Sean Kelly Gallery

The Exhibition - Collect Wisely, is a virtual presentation. Like the Collect Wisely podcast, the exhibition exists outside the aegis of the gallery and the artists it represents. Instead, it is centered around artworks from the collections of our podcast participants, among them Marieluise Hessel Artzt, J. Tomilson Hill, Rodney Miller, Howard Rachofsky, Gary Yeh, and Tiffany Zabludowicz. The online exhibition includes images of work selected by each collector accompanied by comments explaining their choices. Collect Wisely is a provocative media campaign launched by the gallery on May 2, 2018, designed to encourage lively conversation around topics of collecting and connoisseurship. Collect Wisely’s aim has been to question the art world status quo and its increasing preoccupation with short-term monetary interests, and to refocus the dialogue around core values central to artists and the art they create. It is a call to action, a far-reaching initiative bringing together individuals, institutions, and galleries interested in building a vital community as well as inspiring future generations to focus on a wide-ranging and meaningful investment in culture. A cornerstone of this initiative is the Collect Wisely podcast, a series of interviews in which Sean Kelly discusses with collectors their passion for art, artists, and the core values of why they collect. Twenty-one episodes have been recorded to date, touching upon topics ranging from what it means to be a collector today; how that has changed over time; and where the future of collecting is headed, to what it means to live with and think about objects deeply and critically? Two years on, the world as we once knew it has shifted irrevocably; the future uncertain. The good news is that the world—and by extension, the art world—will survive the COVID-19 pandemic. In this interregnum, we have paused to reflect and think more intently about not just what we value, but our own core values. With galleries, museums, cultural, performing, and visual arts institutions shuttered, we believe strongly that art will continue to inspire and sustain us, perhaps now more than ever. To reflect upon and explore this conviction more widely, we have turned to the collectors featured in the podcast and asked them how recent conditions have affected their current thinking about art. In particular, is there one work of art in their own collection that they have been contemplating deeply in this moment of self-isolation and quarantine? Or is there a certain work in their collection through which they have discovered new meaning, or rediscovered passion, given the challenging and unfamiliar circumstances in which we find ourselves? Considering the extraordinary circumstances in which we now find ourselves, it seems that the moment for such an exhibition could not be more propitious. We hope it will provide encouragement and inspiration for the entire art world community.

As we are all currently socially isolating for the greater good, one of the greatest losses we feel is the strong sense of connection we have with you, our community of artists, friends, collectors, and institutional colleagues. To keep the conversation vital during these uncertain times, we have introduced an ongoing program of new digital initiatives accessible through the gallery’s Instagram and social media accounts. We hope you will find these programs, engaging, entertaining and enlightening. Please follow us @SeanKellyNY and skny.com/news-events every day to stay connected. Each day’s program in this ongoing weekly series will focus on one of the artists, their art and practice, our collective histories, and plans for the future. Tuesday is #InTheStudio In these brief videos and/or photo essays, we check in with one of our artists in their studio to see what they are working on and what is currently motivating and inspiring them. Wednesdays we go #InDetail This program will provide a deep dive into a singular work by one of our artists, discussing how it fits into their oeuvre, context, career, and its significance culturally and art historically. Thursday takes us #InTheArchive For these programs we will be mining the gallery’s own history, revisiting memorable and iconic moments from past exhibitions, projects, performances and events sampled from our thirty-year history. Friday’s are #FilmFridays We will live stream a film by one of our artists for 24 hours each Friday on Vimeo. To increase our sense of community during this time and to have some fun, we are encouraging viewers to post pictures of their at-home screening set up and tag @SeanKellyNY. The person judged to have submitted the best picture of them screening the film will receive a signed copy of a catalogue of the featured artist. Saturday is #StaffPicksSaturday Each Saturday a member of the SKNY staff will select a work by one of our artists to feature, explaining how and why it has sparked their interest and is of particular significance for them. We look forward to welcoming you back to the gallery in person as soon as possible, but in the meantime, we want to stay connected with you digitally through social media, our website, and email. We wish everyone good health and safety in the coming days and look forward to hearing from you and seeing you again soon. For more information on the gallery's artists and programs please visit skny.com For all inquiries please contact info@skny.com