The Essential New Art Examiner

N.A.M.E. at Six

L y nne W arren N.A.M.E. at Six Re-Defining the Role of Alternative Spaces June 1979 “I thought how History has a two-fold effect, viz., intellectual pleasure and moral pain.” —Emerson My friend Jeff has a very provocative theory about the art world and co-operative galleries, or, to be more precise, “artist-run alternative spaces.” His theory goes something like this: Alternative spaces founded and run by artists are “contexts for the insecure.” This phrase means simply that those persons (artists) who have no standing in the art world are the people likely to start or be involved in an alternative space. Through such acts, these people garner the recognition they crave from what I shall call “the establishment art world” or EAW. These artists are not motivated to become involved with an alternative space because their particular types of art works are unsuitable for presentation or absorption by the EAW, as the common myth has it. It is obvious that there are many “establishment artists” around who do untraditional works that are difficult to show in a gallery or museum setting—Burden, Christo, Oppenheim, and Serra, for example. In fact, many contemporary artists do work of this nature, and untraditional work is in reality a valuable calling card when courting the EAW. Nor do these artists become involved in alternative spaces for the other reason so often cited: that although their work is in traditional, “galleryprone ” modes—painting, sculpture, and the like—it is in a style not in demand or sanctified by the art marketplace of the moment. Thus, even 72   T h e E s s e n t i a l N ew A rt E xaminer if such artists wished to work with the establishment or show in a commercial gallery, they would be excluded because of their unsuitable style. This cannot be so. Looking at the artists who have shown in alternative spaces, one is immediately struck by the large numbers who quickly leaped into the EAW after initial exposure, and further have become acceptable and even successful. Artists whose work is truly not in demand or truly unacceptable to the EAW would have no such luck. Thus, through the development of a context in which to be viewed, for themselves and their art works, alternative-space artists have a more confident facade behind which to hide their personal and artistic insecurity . They simply “create” their own art world. This is a great danger, according to my friend, because he feels that the EAW has become quite dependent on the art put forth by the alternative spaces, and that this art, because it is produced in a context of insecurity, is inferior. He finds even more disturbing the EAW’s willingness to leave the job of taking the risk out of “new art” and new artistic thoughts—a burden he feels should be shared by all—to the alternative spaces. Subscribing to this rather radical viewpoint, one can see why my friend saw the flowering of the alternative spaces as one of the worst things that could have happened to the Chicago art scene. However it is virtually a tenet of dogma that the alternative spaces were one of the best things that could have happened to the Chicago art scene. Last month N.A.M.E. Gallery, celebrated its sixth anniversary (its fifth on Hubbard Street) with a show documenting its history along with the publication of a limited-edition portfolio featuring six gallery members and four rather more renowned artists. In light of the attention that N.A.M.E. has focused on itself for this anniversary, it seems suitable to single it out for an examination of the entire phenomenon of artist-run spaces in Chicago. Why did they come about in the first place? What kind of effect did they have on the EAW? How did they define themselves, and what role did they actually play? What is in store for the future? “It was through a network of friends who got together at studios to talk,” says Phil Berkman, a founding member of N.A.M.E. Said Jerry Saltz, a second founding member, in a 1974 interview published in the New Art Examiner: “We were meeting together and talking—at first just individuals who happened to be artists getting together to see what it was like.” It is hard to get any concrete statement from the N.A.M.E, founders1 on...