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Ten local spaces are represented in a happily chaotic show at UNE that illustrates what it is about the town that has their owners hooked - and intent on riding out the economic storm.

By BOB KEYES, Staff Writer July 12, 2009

PORTLAND — Two years ago, Anne Zill found herself zipping through Portland art galleries, equally impressed and proud at the variety and quality of the work that she saw.

In gallery after gallery, she looked at contemporary art that invigorated and interested her.

So, the director of the Art Gallery at the University of New England in Portland decided she would put together an exhibition highlighting the scope of the city's gallery scene.

"I thought this would be the opportunity to say Portland is an art Mecca, with a capital 'M'," Zill said.

But that was two years ago.

The art economy has since collapsed, and the Portland-area gallery scene has suffered a wave of closings. The galleries that have survived have done so on the strength of their specialties and niches, and the overall business savvy of their entrepreneurial owners, Zill said. The recent downturn has tested them, and also revealed their strengths.

That exploration of survival is a central theme in Zill's latest exhibition, "The Business of Art." On view through Sept. 2, the show brings together 10 Portland galleries and gallery owners for an overview and broad retrospective of the city's current art gallery scene.

In that sense, this Portland-focused show at UNE is what the Portland Museum of Art Biennial was not earlier this year: wide in scope, thorough and encompassing.

Indeed, the name of this show could just as easily have been, "Not to Be Outdone."

The walls of the tiny cube gallery on the back side of UNE's Stevens Avenue campus are filled nearly floor to ceiling over three floors. Zill included hundreds of pieces of art in this busy but informative exhibition.

MIXING THINGS UP

Zill's original idea was to give each gallery a wall and turn the display over to each individual gallery proprietor. But that process didn't work, so Zill invited happy chaos by mixing the work, with minimal editing.

As a result, we get paintings by a young Portland artist, Roy Germon, hanging alongside a large canvas by Maine legend Stephen Pace and very near another by Bill Manning, another living legend.

There are paintings by Lynne Drexler, ink drawings by Bernard Langlais, fabrics and antique textiles collected by Yosi Barzilai, fine-art prints by Joseph Hirsch collected by Edward Pollack, stoneware by Sequoia Miller, and glass by Ben Coombs and Richard Remsen.

"If you didn't have a whole lot of time to see a lot of art, this gives you a sense of what Portland is all about," said Daniel Kany, who operates the Daniel Kany Gallery and specializes in artists working in glass (though he shows work by artists in a variety of media).

Because of its range, "The Business of Art" feels something like a whirlwind First Friday Art Walk, minus the wine buzz. A viewer will get a sense of each gallery's expertise and flair, and the breadth of the local art scene.

While there is a natural competition among the galleries and their owners, this exhibition suggests they value the common good along with personal success.

It's very much within the understated character that June Fitzpatrick of June Fitzpartrick Galleries features work by Miller, among others. Miller is an award-winning studio potter and Portland native. Fitzpatrick has featured his work for many years, and it's fitting that she used this platform to do so again.

Similarly, Andy Verzosa of Aucocisco Gallery selected several large ink drawings by late Maine artist Langlais in addition to contemporary work by two emerging talents, Christopher Keister and Hilary Irons.

Including the Langlais drawings in the UNE show is part of Verzosa's ongoing effort to keep Langlais' work out in the public as often as possible. In addition to representing contemporary Maine artists, Verzosa also represents the Langlais estate.

Verzosa has operated a gallery in Portland since 2000. His niche...