ARTWEEK : INTERVIEW WITH JASON PATRICK VOEGELE, THE LODGE GALLERY

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Jason Patrick Voegele

Thanks so much to Artweek.com and Artjobs‘s Liza SKova for this interview from early August about new ideas, partnership and the unique purpose of The Lodge Gallery

http://www.artjobs.com/arts/interview/manhattan-art-space-new-ideas-healthy-debate-interview-jason-patrick-voegele-lodge#

By Liza Shashkova @ ARTWEEK, 2016

1. Jason, you are an NYC based curator, creative entrepreneur, director, producer and public speaker but you started out as an artist, am I correct ?

I did start out as an artist. When I was 13 years old I was growing up overseas in Taipei, Taiwan and I had an amazing teacher who showed me how to use oil paint. She encouraged me to think critically about art and seek to discover my own voice. From there I came to New York in 1991 to study painting at Pratt Institute. When I talk now about process, studio rituals or creative development, I still like to use the language of painting. I haven’t painted in quite a long time though. After I left Yancey Richardson Gallery in 2009, I was primarily writing and curating and from that came Republic Worldwide, followed by The Lodge Gallery after Keith and I finally met. I feel like it was all a fluid transition and each step along the way had informed the next.

” In a way, many of the questions and subjects I like to explore as a curator and a producer are the same subjects I found fascinating as a painter and a maker. “

2. What was the inspiration & motivation to open The Lodge Gallery with your partner, Keith Schweitzer ?

Keith and I worked together many times before we decided to move forward and open a new gallery together. When Keith and I met, he had just left No Longer Empty as a founding member and was the Director of Public Arts for F.A.B. in the Lower East Side. We teamed up to curate a few shows and served as the development directors for the last few iterations of the Fountain Art Fair in Miami and New York before we agreed to open The Lodge. We have always been interested in what the purpose and function of an art gallery should be and how we could make the most of the opportunity.

” We wanted to build an exhibition space with an alternative business model that could become a gathering point for our community to explore new ideas and engage in healthy debate. Our unusual hours accommodate all sorts of collectives and creative events that encourage and support that kind of discourse and experimentation. “

I think that if you look back at all the work we have done over the last four years, you will see repeated thematic patterns in our programing and that speaks for itself about the inspiration that guides our direction.

3. The Lodge Gallery began exhibiting and promoting mid-career artists in 2012. How has the gallery expanded in recent years and what is the next step ?

That’s true. Since 2012 we have been primarily promoting the work of mid-career representational artists who have already had a solo exhibition or two under their belts and price points based on existing sales histories. In addition to the average four solo exhibitions we produce each year,

” we also curate around five or six group exhibitions that allow us to open up opportunities to work with both younger emerging creatives and more established artists who are interested in a particular project or curatorial vision rather than long term obligations and contracted relationships. “

We have a loose stable of artists that we work with pretty regularly but our flexible approach has allowed us to develop projects that have attracted hundreds of the best working artists in New York and abroad. Each one of them is a different evolving relationship with respect to each artists needs and career goals.

There are a few interesting changes in our programing this year. Lately we have had a heavy focus on two person shows and have opened up at least three month long projects that bring in outside curators to the space. For example, in September we will be working with Michael David from Life on Mars Gallery in Brooklyn and in October, we are working with Dina Brodsky to install a fifty-person invitational group exhibition titled, Point of Origin.

4. Who is the most recent artist you exhibited and why did you choose them ?

Our current exhibition, Unintended Archeology, by Levan Mindiashvilli and Uta Bekaia is about screen memory. It is focused around the idea of remembering the past; even the most certain memories of your childhood, what you are really remembering is the last time you remembered remembering it. Now that sounds a bit confusing but it’s like playing a game of telephone with the memories of your life. The reality of your memory transforms each time you recall the thought. Levan and Uta are from The Republic of Georgia so many of the images are references to the post-Soviet era of Eastern Europe. Most of the work struggles through the effort to reconcile ideas like national identity and attempts to accurately recall transformation on both the personal and cultural levels. We’ve worked with Levan before. He did his first NY solo exhibition at The Lodge about two years ago. The decision to put this show together definitely comes out of our own curiosity about cultural identity and how to manage information inundation. There are also undertones of ideas about the relationship of the body to architecture and we have done a number of projects on that subject over the years. Our next show is titled, A Peculiar Nature, and features Sirikul Pattachote and Tawan Wattuya from Bangkok, Thailand. That opens August 3rd through September 4th.

5. Do galleries really need to have a physical space anymore, when business is mainly conducted at art fairs, phone or email ?

I suppose it all depends on how you define the purpose of a gallery. If a gallery is meant to be a purely commercial venture then I do not see much of a future in that for young gallerists or curators. It’s true that the business of selling art has transformed in ways no one ever saw coming 20 years ago. It’s funny to think about how the old gallery model has been surrounded by extremes of change on both sides. On one side you have the art fairs that satellite around the bigger art fairs with big money investors and art world insiders with all of the fruits of success and excess on display, on the other side, you have websites like Instagram and Facebook and other sites like Artnet and Artsy that empower the individual artist and turn painters and sculptors into creative entrepreneurs.

” It’s fair to say that an ambitious creative entrepreneur with a hundred thousand followers on Instagram and access to art fair exposure could do very well in the current climate without traditional gallery representation. “

This brings me back to how you define the purpose of a gallery. Business is business and bills need to be paid at every gallery but we have never believed that the purpose of a gallery should be purely commercial. It needs to have a philosophy too and a vision that artists and patron both feel an intimate connection with. A place to return to often and look forward to in between visits.

” My favorite galleries are like anchors to the real world. Like temples to secular awe where shamans and the tribe come together to experience the theater of human imagination.”

6. Any tips or lessons from the digital marketing side of things ?

Three tips. First, update your website often and link it to all your social media outlets. Update your website, post about it online. Repeat ad nauseam. Second, shows come and go but the documentation lasts forever. None of that will matter if you don’t photograph your projects well and organize them on your website. Third, It’s important to remember that the ultimate goal of digital marketing is to garner real world results.

7. What is “hot” on the New York Art Scene at the moment and what upcoming show are you most excited about ?

Well the Lower East Side is having its official moment now so it’s pretty hot all over down here. If you head over to the Bowery there is a great show open at The New Museum called “The Keeper” that was really inspiring. Also, the new site of the International Center of Photography just opened nearby there too so that’s worth a visit.

” Other than that everyone is still getting all set for the opening of the fall season in September and that’s always one of the most interesting times of the year. It’s often indicative of what to expect from the Art Basel art fairs in Miami in December. “

Until then the city is full of some really great representational painting exhibitions because representational painting is finally back in the “hot” zone.

J.P. Voegele @ New York Foundation for the Arts – Visiting Critic Doctors Program Oct. 2015, NYC

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Jason Patrick Voegele

Hey all, this Monday the 19th I’ve been asked to participate as a visiting critic in the NYFA Doctors program. Looking forward to meeting some interesting new artists…
More info about the last day of registration and the Doctor’s bio’s below.
#NYFA , #ArtDoctors , #TheLodge

http://current.nyfa.org/post/129577789618/doctors-hours-for-visual-artists-october-19

Get practical and professional advice in person from one or more arts professionals at our next Doctor’s Hours for Visual Artists. Register for a 20-minute one-on-one appointment with a consultant to receive feedback about your website or an application you’re working on, and ask questions about building your artistic career.

As part of the event, NYFA will be hosting a conversation on gallery relationships with Jessica Porter, Porter Contemporary from 6:00 – 7:00 PM.

Date of Event: Monday, October 19, 2015, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: NYFA Office, 20 Jay Street, Suite 740, Brooklyn, NY 11201 & Skype appointments available with Kimberly Marrero

CONSULTANT BIOS: Marco Antonini, Executive Director and Curator at NURTUREart, Heather Darcy Bhandari, Director at Mixed Greens Gallery, Erin Donnelly, Programs Manager, Smack Mellon, Mollie Flanagan, Program Manager, NARS Foundation, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Independent Curator and Critic, Jason Patrick Voegele, Director/Co-Founder, The Lodge Gallery
Jason Patrick Voegle is a NYC based curator, creative director, producer, artist, writer and public speaker on subjects that range from contemporary art to comparative religions, Hallie Ringle, Senior Curatorial Assistant, The Studio Museum in Harlem.

Interview- InstallationMagazine, June 2015

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Jason Patrick Voegele

http://installationmag.com/the-copenhagen-connection/

by A Moret and Shana Beth Mason

with Jason Patrick Voegele

In the vibrant, emergent neighborhood of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, some of the most exciting contemporary art is evolving and being seen. It’s no surprise, then, that a new kind of gallery would spring up, playing to more alternative and intimate tastes than those of the “white cube” variety housed in Chelsea or the Upper East Side. The Lodge Gallery, co-founded by Keith Schweitzer and Jason Patrick Voegele, is a hybrid between art salon, exhibition space, community portal, and aesthetic experimentation. Installation speaks to Voegele about its history, its mission, and its future.

(A. Moret) How did The Lodge Gallery come about?

(Voegele) When we first started working together and were beginning to focus our visions, everything seemed to fall into place. It was a natural pairing. After about a year of curating and co-directing a variety of projects around New York and Miami, we wondered if the traditional idea of a gallery could be broadened or reimagined to suit both a changing art market and our shared vision of an alternative business model. We knew that we wanted our new headquarters to be more than just four white walls and wanted it to be a venue for debate, artistic experimentation, and social interaction. We wanted to build an experimental, multi-dimensional exhibition format. Eventually, we chose the Lower East Side because there is such a rich history of experimentation and authentic expression there. We wanted to be part of a community of galleries that shared our values, so as soon as the opportunity arose, we seized it and called it The Lodge.

(A. Moret) What drives your curatorial programming?

(Voegele) We feel like part of our job is to cultivate and facilitate opportunities for artists first, and everything else follows. There is definitely a core group of familiar artists and faces at The Lodge, but we like working with new artists too and are always finding new ways to develop projects that engage new talent. We primarily exhibit mid-career, representational artists. If you look back through our catalog, you will see hints of special interests that we have revisited from time to time. Keith and I have a lot of diverse interests and are curious about exploring a broad spectrum of subject matter. In any given season, you might find us investigating subjects such as architecture, natural science, and/or mythological archetypes. We both like to think that curation can be an art form, itself, and we are lucky in the sense that we have found a unique way to operate a program allowing us to explore our own curiosities about the world around us.

(A. Moret) In what ways do you feel that each of your respective backgrounds support the The Lodge Gallery’s mission?

(Voegele) Keith and I come from very different backgrounds, but I think we are both grounded in similar values and a sense of community. Keith grew up in New York and studied art and business at The George Washington University in Washington D.C. I came to New York in 1991 from an international school in Taipei, Taiwan to study painting and art history at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Keith’s financial background and experience in public art programming coupled with my background in art history and commercial gallery experience drive a lot of our alternative ideas about how to manage the gallery and all of our other projects. I think that our individual experience and history of engaging the public through [previous] organizations we have worked with and have founded reflect well in the alternative business model we have built. One of the things we enjoy the most here at the Lodge is the opportunity to converse with visitors from all sorts of various backgrounds. I think it was important for both of us that The Lodge was designed to be a useful and effective part of the community.

(A. Moret) How did you first meet and then determine you wanted to open the gallery together?

(Voegele) In 2012, Keith and I were both out in NYC hustling to grow our own arts organizations. I had been curating exhibitions and managing private art collections with Republic Worldwide since I had left a Chelsea gallery job in 2009, and Keith, after having been one of the founding members of No Longer Empty, had begun a new public art venture called The MaNY Project. We were introduced by a mutual friend to work on an exhibition on 35^th street. We hit it off right away and the show was a success. Following that show, there was actually a long period of courting in a sense. After working together on various exhibitions and projects around NYC and Miami, we decided to open a gallery together. We wanted our professional partnership to be based on a mutual respect for each other’s work ethic and a shared vision of the future. The similarity in our aesthetic tastes were obvious from our first project, but it took about a year of working together before we settled on a plan to merge our professional projects and lay down the foundations of what would become The Lodge Gallery.

(A. Moret) The Lodge Gallery also serves as the exhibition space for Republic Worldwide, giving the gallery two distinct spaces- an exhibition space and a bar area that encourages conversation. How do the spaces complement each other? Do you see Republic Worldwide as a salon that incubates ideas and supports the work of emerging artists?

(Voegele) From its inception, Republic Worldwide has had three separate divisions. The first is our art consultation and art logistics department, which manages both private and corporate art collections. The second is our community and charitable outreach program. The third is our exhibition division, which is most visible in the form of The Lodge Gallery. In addition to co-directing The Lodge, Keith and I manage the day-to-day business of the larger Republic together, as well. The bar behind the gallery is called Figure 19, and in the evenings it transforms the gallery into a whole other animal. We are partners with Fig 19 and with that partnership (in many ways) it dictates our unusual hours, which run from mid-afternoon to late in the evening. Certainly, the history of salon culture plays a huge part in the history of the Lower East Side and the New York art world. When people refer to New York as the “great melting pot”, they are referring to neighborhoods like the L.E.S. that have long histories of fusing multiple cultures into one cohesive, functional environment. Often it’s been the salons, galleries, and bars that have served as great congregation points for people from all walks of life to gather together for a drink and debate philosophy or the news of the day. Here at The Lodge, surrounded by the best and brightest artists in the city, we like to think we offer an extension of that history. We hope that our adapted formula for a new generation offers the same opportunity for community and social interaction that inspired us when we were first starting out.

(A. Moret) What kind of events are you planning for the future?

(Voegele) Our next exhibition at The Lodge Gallery is called Post Human Utopia, which poses a fascinating, thoughtful experiment: if you take every living human off the Earth, what traces of us would linger and what would disappear? Will the footprint of humanity fade away completely, or have humans so irrevocably altered the environment that the impact of man will continue to shape the earth’s landscape far beyond the days of our departure? The show features Valerie Hegarty, George Boorujy, Kate Clark, Ryan Mclennan, Sarah Bereza, Doug Young, and Lori Nix. It takes a unique look into a seemingly dystopian situation and contemplates the positive repercussions of our absence. That show opens on April 22. Beyond that, our Spring and Fall seasons for 2015 will present all sorts of interesting projects. You can keep up to date with all of our upcoming work on our website.

(A. Moret) For the group exhibition “The Copenhagen Interpretation,” you presented the work of 18 artists working in drawing, painting, collage, and photography. It is in collaboration with Gallery Poulsen (a progressive exhibition space in Copenhagen)? Is this your first time collaborating with them? What prompted the presentation of their artists at The Lodge Gallery? What similarities do you see between The Lodge Gallery and Gallery Poulsen?

(Voegele) Well, first we would like to thank Morten Poulsen from Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen for reaching out to us with the idea for this project last December at Art Basel in Miami. He was at Pulse and we were doing NADA, just up the beach. We have both worked with so many of the same artists over the years; it seemed perfectly harmonious that we would team up on a project together. Morten primarily shows artists from New York at his gallery, and because both of our galleries embrace a similar aesthetic and cull from a similar network of artists, there is a certain amount of crossover that happens in both programs. We might have different formulas for success, but we attract similar progressive, intellectually forward-minded talent. It’s the first direct collaboration we have done together, but it probably wont be the last. It’s been a lot of fun and has a very “family” atmosphere. After the “The Copenhagen Interpretation” comes down on April 4^th, whatever is left of the artwork will return to Copenhagen for Part II of the project, which took place at Morten’s gallery in Copenhagen’s meatpacking district on April 17^th.

(A. Moret) The gallery’s 18 artists are both from the US and abroad. Why is it important for The Lodge Gallery to showcase the work of international artists?

(Voegele) Most of the artists in the show are based in New York. They are all from very diverse backgrounds and upbringings. I grew up overseas in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and was immersed in an extremely diverse international community from a very young age. Keith has travelled extensively, as well, and was also raised with a very realistic perspective of our current, interconnected global society. I think part of our vision here at The Lodge Gallery is to embrace partnerships and projects that promote this interconnectedness and offer artists the opportunity to explore ideas about their place in an increasingly global art market. I think it’s also interesting to note the rich history of immigrant culture in the Lower East Side that is still very much alive today. For hundreds of years and after the arrival of countless waves of immigrants from every corner of the earth, the Lower East Side continues to thrive as a place where people from anywhere can come to pursue dreams and share ideas together. In that sense, we feel like our environment really plays well into our vision.

(A. Moret) The title of exhibition, The Copenhagen Interpretation, suggests that each artist reflects their environment in some direct way. William Powhida writes a tromp l’oeil piece addressed to New York City, while Rainer Hosch captures a comedy legend. In what ways have you discovered the significance of an artist’s environment in their work?

(Voegele) Well, the Hosch and the Powhida works are good examples. Hosch is in California and over there, everyone is a comedian (so it’s no wonder that Carlin is rolling his eyes). Seriously though, Powhida is a good example, too. He has a solo exhibition up at Gallery Poulsen on the same subject right now. I also think that John Jacobsmeyer’s Alligator Pit is a good example of the influence of familiar video game imagery on traditional media, and Tom Sanford always has a magical way of bringing personal characters from his life and neighborhood into his work. Daniel Davidson is very successful at the same thing, but with his own unique style.

(A. Moret) How has the public responded to the show, thus far, since opening during Armory Week?

(Voegele) The response has been phenomenal and it’s been great working with so many talented and dedicated artists. The artists in Morten’s stable are all close friends, and even though we know many of the artists very well, it’s been inspiring to be caught up in the team camaraderie. Although it was Armory Week when we opened and there were hundreds of art world events happening around the city, the VIP and collector reception and the public reception that followed generated record numbers of visitors and guests. Press and sales have been great too, so we are looking forward to next year and what might come out of another collaboration.

Artnet – 14 Young New York Art Dealers To Watch, 2015

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Jason Patrick Voegele

https://news.artnet.com/people/14-young-new-york-art-dealers-to-watch-253325

by Cait Munro, Friday, February 27, 2015

Unlike artists, who are prized for their youth, art dealers are typically more valued for their experience. Flouting that received wisdom are 14 young, ambitious art dealers from 11 spaces who are getting the art world to take notice. And it’s probably in your interest to keep an eye on them, as well as their peers who we highlighted in our earlier story The Most Admired Art Dealers. We’ve asked these dealers the same handful of questions to pick their brains about identifying new talent, establishing themselves in the art world, and their thoughts on what tomorrow holds. If the future of the New York art world is in their hands, we might not be so screwed after all.

Jason Patrick Voegele and Keith Schweitzer, The Lodge Gallery:

What do you think the future holds for the New York art world?
Schweitzer: There is certainly no shortage of naysayers when it comes to the future of art in New York. It’s currently very expensive to live, work, or play here and it continues to get more so. I look at it this way: it’s always been a tough city in one way or another. There’s a reason they wrote the line “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.”

Voegele: I also think that artists are getting smarter, more business savvy and more capable of self-marketing. Many of the brightest are interested in engaging with dealers and curators in more creative ways that require a flexibility on the part of gallerists that you are just not going to find up on 57th street or within the Chelsea scene. Call it a generational shift if you like. I think it is a very positive direction and its a direction that has really allowed the L.E.S. to flourish as New York continues to change and evolve.

Jason Patrick Voegele Interview with Artefuse.Com

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Jason Patrick Voegele

Jason Patrick Voegele

Co-Founder / Director of The Lodge Gallery and Founder / Co-Director Republic Worldwide

(L-R) Jason Patrick Voegele & Keith Schweitzer

Visit the Artefuse link here – The Interview

By Jamie Martinez

Can you tell us about your background and how you ended up at The Lodge Gallery?

I’m an American citizen but I grew up in South East Asia. Hong Kong and then Taiwan and Singapore respectively. In 1991 I graduated from Taipei American School and came to New York to become the next big thing like everyone else. I went to college at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. I studied painting and then returned to Pratt shortly thereafter to get my masters degree in studio art and art history. In between those years I lost myself studying comparative religions and mythology. That is still my primary passion.

After grad school I went to work in SoHo and Chelsea for some of the coolest galleries I knew that would employ me. I worked up front in sales and behind the scenes as a registrar and preparator for about ten years. Eventually I left all that and started my first gallery in Brooklyn, and then started Republic Worldwide in 2009. Republic did a lot of things and was staffed by the coolest smartest kids I could find. We had a curatorial division, a service/art handling division and a community/charity division that donated time and creative resources to various charities around NYC. We did some amazing work and some amazing shows and then the original team disbanded in early 2011 right around the time I met Keith Schweitzer. Keith had been up to a similar game out in the city when we met. He had founded two of his own curatorial projects and was out there hustling with the best of them. He was the first person I had worked with in New York that could see the future that I saw in a like-minded way. A mutual friend put us in touch and after our first project working together we pretty much became inseparable. We fused all of our work and our vision together under the banner of Republic and around January of 2013, after a long hard stretch of exhibitions in NYC and Miami we seized the opportunity to take over a space on the Lower East Side. It became our permanent venue shortly thereafter. The space became The Lodge of the Republic or The Lodge Gallery. Today The Lodge is the heart of everything we do.

You have a passion for working and giving back to the community. Why is working with the community so important to you?

I have always believed that we enrich our own lives by helping to enrich the lives of others. That’s been part of our mission at Republic and The Lodge from the start.

When I was a kid my mother’s father was the Secretary of Labor for the state of Idaho, my father’s father was a decorated Major in the Army Corps of Engineers and my father, who also grew up as an expatriate American in Europe and The Middle East, worked his whole life to better the reputation of Americans abroad. They all believed that if you want a better America you have to step up and become a better American. I suppose in my own small art world way I’ve been trying to do that.

Especially here in New York the art world can become so insular. I like working with artists and finding projects that engage new audiences to help develop relationships between communities that would not otherwise have interacted. There are a lot of ways to do that and I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a great many talented and selfless people who have dedicated their lives to making the world a better place. It’s a hugely rewarding and educational experience every time I have the chance to engage with a new cause or visionary community organization.

That’s really great Jason. The world needs more people like you. Can you talk about the current show at The Lodge Gallery NO CITY IS AN ISLAND?

Sure, in February we were approached by Christy Rupp who is an original member of the art collective Colab. We had exhibited Christie’s work in the past so she was familiar with the gallery and Keith and I were aware of Colab and their influence on the Lower East Side so everyone was excited to put this project together. The Colab Collective is probably best known for their revolutionary 1980 exhibition “The Real Estate Show” which was organized in response to the grim economic conditions facing tenants of what was then, although culturally thriving, a nearly bankrupt, violent and desperate New York City. The show was confrontational, installed in a space that was occupied illegally and really galvanized the artist community, the press and city officials who shut the show down.

We reached out to as many of the original artists from that exhibition as we could and offered them the opportunity to submit work in response to the project title “NO CITY IS AN ISLAND”. The response turned out to be phenomenal and perhaps with the exception of only two or three artists, most of the work in the show ended up ranging from the late 80′s to the early 90′s.

“NO CITY IS AN ISLAND” revisits the zeitgeist of a New York City that is all but a memory now. It compares and contrasts the artists and urban realities of a New York that was struggling through a period of intense transformation. One of the most interesting aspects of this project has been getting to know these artists and to watch them reunite with the same love of New York and passion for their work and at a time when the subject of intense urban transformation could not be more relevant.

Another cool thing about the show is that it came together just in time for Lower East Side history month and is part of a multi-venue celebration of Colab and revisitation of “The Real Estate Show” with James Fuentes Gallery, Chuchifritos Gallery and ABC No Rio.

I went to James Fuentes Gallery for the opening and it was great; a lot of the artists where there. Speaking of real estate, how do you feel about having so many galleries opening up in the Lower East Side?

Yeah, the Fuentes show was awesome. It’s been great to see such an outpouring of support for Lower East Side history and for so many of the artists that early on helped to make this neighborhood legendary.

There has definitely been a huge boom in the number of galleries popping up down here and it has been great for the community. It’s been a long time coming though. I recall in the early 90’s there was a big push to legitimize the art scene down here and I think it fell apart primarily because the gallery visions and business concepts were based on an antiquated models that inhibited creativity and were inevitably unsustainable. The reason I believe it is working now is that the new galleries of the L.E.S., each in their own way, have embraced alternative business models and have begun to wonder if the traditional idea of a gallery can’t be broadened or reimagined to suit a new cultural reality. I also think that artists are getting smarter, more business savvy and more capable of self-marketing. Many of the brightest are interested in engaging with dealers and curators in more creative ways that require flexibility on the part of gallerists that you are just not going to find up on 57th street or within the Chelsea scene. Call it a generational shift. It feels like there is a generational shift going on down here.

What alternative business model does The Lodge Gallery use?

Well Keith and I wear a lot of hats. We do everything from corporate/private art consultation and installation to directing public art programs, marketing and art fair development. That’s all in addition to the gallery and the exhibitions we curate there together. The more we are able to strengthen our network while generating alternative sources of revenue, the freer we are to be experimental with our schedule, our artists and our exhibitions. The idea of trying to meet the bottom line exclusively through art sales alone has been the standard model for decades if not the last hundred years. It’s a slippery slope though because once those rent and electric bills start to roll in it becomes very easy to be tempted into only showing the most sellable work, the most palatable and marketable work. That means artists who are testing limits or pushing experimental boundaries have to take a back seat to the bottom line. We feel like part of our job is to cultivate and facilitate opportunities for artists first. In that spirit we don’t require our artists to sign exclusivity contracts. We don’t represent artists at The Lodge; we represent bodies of work that we consign directly from artists for pre-arranged periods of time.

We also have a uniquely unusual schedule to accommodate a broader audience. Tuesdays through Sunday we have fairy normal daytime gallery hours and then at 8pm we bring in our night staff and stay open until midnight. Our official closing time is 10pm but we are almost always here until midnight. Most people think those hours sound crazy until they find out about the secret behind the west wall of the gallery. Evenings are never boring at The Lodge.

I love your business model, especially the part that you don’t represent artists but bodies of work. What show are you curating next?

Well, by the time this will probably go to print we will be exhibiting the post-industrial urban landscape paintings of Frank Webster in a show titled: Margins. The opening for that is next Friday, May 16th so I hope you come. Very excited for that. It’s funny how sometimes you find out a lot about yourself by looking back at the work you’ve done in the big picture. Sometimes you discover patterns of interest. Frank’s exhibition further explores our interest in urban architecture and if you look back at the last year and a half at the Lodge Gallery it’s pretty obvious that Keith and I are smitten with that subject. But we are interested in a lot of things and the show following that will be a large group exhibition exploring the natural evolution of birds and plants.

I have to attend an earlier opening in Chelsea that night but after that I am open. What advice can you give artists on how to they should approach a gallery?

Well the first piece of advice I would give any artist is to narrow down the playing field. By that I mean go out there and visit the galleries first. See them all and discover the ones that matter the most to you. Seek out the galleries or alternative venues that exhibit other artists who share a similar vision to yours. Those are probably the handful of galleries you should be focusing on.

Building a career in the arts is all about building relationships and seizing opportunities. One side of this requires patience and a genuine commitment to your own goals and the shared long term goals of your friends or peers. The other side requires a commitment to your craft and the flexibility to grow and adapt to the challenges of an unpredictable art market.

Also, first impressions are everything so in this tech savvy world you better have great and up to date website. It’s going to be the primary way you promote yourself and the likely way curators and exhibitors are going to first encounter your work. Nine times out of ten when we are considering an unfamiliar artist for exhibition at the gallery they have come recommended from artists or gallerists we have worked with in the past or through due diligence were discovered in the archives of web based artist registries such as BAC.org, White Columns or Perogi among others. The first thing we do in either case is to look at the website.

Most of the Don’ts when approaching a gallery are just common sense. If anything when you have the chance to pitch your work, don’t try to be something you are not. Be realistic but be confident in yourself and be genuine. Nothing means more to someone when you’re trying to build a relationship than that. After that, it’s just a matter of your talent, your style and how hard you are willing to work before you find someone who believes in what you are doing.

Thanks for the great advice. What do you see on the horizon for Jason and The Lodge Gallery?

Well you know everything is always in a state of transformation. I’m excited to see what will become of The Lodge Gallery as we continue to pursue or original mission. As long as Keith and I are free to continue to develop programing that is relevant and engaging and in our own unique voice, and we can keep the gallery a gathering point for the observant and curious to experiment and debate ideas, you can be certain that it will never be boring. What’s on my horizon? Well if anything my life has never been short of the unexpected or unusual so I can only predict more of my entertaining adventures to follow. Maybe one day soon I’ll get back to Hong Kong for a visit or write a book or something but for now I’m 100% focused on the Lodge and all of the exciting projects we have lined up for the Summer and Fall. I encourage everyone to come on down to the L.E.S. for a visit to the gallery, I’ll most likely be here ready for a chat about whatever inspires you.

Google Glass, Gallery Glass w/ Samantha Katz, September 2013 – Press

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Jason Patrick Voegele

September 2004

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BsvMWcvjtk

DNAinfo.com

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130830/bushwick/bushwick-artist-uses-google-glass-give-inside-look-at-works-process

BUSHWICK — OK, Glass, take me on a virtual art gallery tour.

A Brooklyn artist chosen to be one of the few people to test-drive Google’s groundbreaking cyber-shades Google Glass is using the technology to go behind the scenes with artists in their studios in a bid to transform the way people understand art.

Bushwick-based curator Samantha Katz — one of the people chosen to test out the mini computer as part of Google’s “Glass Explorers” program — is filming Bushwick artists and gallery curators while they work, so viewers can understand the evolution of a show and “feel what it’s like to walk in a studio.”

“Gallery Glass,” a virtual gallery launching on YouTube Sept. 1, will feature a different artist or curator in a new short video each day. The technology, which will be worn by the artists as they create their work, will provide a far more intimate video than a typical documentary, Katz said.

“The end goal is really creating a whole new form of accessibility for artists and art lovers,” said Katz, 27, a lead organizer of Bushwick Open Studios, who first conceived of Gallery Glass for aesthetes who’d missed out on the giant festival. “Having produced [Bushwick Open Studios] I started to wonder how I could take the experience beyond that weekend and into the online realm.”

Artist Jen Dunlap, who wore Katz’s glasses while completing some intricate details on a painting, said she was struck by the ability to watch the video of her work in process, while also watching the work directly.

“It totally gives you a different perspective on capturing the act of making art,” Dunlap said, noting that artists could reveal “where they pause to think about their next step, or how their hand touches the surface of whatever they are creating.”

“Most people … only get to interact with art from a very flat perspective,” she said. “They only see the art on the wall but they don’t know the evolution of show.”

Katz predicted the technology would spread throughout the art community.

“In five years I envision all artists launching their own channels and inviting others to see the process of how their work is done,” Katz said.

Abstract minimalist painter Christopher Stout noted that the Internet had already dramatically diversified his customers, but he said the in-depth look at his work could help spark even more curious viewers.

“A lot of people feel scared to go to a gallery, they think they have to be smart enough or rich enough or whatever,” he said. A film of his process and unfinished work would likely make his pieces more accessible, he said.

But he said he wasn’t sure all artists would break out Google Glass in their studios.

“Is Google Glass any different than something else on YouTube? I’m not sure,” Stout mused, but said he imagined the product’s hype would certainly draw attention to Gallery Glass.

And gallerist Jason Patrick Voegele, who runs the Lodge Gallery on the Lower East Side, said Katz helped the technology seem more approachable and useful in the daily world.

“What Samantha is doing with Gallery Glass is one of those ideas that brings the message to the people and makes new ideas stick,” he said.