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Looking at Art with Kate Werble
79 Plays5 days ago
In today's episode of Doorknob Comments, Fara and Grant are joined by Kate Werble, a longtime friend of Fara's and founder of her own New York City art gallery. They talk about the intimidating world of contemporary art, breaking down the mystique of the gallery scene and offering practical advice on how to begin engaging with galleries. Kate emphasizes that looking at art is a skill developed over time, encouraging curiosity over expertise for newcomers interested in learning how to engage with art. Finally, they talk about what art is ultimately about and what it offers psychologically.
We hope you enjoy it.
Resources and Links
Doorknob Comments
https://www.doorknobcomments.com/
Kate Werble
https://www.katewerblegallery.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kate_werble_gallery/?hl=en
Dr. Fara White
Dr. Grant Brenner
https://www.granthbrennermd.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-h-brenner-md-dfapa/
Recommended
Transcript
The Magic of Art
00:00:00
Speaker
You know, for me, art is, i mean, can I say that it's a little bit of magic, right? It's sort of like allowing you to make connections to things that are outside of yourself and to the world that you wouldn't normally make, like sort of neurological connections to things. And I think that allows you to have um thoughts about lots of different things that sort of stem from that one moment of looking at something.
Introducing the Podcast: Dr. Farrah White & Dr. Grant Brenner
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello, I'm Dr. Farrah White. And I'm Dr. Grant Brenner. We're psychiatrists and therapists in private practice in New York. We started this podcast in 2019 to draw attention to a phenomenon called the doorknob comment.
00:00:39
Speaker
Doorknob comments are important things we all say from time to time, just as we're leaving the office, sometimes literally hand on the doorknob.
Understanding Doorknob Comments
00:00:47
Speaker
Doorknob comments happen not only during therapy, but also in everyday life.
00:00:51
Speaker
The point is that sometimes we aren't sure how to express the deeply meaningful things we're feeling, thinking, and experiencing. Maybe we're afraid to bring certain things out into the open or are on the fence about wanting to discuss them. Sometimes we know we've got something we're unsure about sharing and are keeping it to ourselves.
00:01:08
Speaker
And sometimes we surprise ourselves by what comes out.
Kate Werbel's Gallery Journey
00:01:13
Speaker
Hi, thanks so much for tuning in today. I'm Farah White here with my co-host, Grant Brenner, and a very special guest and longtime friend, um Kate Werbel, who has had her own gallery. When was your gallery established?
00:01:27
Speaker
It's been a little while now, right? Yeah, in 2008. Yeah, we want to hear all about that. Kate and I were introduced through a very close friend,
00:01:40
Speaker
And I guess hit it off, but it was probably even before that. I feel like I met you the year we graduated, like 2005 or six. Yeah, it was it was early because I had, yeah, because Megan, think maybe you weren't still roommates, but we definitely sort of in New York, younger.
00:02:02
Speaker
yeah we all met I remember. the year of living dangerously? ah Maybe, but I remember. only one year for Farrah, so that's not good. yeah I had never been to an art gallery before.
00:02:14
Speaker
And so we came in and i was like, oh, this is really cool. And you gave us each um a PBR and you blew the dust off and you had a pack of Marlboro Reds. And you were like, oh yeah, this is what I have left over from the opening.
00:02:28
Speaker
and my gosh. Yeah. i always, I mean, I'm not a smoker at all, but I, i always feel like, you know, they're and They're a good thing to have in the gallery. So yeah that's the that's my secret. If you come and visit and you would like a cigarette,
Demystifying the Art World
00:02:41
Speaker
you can ask me. yes
00:02:45
Speaker
um But I think for today, you know, most of our listeners are really interested in sort of the psychology behind a lot of everyday things. And they I do feel like the art world has this air of, I don't know,
00:03:04
Speaker
sophistication. And sometimes people feel like it's not as accessible as other things. And I think you're someone who can really like probably speak to anyone who is interested in art, loves art, you know, wants to collect or understand how to do that.
00:03:24
Speaker
And just to learn a little bit more about what you do. Yeah.
Exploring New York's Art Community
00:03:29
Speaker
I mean, I think, um, I mean, I think that the art, you know, it's it's a, it's a small community, really the art world. Um, and I think in it exists in most cities, you know, but I think even in New York, which is such a big place, there are, think I read the other day, there hundreds and hundreds of galleries here, but the reality is, is that it's, it's not, um, it's not as big as it seems. And so I think definitely,
00:03:58
Speaker
artists always come by and ask, you know, how, how can we, you know, we're a young artist, how can we start showing or how do we, you know, we look at my work or, um and you know, I think it's such a great thing to do when you're first in New York or when you are interested in starting to learn about looking at art is like all the commercial galleries are free.
00:04:17
Speaker
And so you can just, you go around and really talking to one gallery can lead you to learn about the other galleries in that neighborhood. And then you can sort of just go on these walks and go pop in. and and if you spend two hours a week, like on a Saturday and you go to a bunch of different galleries,
00:04:35
Speaker
you can you know you learn about others. And then if you go to openings, and when you go to an opening, sometimes you'll meet you know one person that will introduce you to someone else. And um it is sort of an organic process.
00:04:46
Speaker
There are now a lot of different apps you can use, like Seesaw is the best one, and it's free. And you can download the Seesaw app. And it has a pretty up-to-date list of all the current shows, all the openings.
00:04:58
Speaker
And they group them by downtown. Like I'm in Soho, but very close to Tribeca, which is ah burgeoning gallery area in New York. Chelsea um obviously has a lot of very big galleries.
Building Personal Art Connections
00:05:10
Speaker
Tribeca has sort of mid-size, some big ones too, to small.
00:05:15
Speaker
Then there's the Lower East Side. I mean, galleries are really spread all over the city. um And it's nice on Seesaw because you can sort of see like, oh, maybe I had lunch here on a Saturday afternoon and I want to go check out some art.
00:05:26
Speaker
And you can just see what's around, what's near me. And it'll have some, some shows listed and you can read about what the show is. Like if you have an aversion to sculpture and the gallery next to the restaurant you're eating in has sculpture, you can say, okay, I'm not going to go to that gallery. I can go to the one down the street that has photography or whatever. So, um, you know, and I, and I will say that the more you look and sort of go to galleries, I think you get a sense for what you like. And, um,
00:05:54
Speaker
and sort of the the familiarity or the the people that work at the galleries. um and And some galleries are very big, you know, but really everyone that works at the front desk is trained to ask, answer questions. So if you feel comfortable enough saying, could you recommend, you know, is there a gallery next door or you recommend other galleries? Do you have a map or, you know, that theyll they should tell you what's what's nearby or um or they can tell you about the show that they have up or, you know, they'll have a press release out about the artists they're showing.
00:06:24
Speaker
find people are intimidated by art um i think that we don't get a lot of education about how to look at things in the united states and i and don't think we get a lot of philosophy and sort of learning how to process the idea of images um when we're young like in in in high school or even earlier, you know, I mean, I know that they're cutting arts education right and left and all this stuff. So I i think that that leads to a group of people that, that are sort of unfamiliar with looking at art.
00:06:59
Speaker
I think we are very familiar with buying things here, you know, it's, it's, a you know, art galleries are shops, you can look at them that way. yeah And maybe that's easier for some people ah to think about, but,
00:07:13
Speaker
But yeah, i mean, I think coming in and looking at something and then if you have a question, you can say like, what what is this? You know, what am I looking at? What is this made of? I think the questions are, after looking at something, are the most important thing to like talk about while you're in that gallery.
00:07:27
Speaker
um And I think, you know, I gave my my sister and brother-in-law a tour of some galleries yesterday. I'm sort of their unofficial art advisor. So what you can do in this is you can hire if you...
00:07:39
Speaker
have extra money to spend. You can, you can hire someone to be your art advisor and walk you around and show you the shows that they like and, um, or they think you might like, um, anyways, so I'm my, I'm an, I'm their unpaid relative art advisor.
00:07:53
Speaker
Um, and so we walked around and looked at shows and my brother-in-law said, wow, like there's a lot of this I wouldn't have seen on my own because there are, i mean, my gallery is upstairs. Like there, you know, the galleries are a lot of times taking spaces that are not the super retail commercial spaces. They're taking upstairs spaces, things in the corner.
00:08:13
Speaker
Um, there's this incredible gallery called 15 Orient that is like down an alley and Tribeca and up the stairs. And it's just so beautiful. And, you know, you wouldn't know it maybe if you weren't in the business or the, yeah.
00:08:29
Speaker
So with that kind of stuff, you have to talk to other people to get the knowledge about where to
The Philosophy of Experiencing Art
00:08:34
Speaker
go. um And if you were to advise people who wanted to do this themselves and they get on Seesaw and go, let's say look at some shows, do you think there is a certain way, like what would you want people to who are looking at art for the first time and maybe they haven't had much of an education?
00:08:57
Speaker
are there certain things to know or understand about what we're looking at? I mean, I would definitely, I'm always an advocate of looking at the show first, sort of walking in and having that experience of yourself, like with the artwork, even if it's artwork that you don't like.
00:09:15
Speaker
um And sort of thinking about like, why did the artist make this? You know, what, what is this? Or what are the materials that I'm looking at? Is this paint on canvas? What kind of paint is it?
00:09:27
Speaker
You know, list sort of having those, just letting the, work kind of sit with you for a minute. Even if you can stand in that gallery for five minutes quietly and just like look at these things.
00:09:39
Speaker
And then you can go back to the front desk and sort of read about it That's really nice because you are sort of teaching yourself how to be comfortable with looking at the work. And in my old space, I had my office, like the sign-in area was in the back of the gallery.
00:09:55
Speaker
So the idea that you would go in first without someone like in your face being like, welcome. Yeah. but you know, um, was really nice for me. I mean, weirdly, sometimes people would come in and leave and I wouldn't know that they were there. So that was, that was, that was not ideal.
00:10:09
Speaker
But, um, so here now my new space, I'm like sort of at the front, you know, it's like, you can kind of go in, but I will always see you, you know, see ahead. Um, there was a couple of times I'd walk in the front and I'd be like, Oh, someone's here. Hello. Yeah. It sounds like you're highlighting um so somewhat of an experiential, unmediated approach. It reminds me of um Dewey, like art and experience, like this immersive experience and not wanting to give too much information first. I know people debate.
00:10:39
Speaker
this a little bit with art. And I know it from the psychoanalytic point of view, yeah which is like, you know, if you know everything about the artist and you know their story and blah, blah, blah, it's a very different experience to view something than if you are naive.
00:10:53
Speaker
yeah And I think I would encourage people to have the naive experience first, because once you once you lose that, you it's much harder to get it back.
Art's Impact on Society
00:11:02
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, even if you do know, like yesterday when I was walking around these exhibitions, many of the artists, I had known their work for a long time, but it's still nice for me to go in and try to force myself to just look at the work without making a judgment about what that artist has made on their last show or what their prices are or, you know, whatever a weird, ah not weird, but whatever other ever external information I know.
00:11:29
Speaker
and How do you do that? Can I ask subjectively? There's you know a philosopher, Husserl Phenomenology, who you know I'll try to be a little intellectual, um who talked about bracketing experience.
00:11:42
Speaker
and And so the idea like might be to bracket off that more learned experience and see it with a beginner's mind or through beginner's eyes. I'm curious what that's like. What is that like for you as someone who's a gallery owner and very experienced? How do you achieve that state of mind? do you have, you do you do exercises before you go into a gallery something or you know, I'm kidding, but what do what do you do? No, you mean I mean, I might not be very good at it because I think you you're always, I mean, my thing is that I think you do bring your,
00:12:12
Speaker
We say this, but you bring your sort of experience with you, right? When you look at something, even if you're trying not to. And I think ah don't i don't i think all I'm trying to do is really be curious about that moment that I'm in in that gallery.
00:12:27
Speaker
Because even if you hate what is there, that artist and that gallerist, they have done a lot of work to get that show up. you know, you're trying to give like the respect to that moment and just try to understand what their, what the takeaway is. like even if your takeaway is like, how, like, this is not doing very much for me. And I think the world is ending, you know, um or like our culture is in a terrible place, you know, it's everything looks so pretty.
00:12:55
Speaker
i think um it would be interesting. I mean, I do feel like I have a lot of friends and and artists who, do daily meditation and all this stuff to kind of clear your mind. Um, I have never done any of that and I wonder if it would help how I look at things, but you know, I don't know that, I don't know that it's a race. It's weird though. I don't know if you're supposed to erase everything that you know, because I think looking at art like builds on itself and Farrah, you know, this, like you've been to so many exhibitions and you look at so much art in person and online and, um, right. It's sort of like an experience that builds on itself. Um,
00:13:30
Speaker
boy Totally. But I do feel that sometimes like when I'm, when I go into an exhibition, I don't know very much about it. And I really, because I use words all day, basically maybe a little bit of body language, let's say on a good day, i get to sit with people, but a lot of my work is still online.
00:13:54
Speaker
um And so I appreciate being able to sit, let's say in silence and, And I like that, you know, in my in my day job, when someone tells me something, I have to put it into the context of everything I know about them and everything I know about their childhood or their patterns or their behaviors and, you know, make interpretations from that.
00:14:16
Speaker
And so for me to walk in knowing nothing and just to be able to feel something, whether it's positive or negative or whatever, is is kind of a treat. Well, there was a psychoanalyst, Bion, who, yeah, of course, they know a lot, like you know a lot, but he suggested approaching each individual session without memory or desire.
00:14:38
Speaker
But that's hard to do. Yeah. That's why I think he suggested, because a lot of times it's like, oh, I want this session. I want to talk about, you know something that came up last session or I wanted, you know, the concept to be one way, but it's really the other way. And just trying to manage that within ourselves, I think is like, it's an ongoing process.
00:15:07
Speaker
Well, I was wondering about the idea that you had said, if the art does what the artist wants it to do. I'm curious what you mean by that, because it made me think of art as being like a living thing in the world.
00:15:21
Speaker
Yes, and i I actually probably shouldn't have said that because there are a lot of works that are made that are and and really great works that are all outside of the artist's control. So I don't necessarily mean that it's a controlled thing. um I probably should have said that it's...
00:15:37
Speaker
So the show that i have on right now is is about the idea of artists sort of making work that are making works that are outside of their control, where it's like they've done it for so long or they are making these these artworks that sort of become hypnotic objects on their on their own. So they can sort of exist without the artist's control. um and don't know if that makes sense to you both, but...
00:15:59
Speaker
It does. i didn't I didn't take what you said to mean the artist would control what happened afterward. But you know what you said makes sense. like The intent is for it to exist outside of the art. But yeah that's what I was thinking. It's almost like I'm very interested in like consciousness and neuroscience and stuff. And it's like the art in the presence of ah you know a person um looking at the art or experiencing the art becomes alive in some way. It's like activated between the two things. It's not that the art lives alone on its own. It's when the person's looking at it. And then there's like that moment, that spark is sort of like, I think that's what I meant too, by it sort of doing it all in that moment.
00:16:39
Speaker
Yeah. And then Grant, you would, you know, ask, I guess a fundamental question about, well, what is art really?
00:16:49
Speaker
and I don't know that, I guess that's a little bit, big, but ah Kate, you are the closest. Oh my goodness. I'm on our podcast and we're going to ask you what art is. Well, I mean, I should know, you know, it's my job, but I, and love that question.
00:17:08
Speaker
i think, um you know, I think that was what I was saying is that like, it feels like we have a little bit of a, a failure in education, right. to sort of teach some fundamentals of, of like of how to how to look at things and how to how to process ideas and and really understand like and and really grasp like these these huge sort of large questions, right? And we don't have necessarily the tools for that as a, like an American culture, like growing up, you know, it's, it's, it's not every child that gets educated in, in these sort of larger issues of of what things mean. Right. And so, um, like that idea of what is art is kind of goes back to that. Right. So it's like, it's, I mean, I think that art is, and there's definitely a school of thought that like art can be anything you want it to be like, well, okay, maybe, um,
00:18:01
Speaker
you know For me, art is, i mean, can I say that it's a little bit of magic, right? it's sort of like It's sort of allowing you to make connections to things that are outside of yourself and to the world that you wouldn't normally make, like sort of neurological connections to things. And I think that allows you to have um thoughts about lots of different things that sort of stem from that one moment of looking at something.
00:18:28
Speaker
So that for me is what art is because it it's allowing you to sort of expand your synapses or whatever the correct, you know, to, to sort of think about things. And that's why I think it's so important. I mean, just to go back, you know, I think, um,
00:18:44
Speaker
I think it's really important to have it in in our lives, you know, to allow to have that moment to think about. I mean, I look at artwork and then i go back and I think about all these other things. And and it it allows me to sort of, again, make those connections between like some very different.
00:18:58
Speaker
You can talk about like between like politics and memory and time. And, you know, it sort of connects all these things. Yeah. I love that. And I think it probably is part of the reasoning. I mean, i i don't know the exact research, but there have been studies done to show that kids, you know, before and after, let's say going into museum, will end up having more empathy and compassion.
00:19:28
Speaker
and maybe it is this sense of connecting with something outside of ourselves. A lot of what I think, I think most people would agree, like the, the problem today is that we, there's this big fear of the other. Right. and And I think it's led to like a pretty, a pretty big conflict in our country, political system, whatever else, instead of sort of, you know curiosity, appreciation,
00:20:01
Speaker
So I think that like art is more important now than it ever has been. Maybe more needed. I think art should save the world personally.
Balancing Art and Commerce
00:20:10
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, I think there is, um you know, the art world that I'm in because I have a commercial gallery where everything is for sale, you know, and it's for sale because the artists are making the work and then trying to live as artists. So the money goes directly to supporting these artists and So I wouldn't say that selling it is bad necessarily, but I do think that there are, you know, I mean, I i guess I would say too, where I'm going with this is that there is also a lot of like bad art out there. And like, is it, is it, it doesn't do anything to you to look at something that is like not a good, not a good painting or not a good sculpture or, you know, I wonder about that sometimes.
00:20:46
Speaker
um That's more of a question, but That's for the psychiatrist. yeah Like a corruption of art in some way. But, you know, and it makes me think of these hard to answer questions like um if you've ever read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, it's about a guy who ostensibly is driven mad by his effort to define what is quality.
00:21:09
Speaker
And you're raising this important question about the sale of art. And my experience with artists is somewhat limited. I'm really curious what what you both think. But a lot of times it feels like there's conflict between being true to one's art and the need to put food on the table.
00:21:24
Speaker
It also makes it hard for artists to network. But I mean, I think we have this conflict in every... every part of our lives in like a capitalist society, not to like go too deep here, but you guys are going to have that with your patients and with, I mean, you know, it's no, but I'm saying like, we do have it in the art world and it is really hard when you're an artist and,
00:21:48
Speaker
the market is responding to one part of your work and they, we can take it to like a very basic level. Let's say I'm the artist and I make a, or I'm working with an artist and they're making a blue painting and I can sell that blue painting 12 times.
00:22:01
Speaker
So I sell it 12 times and then they come to me and they're like, and now we make red paintings and all my clients just want blue paintings because people are, you know, generally like move in a herd mentality, especially when they don't think that they trust themselves and what they look at and what they like.
00:22:17
Speaker
You know, when you go to an airport and every like teenage girl is wearing the same type of shoes, it's kind of amazing. um So then, you know, I go back to the artist and I say, look, like I like your red paintings, but everyone, or so I like your blue paintings, but everyone wants you to make those red paintings.
00:22:30
Speaker
It's really tricky, you know, because the artist has to live. And so that is the problem with the market and having to live off of your sales. Yeah. and and And sort of having that dictate what you make.
00:22:43
Speaker
As an art dealer, i don't I don't sell that much work. So I think my, i but I mean, I don't i don't think the artists, the artists that I work, I really want them to make whatever they they want. and And there's not necessarily one type of thing that the clients that I work with support. So I'm really interested in artists that do lots of different things. And I think the clients that work with me know that that artist is going to have free reign to make what they want to make.
00:23:07
Speaker
and And hopefully they'll support them, you know, throughout their lives. But, um, that would be like reaching a certain point as an artist where you're sought after enough that you can do what you want.
00:23:18
Speaker
Right. But i'm I'm trying to have them do that, like from a young age, you know, so like every show when I haven't, I mean, some artists do make similar things and that's, that's what they make. But then sometimes artists like their projects are even, you know, everything is a conceptual project. And so it changes so much with every, every show. um And so you want to find people that will support that artist for, for how they, how they think, you know, and it's difficult. I mean, there's not a lot of people that, that really do buy contemporary art too. I mean, it's, it's not a huge thing.
00:23:47
Speaker
huge group. So you are someone who just by nature, I think is like a supportive and kind person thinking about other people and what's going to make other people happy. I've not talked to my sister. No, I'm just kidding.
00:24:04
Speaker
Actually we did. We talked with her in preparation for this. but this um Would you, I don't know. Do you ever feel pulled in that way?
00:24:16
Speaker
you know, that on one hand, you know, what you can sell. And on the other hand, you know, what feels most authentic and what are like the hard parts of your job? I mean, I think that that would be maybe a reason that I'm not, you know, I have, I've had this gallery for many years now by myself. And i mean, I've worked with lots of people and my goodness, you know, they all have really great ideas about what we're showing and everyone that works with me has input and in everything. But, um,
00:24:44
Speaker
But I do think that I'm a little bit like bullheaded or pigheaded um about kind of showing like not, i you know i won't show necessarily what I think the market wants because I'm just kind of trying to show what I like and what seems to me what the artist is interested in making.
00:25:04
Speaker
Because my job is to really like read and really work with the artists that I'm showing, you know, and so... yeah, I mean, we have a piece in this current show that is sold and I could probably sell another one because lots of people love this work, but I, I mean, I don't represent this artist, but I also like, you know, we have to focus on selling the other, other things. And, you know, just, I like to think like, just cause everyone wants one thing, like generally, I mean, the things that are not sold are are going to end up being like the historically valuable things. Um, so I don't feel like in that instance,
00:25:41
Speaker
I don't feel a lot of tension um with my job. I do feel like, oh man, I like probably need to be more savvy to what people want.
00:25:52
Speaker
You know, I should have my therapy appointments be about that, you know, not, not about how to communicate in a clear way, you know, but, it It sounds like you experienced what some artists also struggle with, which is like, again, kind of being true to what they, their art versus responding to the demands of the market. And I understand in, in, in art, there's a concern that the influence of um commercialism can undermine art.
00:26:23
Speaker
I think Warhol had something like the art factory as a kind of a commentary on this mass produced art, or you go to a big box store and you buy you know, a painting, um you know, all those things.
00:26:35
Speaker
But I'm curious, what has it been like for you to work with artists, particularly artists who are seeking to show
Adapting to Trends in Art Exhibitions
00:26:42
Speaker
in your gallery? Because it sounds like you really value the artist's aesthetics and ideals.
00:26:48
Speaker
I mean, I definitely try to. I mean, I think that that is where the conflict comes in, right? Is when, is like, I'm also trying to anticipate what like it's not, not, not also not a huge amount of people are coming to see the shows. I mean, people come, but it's, it's, you know, just in one city and one place. It's not reaching a huge amount of people necessarily. But I think last year I got like a real sense that,
00:27:15
Speaker
I needed to change around my exhibition program very quickly and sort of because I'm a commercial gallery and not an institution, I don't have show. I mean, I will plan my shows two years out or one and a half years out or three years out, but I am able to kind of, I have to and as I've gotten older, I'm more confident in this like changing things around based on,
00:27:37
Speaker
external factors. Like if I go around and I've been seeing the same kind of work in lots of other galleries, and then I think, oh my goodness, I have this show coming up and it's very close to what I'm seeing. It's it's different, but it's it's maybe going to be misconstrued. I got to move this and I have to talk to the artist. And that is the trickiest thing is really working on not hurting that artist's feelings or or making sure that, you know, we have to be a team together and sort of say like, this is not the moment for this work to be understood.
00:28:06
Speaker
Like people are not going to read it the way we want to read it. So we have to pull this from the art fair. We have to pull this from the gallery and, and do that show in like a year or six months or maybe shifted or what, you know?
00:28:20
Speaker
ah yeah. So last year I sort of changed my whole program around, quickly, because I really wanted this one show to go in in September. And so we did it and it was great. You know, we got a New York times review for that show and I was right that it should have been there, but I think I did something similar for this summer too. I pushed a show forward cause it was going to be in the fall and I really want it to be in July because summer is traditionally a time where maybe people go away and they don't see as much, but I think this summer is going to be a time where I think art is really important to look at. And we're going to do a solo show with this artist because I think we're going to get a lot of people's eyes on it.
00:28:55
Speaker
And I think September might be a different thing where everyone's back and feeling overwhelmed or I don't know. So I, I changed that and the artist was so cool about it. So that's because I can imagine what it is from their end. You know, their art dealer calls them and is like, okay, so we've got to move it. And they're like, oh my God, this woman is crazy. Like I don't even have the work finished yet. i can't do a show in four months. So then you have to be able to make sure that that artist feels comfortable enough talking to you about how they're feeling.
00:29:22
Speaker
ah How do you make your crazy work for you? I don't know. That's the title of Grant's book. Is it really? I must have. You ruined it I wanted a his hand on his phone.
00:29:39
Speaker
That's it. Oh yeah. Autographed copy. That's amazing. I'll hand deliver it. you show photographs? I do. My first artist is John Lehrer and he is a photographer.
Kate Werbel Gallery's Digital Strategy
00:29:52
Speaker
And he's incredible. And he's in a lot of museum collections. And I didn't know that he was your first artist. He was the first artist. say for John, for like two years, I didn't, when I opened the gallery, I i didn't want to represent any artists because I, I wanted to really do group shows and figure out who I was working with. And, um, some, several people told me that that was a horrible idea. And then I needed at the time I needed to have artists. And I was like, well, I really only know I want to work with John. Yeah.
00:30:20
Speaker
And so I put him on the website. So we love this. If you, you know, in 2008, if you've gone to the Kate Werbel Gallery website and like, you know, or maybe it was 2009 at that point in the spring, there was like a dropdown menu and you could click artists and it was just John Lair.
00:30:35
Speaker
was like, it was great. That's amazing. Wow. I love his work. Yeah. And his work really um shifts quite a bit, you know, between all his projects. And it's, it's been really exciting to watch him, him, him expand his like notion of what he makes, you know, it's, it's very cool. He just had a show here and did a big book. All right. Well,
00:30:59
Speaker
Um, this has been so much fun. I, I want to thank you for coming here. if people want to come visit your gallery, if they want to learn more about what you're, what you're doing, where can they find you?
00:31:14
Speaker
um I know you have your gallery website. Are you pretty active on Instagram? I don't know. Yeah. The gallery has an Instagram account and I, um, We use it you know to announce events. And so you can find it find us at Kate Warble Gallery and you'll find openings and what shows are on. And we did an artist talk last night. So for example, that was on Instagram and people can come. um And we have a landline here at the gallery. You can also use the phone.
00:31:41
Speaker
um Yeah, we're we're all there. I do not have a TikTok account. um The young person that works with me is is is adamant that I have to get one, which ironically, we tried to start one the day that TikTok was banned.
00:31:54
Speaker
So that was very well, like of all the days. so um Yeah, but i I really hope people will come visit and and and also go, you know, it is intimidating to go and look at things, but I think you just have to to remember that you just take a minute with it maybe that intimidation passes a little bit and you can... And also galleries some galleries are very cold, you know, that they have like a, they have a concrete floor and like the atmosphere is not warm and inviting. And I think maybe when you go in a few of them, you start to get used to like, oh, this is a sort of aesthetic choice by a lot of galleries. So it's not it's not as, as as ah you know, foreboding as it might seem. that or so That austere quality seems very common. Yeah, I mean, mine has a wood floor because I really didn't want it to be so cold.
00:32:43
Speaker
But yeah. Well, thank you both so much. This is really... Thanks very much. And... Remember,
Podcast Disclaimer
00:32:53
Speaker
the Doorknob Comments podcast is not medical advice.
00:32:56
Speaker
If you may be in need of professional assistance, please seek consultation without delay.
00:33:07
Speaker
Say one, two, three, four.