Some big news came in today: Kirsten Anderson of Roq La Rue Gallery is bringing on LxWxH Gallery founder Sharon Arnold to act as partner and director of Roq La Rue. The gallery has for sixteen years focused on Pop Surrealism and Magical Realism, and Anderson has established herself nationally with a stable of exceptional artists of these genres and by serving as Editor at Large for Hi-Fructose magazine from 2007 until earlier this year.
Arnold, meanwhile, has worked for years in the arts as an educator, community advocate, arts writer, curator and entrepreneur—all while maintaining her own artistic practice. LxWxH was a fusion of all these things, as the brick-and-mortar gallery in Georgetown hosted group and solo shows, but also produced boxed sets of small works from local artists and writers. (Full disclosure: I contributed as a writer to one of those sets.) The concept generated unique work from local artists that made starting a collection easier for art enthusiasts.
As both Arnold and Anderson can attest, running a gallery is a major undertaking, not to be attempted solo, but finding the right partner who has a similar curatorial eye is quite difficult. Anderson was already a silent partner in LxWxH and both gallerists have an appreciation for work that is technically strong, with lush content that is sometimes surreal but accessible to a broad audience. It helps that they are two of the hardest-working, professional and forthright art dealers in town. By joining forces, Arnold and Anderson will broaden the scope of work shown at Roq La Rue, while giving Anderson time to cultivate the gallery’s reach on a national level and Arnold a more centralized base to continue her advocacy within the region.
This is exciting news for all involved and for the arts community in general, as it encourages everyone to step up their game a little. Seattle has a robust arts community, and galleries like Roq La Rue, M.I.A Gallery and Greg Kucera Gallery—to name a few—bring national and international talent to Seattle audiences, but exporting talent is more difficult and requires gallerists and artists to be involved in other communities and in the speculative and critical aspects of the market. Any time a local gallerist commits to doing more of that, it means good things for the community as a whole.
(Meanwhile, Anderson is also partnering with artist Derek Knobbs on a new clothing and accessory line called Squalor Harbor debuting later this year. It has a very Sea Town, Skid Road vibe to it, true to the history of Pioneer Square in particular. Anderson knows how to represent.)
LxWxH will remain open through this year, though Arnold will also be working at Roq La Rue. It seems that the box set series will end (for now) when the Georgetown location closes in December. There is a rumored possibility that Georgetown will not be losing a gallery, as someone else may step in to occupy the space, but this is unconfirmed at the moment. Hopefully there will be more good news by the end of the year regarding the space and the future of the box subscriptions.
(While we are on the subject, I still can’t get over how cool the most recent box set is by artist-musicians Garek Jon Druss, Emily Pothast and David Golightly. Check out Pothast’s blog to see the wondrous, sculptural form and square record of TEP ZEPI.)
Congratulations to Arnold and Anderson and best of luck to both in the new venture.
