SCENARIO
THE RUSSELL DRAKE GALLERY
92
9.4
SITUATION
The Russell Drake Gallery sells contemporary art in
Chelsea, New York. Chelsea, with its 300 galleries, is
the centre of modern art in the city and there is strong
competition to try and satisfy existing customers as
well as attract new ones. Location is not enough.
Galleries need to stand out from the crowd and offer
something different to collectors and the general
public. The Russell Drake Gallery represents about
thirty-five artists, whose works are priced from
$5,000–200,000. The gallery’s aim is to sell between
eight and ten pieces each month.
Recently, the gallery has not been meeting its sales
targets. As a result, its owners, Russell and Vanessa
Drake, realise that they must make changes to increase
sales and attract more customers to their gallery. They
have a meeting planned with Dennis Paul, an art
consultant, about how to increase their profits.
1
Read the situation and answer the questions.
1
What is the Chelsea area of New York famous for?
2
What do galleries need to do in order to be
successful?
3
How many works of art would the Russell Drake
Gallery like to sell each month?
4
What problem is the gallery currently facing?
2
a
Work with a partner. Read the reviews from the
gallery’s website and decide which are the three most
serious criticisms.
2
b
Compare your opinions with other pairs.
I’ve visited the gallery several times. Usually
disappointed. The range of art is too great. I’m
not interested in photography, sculpture and
video art, and I can’t get excited about modern
African art (last week’s exhibition). You need to
focus more on what you’re offering.
I didn’t enjoy my visit. The artists were boring. Most
of the paintings were landscapes and portraits.
Middle-of-the-road stuff that you can see in plenty of
galleries. There was nothing to talk about.
I liked the artists on show, and the naturalistic art
was really impressive. The exhibition ‘Realism in
the arts’ was the highlight of my visit. But I got
really tired after a while and wanted to sit down.
Unfortunately, there weren’t enough seats. What
about having a café to relax in at the end of a visit?
Your prices are far too high for what you’re
offering. Only collectors can afford that sort of
money. By the way, parking’s really difficult in
your area. I had to walk miles to get to you. It’s
not easy to find your gallery, either. You’re right
on the edge of the district, I found out.
Your staff were friendly, but there weren’t enough
signs to show what was going on in some of the
rooms. I wanted to see more works by New York
artists, I’m not really interested in Asian art.
You need to be more innovative in your choice of
artists. I like naturalistic art, not abstract art and
splash paintings. I’d love to buy some paintings by
young, emerging artists.
I like the high ceilings in the gallery, but there isn’t
enough light, so I didn’t enjoy my visit. It’s about
time you repainted the walls, isn’t it? That’d make
the rooms lighter.
You must improve your website. It’s not enough
to show just one painting from a collection
you’re going to feature in your gallery. Also, the
site’s difficult to navigate. I couldn’t find any map
showing where you are located.
The
Russell Drake Gallery
| Reviews
