About

HANDJOB Gallery // Store

C O M I N G     S O O N . . .

HANDJOB Gallery//Store will host a selection of works by contemporary artists, whose job is to produce, by hand, an edition of 5-10 objects, which are by the artist’s own definition ‘functional’. The fields of Art and Design have been largely divorced in terms of functionality; Art is non-functional, and Design or Craft is strictly functional. By inviting artists to create functional objects, HANDJOB creates a space between Art, Design, and Craft. HANDJOB supports dialogue between the artist, the designer, the producer and the consumer, towards the production of more interesting objects and a richer everyday aesthetic. Opening Summer 2013, HANDJOB Gallery//Store will exist both virtually as an online store/gallery, a pop-up-shop/gallery in NYC, and in the long-run, a non-profit Gallery space with permanent residence in NYC.

In the contemporary art community there seems to be a resurgence of craft. Artists whose regular art practice may be primarily conceptual, or even completely dematerialized, artists whose works are held up on pedestals and pristine gallery walls, but are not easily sellable – are experimenting with craft. They are making bowls, vases, jewelry – all these functional handmade objects – with the same thought, love and devotion that they put into their artworks. They gift them to friends, sell them to craft fairs, or let them sit aimlessly on their crowded studio shelves. The autonomy of the artist and the brilliance of their vision is not lost in the object itself, but in the space around the object.

HANDJOB Gallery//Store is thus a re-valuation of the space around these objects. It is a space in which contemporary artists can sell these beautiful handmade functional objects, providing an alternative income to fund their regular art practice, while not loosing their autonomy and value as art pieces, but also not relegating them to the inaccessible and exclusive realm of the private gallery and museum. It is a space between Art, Design, and Craft. It is a space in which the value of the object is determined by a dialogue between its producer (artist) and consumer.