Breaking the Boundaries Between Art and Life: Tutu Gallery’s Survival Strategy

Original Publication: 破除艺术与⽣活的边界——突突画廊的⽣存之道

High-end is synonymous with most New York galleries. Indeed, those located in Manhattan are representing some of the world’s most expensive art. Collectors spend lavishly on these works, and under the influence of capital, high-end seems to be an essential quality for these galleries. In this context, white boxes, opening champagnes, and significant media coverage seem to become the levers that bless art. Only when a gallery can provide these elements will the exhibited artworks be favored. This increases the pressure on small galleries representing and exhibiting emerging artists, forcing them to maintain the white-box attribute of the gallery and pay for important media coverage despite insufficient capital. To survive, they carefully control costs, continuously reduce exhibition expenses, and sell more works by increasing the frequency of exhibitions and displaying more wall-mounted art. This approach indeed helps some small galleries stand out, but the underlying pressure is also growing. In the current economic downturn, gallery operations are not optimistic. Sometimes, high rent can easily become the last straw that crushes these galleries. Just at the beginning of this year, several galleries announced their closure, including the blue-chip gallery Marlborough Gallery, which had a history of nearly eighty years, and the experimental artist-supporting Fortnight Institute.

In this context, Tutu Gallery in Brooklyn is even more commendable, showing a different business attitude from other small galleries. Tutu Gallery is a DIY space set up in founder April Z’s apartment, aiming to collaborate with interesting people and showcase non-traditional artistic creations. Opening a gallery in an apartment greatly reduces operating costs, providing economic space for more experimental exhibitions. Tutu Gallery does not deliberately pursue a high-end atmosphere. Although selling artworks is one of its businesses, Tutu Gallery does not choose artists based on whether their works are easy to sell, making it less in line with the traditional definition of a commercial gallery.

The establishment of Tutu Gallery carries the founder April Z’s expectation of creating a diverse community where artists help each other and grow together. Naming the gallery after her black cat Tutu raised in the space is also April Z’s expression of refusing to make the gallery owner the main subject of the space. Tutu Gallery regards artists in need of help as the main subjects of its service and collaboration, providing them with exhibition opportunities. Knowing the difficulties of striving in New York far from home, Tutu Gallery has tried to leave opportunities for immigrant artists in past exhibitions. Since its founding in 2019, Tutu Gallery has held 32 exhibitions, with most artists not coming from native America.

During the exhibition process, although the materials and content styles of each artist’s creation are very different, Tutu Gallery still found some commonalities in the works of these immigrant artists. Due to their living experiences in different regions and cultural environments, immigrant artists have a more sensitive perception of materials from different regions. Their works often feature ready-made items or materials from their hometowns or use cross-cultural media. Chinese artist Yulin Gu, who exhibited at Tutu Gallery, often incorporates ready-made plastic items from her childhood home into her works. Fly swatters, vegetable washing basins, clothes drying racks… These inconspicuous colorful plastics become delicate installations like rotating pearl fountains and floating cosmic swings in her works. Seeing Yulin Gu’s works, it feels like entering a dreamy realm far from reality, and the childhood hometown in memories is the material for her new world.

Tutu Gallery’s focus on immigrant artists is closely related to New York’s unique immigrant cultural environment. New York carries the most diverse culture in the world, with its art and cultural ecology established by people from different backgrounds over time. As early as 1926, Hu Shi and Guo Bingwen, along with American educators John Dewey and Paul Monroe, established the China Institute in New York to better spread Chinese culture and become part of New York’s multiculturalism. Similarly, in the 1920s, the post-war Harlem Renaissance gathered outstanding Black artists, contributing to New York’s cultural prosperity. Such examples are numerous. Whether it is the famous musical film “Westside Story” depicting the tragic love story of a Puerto Rican immigrant girl and an American white boy, or the Immigrant Artist Biennial that began in New York in 2020, New York is full of traces of cultural exchanges. If coastal New York is gathering different cultural tributaries, then Tutu Gallery is a small lake connected to the sea.

Located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, New York, Tutu Gallery is surrounded by people of different ethnicities and backgrounds. From the Black residents living in this area since the 1980s and 1990s, Jews living in traditional Orthodox ways, to students moving to this area to save on rent costs. Around Tutu Gallery, at every street corner, you can see people from different cultural backgrounds living here. Since its establishment in 2019, Tutu Gallery has felt the acceptance and kindness from nearby residents and has provided a platform for cultural exchange with its unique inclusiveness, becoming a part of the diverse culture of this neighborhood. As Tutu Gallery’s name becomes more known, people from different backgrounds have established deep friendships with it. This gives Tutu Gallery a more complex and multicultural foundation for its development, making it possible to discuss the same topic in different cultures. Making little-known cultural stories traceable through exhibitions at Tutu Gallery.

This trait is especially evident on Tutu Gallery’s exhibition openings or event days.

Walking into the opening scene of the latest exhibition “Gentle Mist” co-curated by Chinese curator Sha Luo and Korean curator Seung-Jun Lee at Tutu Gallery, the room is filled with people of different skin colors. Although everyone comes from different cultural backgrounds, the sense of relaxation and ease in each person is evident, which is hard to see in Manhattan galleries. In front of the table with exhibition introductions, several people sit on the ground to make it easier for others to see Emily Lucas’s work “Looking for Someone to Do My Thinking For Me.”

What is in the fireplace is not a fire but Ty Pawlowski’s work “Luminary” flickering with light. In the kitchen exhibition area, people naturally put their brought drinks into the refrigerator, while across from them, Yuhan Shen’s work “Untitled” continuously freezes moisture from the air.

In the backyard, Terence Mulligan Jr’s creation “Come with me, sail across the sky toward enlightenment” sways in the air, and visitors chat freely around a bonfire under the sail, occasionally hearing someone play the piano inside. Here, everyone feels like they are sitting in the home of their best friend, with endless topics to talk about, and art naturally becomes a part of the conversation. Tutu Gallery does not place art on a pedestal but integrates it into daily life, passing this spirit to every visitor here.

Tutu Gallery does not mind the fast consumption nature of some artworks, believing that their simple traits meet the needs of the contemporary world, making art no longer unattainably high. This is why the works selected by Tutu Gallery, combined with the atmosphere it creates, naturally give people a sense of relaxation, joy, and fun. The works here do not bear meanings beyond their visual energy—Tutu Gallery exhibits works that may not be considered high art in the conventional sense, but as long as there is some ingenuity and spirit in them, Tutu Gallery is willing to give artists the opportunity to exhibit. Emerging artists, especially immigrant emerging artists, always face life challenges, with opportunities and time for creation constantly squeezed by reality. It is common for them to pause their creation midway. Tutu Gallery hopes to support these artists while they are still persisting in their creation, providing the exhibition opportunities they need most at the moment. Many artists have achieved further ideals and commercial success through collaborations with Tutu Gallery.

Artists struggling on the path of art are the new productive forces of the art industry. If all galleries and spaces only favor easily sellable works and avoid experimental content, is it a regression from the introduction of more media into contemporary art by artists since Duchamp? Indeed, galleries will face more crises if they lose a large amount of profitable content. However, if the capital strength of galleries is deliberately used to guide the media and content of artistic creation, experimental creation will become less and less, and the vitality and energy of contemporary art creation will also fade. How can contemporary art move forward?

Galleries have existed for more than three hundred years in history, with their forms, target audiences, and business models constantly evolving with the times. In the age of advanced internet media, many emerging artists can gain influence and collectors through self-media promotion. Correspondingly, galleries should adjust their business models according to the needs of artists, collectors, and other service subjects to cope with potential crises. Here, Tutu Gallery may contribute a new idea—to abandon the modes and rules set by large galleries and serve a more fixed community within the allowable range of funds. In this way, it better gains the trust of artists and the support of the audience. Even when encountering difficulties, there is an opportunity to receive unexpected support. Just like during the pandemic, although Tutu Gallery was hit hard, it continued because of the kindness from nearby residents and artists. At the same time, more immigrant artists have a place to express themselves without worrying about criticism. Let more people understand that art and life can have no boundaries.