Jimi Dams of envoy enterprises has announced the gallery will close its space August 4th after twelve years of operation. The reasons are the same as pretty much any emerging and middle market closure. In the parting words of Dams, “It’s no fun.”
On its own that rationale sounds a bit privileged. It’s not a basic human right to enjoy your job. But the reality for most small businesses owners is that there has to be some enjoyment to the work or there’s no point in doing it. There are easier ways to make money (and usually more of it).
But the reason so many of us do what we do is because we believe in what we do. In the words of Dams, “We should be improving people’s lives through art, we should be trying to create a world where art is living on every level, indivisible from life and for everyone to experience. Art should be about an attitude and about not being frightened of being thought of as uncool. It should be the antithesis of consumerism and aesthetic corruption that riddles the art world.”
Those are the reasons we get into this world, and when we can no longer find these qualities within the field, they are the reasons we leave. And frankly, Dams isn’t saying anything every other gallerist in the middle tier hasn’t thought at some point. It’s grueling work with little financial stability and diminishing personal rewards.
But make no mistake, every time someone who believes there is more to art than acquiring market-darling artists decides it’s time to close up shop, the art world loses. And it’s not just a small loss. Jimi Dams takes with him, a little part of the art world’s soul.
His good-bye letter below.
As of August 4th, envoy enterprises will close its gallery space.
While ee will continue to exist, the time has come to take a step back and change the formula.The reason for my decision is simple…. it is not fun anymore.
In my opinion the art industry has developed into an uninteresting, boring entity. I have no interest in mimicking innovation. I have no interest in any kind of short-termism and I do not wish to be a part of an art industry in which a four leaf clover gets stripped of its extra leaf to make it fit into the standard idea of a clover.
I have no interest in being part of an art industry where eyes have been replaced by dollar signs; an eagerness to experience and learn replaced by hiring personal shoppers; and ambition, which once used to push the quality of art, reduced to a hunger for being listed in whatever top ten du jour.
On top of that, I find the continuous focus on ‘art fairs’ incomprehensible and its vulgarity staggering. Is there really any one out there who believes people visit art fairs from a desire to improve their perceptions?
We should be improving people’s lives through art, we should be trying to create a world where art is living on every level, indivisible from life and for everyone to experience. Art should be about an attitude and about not being frightened of being thought of as uncool. It should be the antithesis of consumerism and aesthetic corruption that riddles the art world.
It should be about the idealization and aestheticization of daily life as opposed to guarding so-called critical high standards within the increasingly static art establishment and its ridiculous hierarchy.
It should be, but it is not.Thank you to everyone who supported me over the years. I appreciate your loyalty and love more than you can imagine.
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