Under a Daydream
© Ali Cavanaugh, courtesy of Gold Gallery
When Adam Gold, MBA’11, opened Gold Gallery in 2012, he envisioned a place not only for the seasoned art collector but also for the beginner. “I try to have an environment where the client feels comfortable asking questions,” he says. “It takes time and patience to find the right piece.”
The gallery concentrates on contemporary paintings and some mixed media, and, very rarely, sculptures. To find pieces, Gold visits a lot of art fairs, regularly meets with artists to see their work, and reviews online submissions. He says, “I find art and artists in all different ways, and some find me. I keep an open mind.”
The size of the artwork also matters, says Gold. Many people who visit the gallery in Boston’s South End live in typical space-challenged, urban apartments. So most art in his gallery is no bigger than 4 feet by 4 feet. “It’s difficult to find large wall space in Boston,” Gold says, “but I think it’s important to find artwork that fills the space without overpowering it, and also has enough gravitas to stand alone as the only piece in a room.”
Under a Daydream, shown here, is a good example of the gallery’s artwork. Ali Cavanaugh’s watercolor is 16 inches wide by 20 inches high. “Using watercolor on clayboard—plaster on a hard panel—allows the painting to have a lot of detail. The piece shows well, no matter where it hangs,” says Gold.
Gold strives for an equal split of local New England artists to those outside the area and prefers to carry artwork from 20 to 30 artists at a time. “That’s enough to rotate pieces and keep the gallery fresh,” he says. “Staying in that range lets me represent all the artists well. Any more, and there might be a challenge for equal visibility.”
Gold, who admits he’s not artistically inclined, says being in the gallery makes him happy. “I enjoy the neighborhood and being my own boss,” he says. “But most of all, I love being around the artwork and the artists.”