Less than Friends, More than Acquaintances: Artists, Markets and Gallery Openings in New York

Abstract This article describes one way that unknown and ‘emerging’ artists with limited exhibition history or reputation take steps towards developing their careers. Artists cannot apply directly for exhibition opportunities, therefore they develop social associations with gallerists that are described as being ‘kind-of-friendly-with’. Using a descriptive ethnographic narrative drawn from a case study of artists as they navigate an evening of commercial gallery openings in New York’s Chelsea district, it is argued that establishing a career in contemporary visual art depends on the ability to render one’s self visible to other participants in an art world. Rather than viewing the symbolic value of artworks as antagonistic with the economic art market, artists seek to establish social associations in which different forms of value are interrelated. In conclusion it is suggested that this is an art world in which the ‘economic world reversed’ is inversed.