With a world in crisis and an art market spinning out of control, ace art-world consultants Chen & Lampert deliver hard truths in response to questions sent by Art in America readers from far and wide.
Last year you answered a reader’s question about grants, and it really got me thinking. I’m a mid-career artist with 25 years of exhibitions in respected galleries and art spaces. I never pursued grants or residencies earlier in my career, and as a result my credentials might appear thin. Your response prompted me to apply for a number of different grants, but so far nothing has worked out. Doing all this paperwork is actually pretty depressing. I feel like I gave it a go and should move on, but there’s a part of me that wants to keep at it despite my low chances. Is it worth it to keep trying?
Once you’ve double-checked the project budget and resized JPEGs to the required DPI, your anxiety and acid reflux start acting up as you wonder: What if my application is declined? How will I make my work without a grant? At this point you’ve held steady for a quarter-century and managed to survive without hard-earned handouts. It appears that what you really desire is support, by which we mean acknowledgement from peers, panelists, and the extended Guggenheim family. But also, of course, a comically oversized check that can actually be deposited in a real FDIC-insured bank.
There is no shake-and-bake recipe for getting a grant, aside from the not-so-secret herbs and spices that are nepotism and cronyism. Lacking these ingredients, you still need to fry up a concise application that thoughtfully demonstrates the timeliness and urgency of your proposed project. Make sure to emphasize your decades of experience and demonstrate how grant-givers’ support will substantially bolster your vision at this crucial juncture. Don’t focus on dates, names, or details listed on the attached CV; instead, gush to them about compelling new ideas and your enthusiasm for building on previous accomplishments. They’d have to be cretinous schmucks not to want to help you grow.
You may opt to give up … or you could keep sending in the same, lightly touched-up application every grant season. Chances are they’ll eventually be forced to acknowledge you. This probably sounds outlandish, but we know rejectees who’ve doggedly hounded the same foundations for years and years until finally nabbing their award. If you think this is obnoxious and demeaning, remember that many of our most visible and rewarded artists are also our most tenacious naggers. Major funding organizations essentially recognize that you won’t stop applying, and whether they truly believe in your mission, they may ultimately greenlight a grant to make you go far, far away.
I work in the storage area at a gallery and while reshelving things I dropped a painting. No one saw it happen. The piece was wrapped with foam, but a corner got dinged. The art is just going back on the rack for the time being, so do I have to tell my boss? They’ll discover it eventually, but by then I won’t be working here anymore.
Here’s how we suspect this will go: It may be weeks, months or even years, but the discoverer of the damaged painting won’t care enough to investigate what happened. Sure, the gallerist will be miffed, but what’s new about that? An art handler (who, like you, won’t last long) will deliver the canvas to a framer for repair or replacement. They’ll charge a small fortune, but that’s par for the course because the bill—along with charges for the opening dinner, the e-flux ad, bubble wrap, and all other operational costs the gallery can tack on—will all be deducted from the artist’s cut of the sale. Or, just as likely, the piece will continue collecting dust until doomsday. By that point you’ll have far more pressing things to attend to, like finding potable water and not getting mowed down by bloodthirsty Waymo cabs. The karmic butterfly effect of one busted frame is nothing to fret about considering what’s coming.
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