Owner John Erdos has opted to integrate art into his home furnishings store in the same complex, instead of having a standalone space for showcasing art.

A fourth gallery, Galerie Steph, will let go of its permanent tenancy at Artspace@ Helutrans in Tanjong Pagar Distripark, and will arrange to lease it on an ad-hoc basis for exhibitions. Its final exhibition for this year is Singapore artist Yeo Shih Yun's solo that opens on July 17.

At least two other galleries have scaled down their spaces: Chan Hampe Galleries, also at Raffles Hotel Arcade, has downsized from two units to one, while Indigo Blue Art has given up its 3,000 sq ft Neil Road shophouse for a 1,400 sq ft space in Temple Street.

Mrs Dans, who is in her 50s, was drawn to the ambience of the Raffles Hotel when she relocated her 10-year-old Bukit Timah gallery Artesan there last year. She hoped to draw more walk-in customers at Raffles Hotel Arcade.

But she says that "with a physical gallery space, I found myself always looking at the next exhibition. I came to a point where I felt I was losing a bit of my perspective on why I got into the business in the first place. The operating costs were getting higher".

Industry insiders say the operating costs for an art gallery vary from $20,000 to $50,000 a month, depending on the location. Apart from rental, which makes up a significant chunk, galleries have to pay staff salaries, insurance as well as shipping costs for the works if the artist is based overseas.

Mrs Dans now works from home, maintains the Artesan brand and website and hopes to work with educational institutes to promote fresh as well as established artists.

Competition from the likes of the Gillman Barracks gallery cluster off Alexandra Road has led other gallerists to redefine their niche. Mr Erdos, 50, for example, says he decided that people respond to art better when they see it in a home setting, amid the store's furniture, rather than in a white space.

Gallerist Benjamin Hampe of Chan Hampe Galleries says it is building a new not-for-profit arts space in Geylang which will be completed next year. It will showcase new and emerging Singapore and South-east Asian artists and will complement its gallery at the Raffles Hotel.

He says: "With the introduction of Gillman Barracks as well as a slew of other new galleries seeking to capitalise on the art market hype, many excellent galleries that existed before the current situation have found it difficult to maintain their bottom line."

Given this, he says new business models being explored include relinquishing or downsizing their physical gallery space in favour of an "agency or consulting model".

One example is Indian art specialist Indigo Blue Art, which is focusing on building art portfolios for its new clients. Its director Suman Aggarwal, 44, says: "We are moving more into investment art. In the last 12 years, I have built strong relationships with collectors."

Giving up a shophouse for a much smaller space has "halved my overheads", she adds.

She feels the art market has changed dramatically in the last six years. "With the advent of the Internet, I feel artists have become so much more accessible and that a gallery's role needs to be

re-defined. The era of exclusivity is over." She will no longer do big openings and will present instead smaller curated shows.

Some "natural attrition" in the gallery scene is expected, given developments such as the popularity of art fairs, says Mr Hampe.

He says that the downside, however, is that "it has opened the floodgates to allow sub-standard artworks to enter the market... I think a lot of new buyers are being led astray by proliferate art fairs without any concern for quality and meaningful contribution to long-term market development".

This article was first published on June 6, 2014.
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