The latest ArtInfo interview is with Zach Feuer, and he addresses the story we've all heard about requiring collectors to donate a work to a museum in order to get a Dana Schutz painting.

What's the truth of the story that you would only sell Dana Shutz's paintings to people who said they'd donate them to a museum?

No, that's not true. We had one show where we gave priority to people who were willing to donate work. The idea was that as soon as they donated the work, we would replace it very quickly, so they could have another one. But when things were really crazy and there were 20 famous collectors pushing for the same work, we said, "OK, who's going to give it to the museum?" and that was who we sold it to. We've done it with a few artists.

We want the work to be in public venues, and we don't want it to be sold and resold a million times over, so we sell to people who are closer to patrons than to dealers. And there really a lot of those collectors out there, who are patrons.

The market pressures on artists really can be awkward, and the strongest artists ignore it completely, but it really sucks when two people want the same painting. It's great for me because I can sell the painting, but it's an awkward thing because one person always feels less important. It's a big challenge for us to make every collector feel important and still be reasonable about the demands on our artists.

I also found the part about the gallery's current focus interesting:

Does your artists' success mean that you're besieged by young artists wanting you to show their work?
 
It's less than it was two years ago. It's easier for young artists to approach an emerging gallery. I don't think we're as approachable as some of the galleries who've just opened up on 27th Street. And it's actually less of my focus now. I'm not going to graduate school openings anymore or open studios. I'm really trying to focus on mid-career artists at this point, so it's not so much of an issue.

Of course, I wouldn't consider artists as young as his "mid-career" yet.

I'm amused that the photo shown with the interview seems to be from the same series as the ones used for Bill Arning's interview on Oliver Kamm's blog. That blog post's title? "Token Heterosexual Art World Superstar Bear Of The Week -- Armory Edition."

Related:

Jules de Balincourt, Land of Many Uses, 2003

We bought this Jules de Balincourt painting from Zach in 2003.