Art Galleries: Creating Distinct Communities

On the first Friday of every month, the Art District on Santa Fe in downtown Denver holds an event called “First Friday Art Walk” where viewers have the opportunity to experience pieces of art from all over the world. The six blocks that make up Denver’s art district are home to more than thirty galleries, each displaying a variety of pieces. They’re all types of art from modern and contemporary to tribal and traditional. Each gallery has its own persona and style of artwork that makes it unique. There was one gallery in particular that embodied a number of interesting aspects and is subject for a rhetorical analysis. The exigence of the gallery grouped with the audience and the purpose help to create an interesting rhetorical situation.The exigence of the art gallery is the opportunity for a group of unique individuals to come together to view and interpret the pieces in the gallery and connect on that level. In a world of niche marketing, art galleries tend to display one type of art in an effort to appeal to a certain type of viewer. This gallery was interesting because it promoted a number of different types of art, however the pieces all worked together and were cohesive in the space. As a result, this attracted an expansive and inspired crowd that all contributed different ideas and feelings to the opening.

The audience for the gallery is comprised of a lot of different personalities and lifestyles, which adds a very interesting twist to the experience. Young, liberal college students hanging on their friends, contrasted by the more sophisticated “business crowd” sipping wine and socializing, is the first impression of the audience. Though this is an accurate description of the physical audience present at the gallery opening, the intended audience is even more interesting. The intended audience is individuals looking to be inspired, be it young, old, wealthy, poor, educated, or uneducated. It is people in Denver who want to challenge their mind and allow themselves to think creatively, even for just a brief moment. It is essentially anyone willing to step up to the plate and push themselves to interpret the works of art in their own way.

In the most literal sense, the purpose of this gallery is to provide the people of Denver with an opportunity to observe and enjoy easy access to contemporary art. However, it seems to go even deeper than that. The very intentional selection of art begs the interpretation and thought of its viewers. It allows the audience to look at the pieces and see them as they want, with all other opinions aside. The wide array of styles, which includes everything from photography, stencils, 3-D multi-media pieces, and even very abstract works, provides an opportunity for the individuals experiencing the art to connect with a multitude of pieces. It also creates an opportunity for a variety of unique people to come together in one space and interact with each other and with the art. This gallery creates a community that otherwise would not exist due to the fact that the intended audience plays a large role in the essence as well as the success of the gallery.

I wanted to create a piece of art that would represent my argument that the gallery’s purpose is to create a community that would not exist without the interaction of the intended audience. To accomplish this, I created a multi-media piece of art that incorporated different physical styles from the gallery itself. I used a picture, paper, paint, sticker, ink, jewels, and wood to create the piece. My goal was to have all of the different medias compliment each other and stand out, just as the pieces in the gallery did. I also wanted the variety of media represent the variations in the audience present. For example, the small jewels represent the classy, more sophisticated crowd, while the orange wooden numbers represented the young, athletic college students. The piece was created to show the connectivity created and the cohesive community that was formed due to the different styles and interpretations of the art in the gallery.