Price Check is an interactive curatorial examination of the variations of the visual art market based upon geographic proximity to a major art center. The exhibition focuses on the State of New York, where the art market ranges vastly from the urban art hub of New York City to the neighboring art town of Beacon or more distinctly, to the post-industrial city of Syracuse. For example, it is widely believed an upstate-based artist must raise their prices to compete in the New York City market; whereas, a New York City artist must drop theirs in order to sell at an upstate venue.
In investigating how the price of artwork directly relates to the geographic location of its sale, Price Check invites viewers to participate in the pricing of artwork. Throughout the show visitors will be able to place silent bids on the works of art for sale; these bids will represent the visual art market value trend for the specific geographic location. Each work will also have three suggested prices, one for Syracuse, Beacon and NYC, set by a professional dealer or gallery owner in each location.
Designed as interactive, traveling exhibition, Price Check will be displayed in Syracuse, Beacon and New York City and will feature the work of eight artists from a combination of these three locations of study. The art selected for the exhibition is centered around an abstract, organic, ephemeral aesthetic. Pieces included covers a range of media, including watercolor, painting and digital art. Please see the Art page for more information.
Collaborators:
Roslyn Esperon in front of Contemporary Gallery, Summer 08
Roslyn Esperon graduated in May of 2008 with a BA in Art History and English from Syracuse University, where she received wide recognition as a Coronat, Remembrance, and Syracuse University Scholar. Making a contribution to the Syracuse art community, Esperon has collaborated with Delavan Art Gallery, The Everson Museum of Art, Light Work, the Literacy through Photography program and the Mobile Literacy Arts Bus (M-LAB) project. In the summer of 2008, Esperon co-founded Contemporary Gallery with Courtney Rile before leaving Syracuse to attend New York University for her Masters Degree in Visual Art Administration. Esperon was recently awarded an NYU Dean’s Grant for Student Research to fund the Price Check project, which is the second collaborative exhibition organized by Esperon and Rile.
Courtney Rile in Contemporary Gallery, Summer 08, photo by Larry Hoyt
Courtney Rile is a creative professional working in both visual and media arts. Rile acted as Gallery Coordinator then Marketing and PR Coordinator at Delavan Art Gallery for nearly three years and Director of Communications at the Cultural Resources Council throughout 2008. Rile earned an AA in Communications from Montgomery County Community College in 2002, a BFA in Video Art from SU in 2004, and continues to act as an exhibition coordinator, curator, journalist, marketer, photographer and video editor for various projects. She currently sits on the board of the Syracuse International Film Festival. In the summer of 2008, Rile collaborated on Contemporary Gallery with Roslyn Esperon. Price Check is their second collaborative exhibition organized together.
