Feature Articles
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October Issue 2010

M Gallery of Fine Art in Charleston, SC, Opens

M Gallery of Fine Art SE, LLC, has opened for business at 11 Broad Street in downtown Charleston, SC.

Representational art advocate Maggie Kruger has relocated nationally acclaimed M Gallery to Charleston, SC, from Sarasota, FL. "We were feeling the excruciating pain of the protracted collapse of the Florida housing markets and the related economies. We did thorough research and determined that Charleston was a strong market for the kind of paintings we carry and provided a nurturing environment for museum quality representational art," said Kruger.
 
According to Kruger, long known as an out spoken critic of abstract and non-representational art, "We found it ironic, that after years of drawing the parallels between over inflated financial derivates and non representational art, we would find our selves financially entangled in a collapsed balloon real-estate market. We knew based on our adamant stance and experience in the art world, carrying works of tangible value that escalate slowly but steadily in value, that are competence and skilled based works of art by living masters, that the consequences of this collapse would be long lasting and we felt we needed to depart our beloved Sarasota."
 
"Although I never imagined I would feel at home else where the minute we settled in Charleston, it was as if we had always been here. Everyone is so friendly, so warm. There is great appreciation for the work we carry and we fit in to the existing art venues comfortably. We feel a bit like refugees that have come into safe harbor from a financial storm of unimaginable strength. What a relief to be here," concludes Kruger.
 
"Hucksterism prevailed, for much of the last 200 years,"
 
Kruger explains: "In the last 2 centuries, since the development of photography in 1829 the purpose of art and the commercial enterprise of art has drastically changed. Historical rendering of events, scenes and persons no longer was required by painters. Photography could document history much more efficiently and cheaply. The commercial proliferation of artists as documentarians of life was no longer needed. Peggy Guggenheim, Sotheby's and the vast gallery network in the urban centers of the world began to market and promote art works which were no longer skill based (much cheaper to make and required less training) as an alternative to the mass production photographs offered. These schools of art: cubism, expressionism, abstract expressionism, minimalism, etc. hijacked the idea of art and turned it into a ponzi scheme of selling valueless works which required no skill for great amounts of money."


"As a result the general public and the collecting public became very confused. Academia and the museum establishments embraced the absolute non-sense of what amounted to art derivatives and invested heavily. Now consumers of art were befuddled and began to say words like: I don't know much about art (meaning what they were taught in school made no sense) but I know what I like (meaning beauty and skill interest me but I am embarrassed to counter such an overwhelming trend)."


"The emperor has no clothes" continues Kruger. "What has emerged out of all this mess is finally a recognition that the works presented by these schools of art are no more than hucksterism and what is occurring as a result of this understanding is a great resurgence in representational work: Skill based and aesthetically beautiful. M Gallery's mission is to provide a commercial venue for these works, reflecting one of the greatest art movements of our time. Our painters and their peers are the vanguards of an art movement which promises to change the direction of the future, rewrite our understanding of art history and restore an understanding of art for generations to come." 


"We are tickled to be in Charleston's embrace," says Kruger.
 
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/727-4500 or e-mail to (Maggie@athenet.net).
 

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