Some of the newer gallerists on the scene echo Logsdail’s mindset. “There’s no problem attracting a younger generation to an opening with free beer and so on, the issue is more about reigniting a passion in the older generations,” says Oscar Sunderland, co-founder of the new Oscar Chloe Directory gallery (memorably known as OCD). For them, though, having a bricks and mortar base is a luxury, and one that Sunderland thinks might not be necessary. “The traditional gallery model is not dead but as a young gallerist in today’s environment we would drown ourselves before we started. For us, the pop-up model works better. We follow the buzz,” he says.
The economic logic is tough to counter. During the Frieze fairs, OCD rented a space in London’s Soho for a nomadic show of expressive, figurative paintings, mostly in black and white, by the Mexican artist Leopoldo Goût. “People, including the artists, like to be excited by things. Unless you have a mega budget, going to the same gallery for different shows doesn’t feel like enough,” Sunderland says.