Visiting a museum for relaxation and your much-needed dose of art is obvious, but few people step into a gallery for that reason. Yet galleries are at least equally as important to the art world, and there is just as much beauty to be admired. We spoke to Ronald Bosch and Marijke Groeneveld of Ann's Art gallery and art library about what the work of a gallery owner actually entails. “You really have to be a people person,” he says.
Ann's Art gallery and art library is housed in a special location. Not in a charming monumental building in the city centre, but on the first floor of the large interior design shop Vos Interieur at the edge of the Stadspark. The works of art are displayed among the designer furniture in the shop. Here, art and design go hand in hand.
Ann's Art was founded in 1986 as an art library by Anneke Brink. Ten years later the art library merged with the gallery of Ronald Bosch. Bosch originally comes from a completely different sector. After graduating from an Environmental Sciences study programme, he worked for an environmental organisation consultancy. When he got tired of all the research behind the laptop and wanted something that had to be done in person, he started a gallery. In 2006 Brink retired and Bosch continued the gallery together with Marijke Groeneveld, who has worked at the gallery since 2001.
WHAT DOES A GALLERY OWNER DO?
Bosch: “Our job is to take a selection of what is happening in the art world and show it to the public. We are always looking for talent, and we exhibit artists who have it. Artists who really want to make a living from their work need a gallery to sell it.”
Groeneveld: “We also communicate with everyone, from artist to buyer. A gallery owner talks a lot with customers about the story behind the works of art. It's important to put people at ease, so that they can walk around here without any pressure.”
Bosch: “As a gallery owner, you really have to be a people person.”
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A GALLERY OWNER?
Groeneveld: “What I really enjoy is creating exhibits and taking the work to the next level by presenting it well. First the room is completely bare, the works are piled up here and I wonder how we are going to sew it together into something beautiful. Then you think about it, move some things and hang some things. Then you see it emerge and think, ‘Wow, it has turned out so cool again.’
Bosch: “Sometimes people come in here who are still so happy with the painting they bought five years ago. Those are little moments of success that every gallery owner needs. As a gallery owner, you guide people in their choice and it's really wonderful to see that they are still happy with it years later.”
WHAT ARE THE MOST ANNOYING PEOPLE YOU SEE IN THE GALLERY?
Bosch: “People who never pay on time and people who want a discount: I hate that. People asking for a discount is really something from the last few years. Everyone is tighter with their money and more frugal, more conservative."
Groeneveld: “There are even people who say, ‘You can probably knock a few off, because an artist really wants to sell. The art world is in such a bad way'. Whereas I would think you would want to support the artists precisely when things are not going so well.”
WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?
Bosch: “Our approach is to appeal to a young audience. But in recent years, our audience has been ageing. The people who were 40 thirty years ago are now 70.”
Groeneveld: "I think that's where our audience starts, around the age of 30. People who have had enough of IKEA posters by now. Now that they are working and have a little more money, they finally want a nice painting on the wall.”
Bosch: “Also, you notice that buying art often runs in families.”
Groeneveld: “Now that our audience is older, their children are also coming to our gallery. They've grown up with art and for them it's something natural.”
Bosch: “They appreciate the aesthetics and think art is important as well. They also pass it on to their children and so it becomes a cycle.”
YOU'RE IN A BIG HOME FURNISHING STORE HERE. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT IDEA?
Groeneveld: “How nice is it to see the work right away in a home setting rather than a white, sterile gallery space?”
Bosch: "Moreover, we wanted to broaden our audience and here we are succeeding very well, because this is a leading national store and many people who are interested in design come here. They walk right into our gallery.”
Groeneveld: “People who would otherwise never have entered a gallery because they find it unpleasant are now coming. Here people are already in the store and easily walk in. There’s no threshold any more.”
WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU LIKE TO TELL THE READER?
Bosch: “Just walk into that gallery! There’s nothing standing in your way. And go to other galleries, see art. Broaden your world.”
Groeneveld: “Nothing is as easy as looking at art for free. We always really enjoy seeing young people.”