Artists, art galleries feel pandemic crunch

The pandemic has been difficult for people in the art scene in TT and the latest restrictions have forced galleries to close completely.

On May 3 in a press conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s, the Prime Minister announced that, up to May 23, only essential businesses, such as supermarkets, pharmacies and hardwares, could remain open from 6am to 8 pm.

Lisa Leid, manager of Horizons Art Gallery, on Mucurapo Road, Port of Spain said since the beginning of the year, the gallery had virtual exhibitions.

“Normally we would have a large amount of people with eats and drinks but we couldn’t really have that with masks and social distancing. For an artist to put on a show it often represents a year or more of work leading up to one night. After all of that work you want to make it a mementos occasion so we decided to do virtual shows to still have that opening night feeling and to circumvent the prohibition against large gatherings.”

This was usually followed by small groups of people being allowed to enter the gallery to view the works. Visitors were limited to five people in the space, everyone had to sanitise and wear masks, and keep their distance from each other.

Leid said the gallery got good viewership online from lovers of Caribbean art as well as Trinidadians abroad who appreciated seeing what local artists were up to, and it was “reasonably successful” financially.

Its New Faces exhibition started on April 27 and when the new restrictions were announced, the gallery had to close. However, people are invited to view the video of the opening online and visit the website to purchase pieces.

Horizons will not be having new exhibitions until the restrictions are lifted.

“A thing like a painting is something you have to see in person. You have to see the actual colours and the textures and the size. Scale and so on is very important in terms of how impressive a painting looks.”

Leid said some paintings show up better on camera than others but still, people need to feel the scale of something because that cannot be judged when all paintings fill a monitor, or phone or tablet screen. A person may find a piece looks pretty when viewed on a screen but has a different experience seeing it in person.

She said during the pandemic there have been three types of buyers. The first are people who see the gallery on Mucurapo Road while on their way to their destination and decide to stop in to view the artwork.

“It’s soothing for the soul, it’s something that centres you, allows you to experience something pleasant and it de-stresses you. They look and sometimes buy and go back to their lives refreshed.”

The second type is people looking for a piece for somewhere specific like their office, behind their couch, or for their bedrooms. And the third is people looking for a good investment, something they could enjoy for years to come.

“I think because people aren’t travelling to go on vacations, a lot of them are putting their time and money into their homes.”

Other galleries have not been as fortunate.

One gallery owner told Sunday Newsday while his gallery got a reasonable amount of visitors because people are still interested in looking at and purchasing art, many people cannot afford expensive pieces. So, even when there are sales, he does not make much money. In addition, there are overheads to running the gallery so he does not make enough to cover his bills.

He said he did not like the idea of virtual shows because he believes people need to see art in person to truly experience it. Instead, he would post pictures of the work on social media to tease people into visiting.

He added that during the pandemic he decided to be selective and only show work that he liked rather than take any opportunity to exhibit as a way to limit the amount of people in the space. The recent restrictions made things worse as he had to close the gallery and postpone an upcoming exhibition.

“This is not essential and I have to obey that. Before, the rules included social distancing but this time is totally different. I don’t even want two or three people in here.”

Caribbean neo pop artist Halcian Pierre has also been affected by the announcement. Her exhibition, I Woman II – Who We Are, at Arnim’s Art Galleria, opened on May 3 and was expected to run until May 15.

She started working on the show in February and produced 34 pieces.

“When the Prime Minister made the announcement I nearly had a heart attack. I was like, ‘Oh God! What’s going to happen now?’ But we were able to open on the day because the new measures were being implemented from midnight. We already planned to have covid precautions with five people in the space, checking temperatures, logging names and numbers, sanitizing and wearing masks. But people were scared any way you take it so we did not have many visitors after that announcement. We just opened for the day and that was it.”

She had already planned to do a virtual showing of the exhibition, video chats and interviews, as well as a live stream artist’s talk, so her adjustments were slight as she has to do more than originally planned.

She already did a virtual walk through of her exhibition on Facebook Live and expects to do another. In the video chats she plans to pick two pieces and talk about them and the process of creating them.

Interviews with with bloggers Sarina Bland on Twitch and Nwannia on Instagram have been arranged. And she plans to do an artist talks on Facebook and Instagram where she will be live at the gallery and people could send her questions to answer so people could get to know more about her and her work.

She also did a give-away where the first person to correctly answer three questions she posed won a painting.

Since the start of the pandemic she has been selling her work on Instagram, @artbyhalcie, and her Facebook profile, Hal Cie, as well as at a few combination art shows like the Rotunda Gallery at the Red House and the Art Society.

“It’s been ok but not perfect. It takes a toll. You start questioning yourself. You start wondering what’s going to happen in the next few months, if you can even continue at this rate. And the increased covid restrictions are not helping at all. It seems like creatives on the whole can’t catch a break.”

Pierre said as someone who has been complying with all the health regulations, the current spike in cases and the resulting restrictions was particularly frustrating.

“Knowing that this present situation has been exacerbated by those who weren’t following the rules is a punch to the gut for all affected now.”