Phoenix New Times offers this coverage on the “pop-up” galleries (temporary galleries with month-to-month rent) that are springing up in downtown Scottsdale, made possible by the nosedive in the commercial real estate market.
Scottsdale’s Marshall Way was hit pretty hard by the downturn; late last year, vacancies turned the once-thriving gallery district into a ghost town.
The article highlights Soyal Gallery, operated by my friends Spencer Hibert and Emmett Potter III, as an example of how a struggling economy has created opportunities for emerging gallery owners and their rosters of artists (such as myself, who is mentioned on page three of the article).
The piece also ties the development of local pop-up galleries with a West Coast and international phenomenon, wherein hard-to-rent commercial spaces have been routinely transformed into venues for successful galleries.
“The history of the art world has always been about revitalizing places no one wants to go,” observes John Spiak, curator at Arizona State University Art Museum. “Galleries have consistently raised property values. … Move in somewhere that will bring activity, and the rest of the surrounding businesses will do better.”
