When my girlfriend and I rode by on out bikes the red walls were the first thing we noticed. eech.

Shitty websites are a dime a dozen, but for an art gallery proclaiming "the new aesthetic" to use something like that is just asking to be laughed at and not given half a chance.

It's sad, really; I'm sure the owner's well-meaning friend made it for free and they can't see how much it's going to hurt the space's chances.

I must retort the negativity of the red walls. My defense is as follows: A. As noted in the comment above, it gets your attention. With Gallery Zero being a block off of Belmont, it needs to do whatever it can to attract attention to the somewhat obscure locale. B. The vast majority of galleries have walls that are just off-white so as not to distract from the pleasure of art viewing, but with pieces as bold as Gallery Zero's first showing, you would be hard pressed to look at anything else. The red only accents the punch you in the facedness of the work. The website, however, needs a lot of help. Seriously, we should take donations to alleviate this travesty.

Did Anthony Conrad ask permission from the photographer, the women, or the Mercury before doing that painting? Artistic appropriation is one thing (ask Richard Prince), but if he didn't, it's a little creepy.

And ugh, that website is all, "We're subversive, and it's 1996!"

"The red only accents the punch you in the facedness of the work."

ciaphus, i live a couple blocks from the gallery. i walk by it more than i would like to. i assure you, it does nothing of the sort.

if you work for the gallery (which i imagine you must), please repaint the walls. kthx.

I think you are all missing the point

I think you are all missing the point. The worst thing of all is not the brutal raping of my eyes by the red walls or hideous website. No, it is the unforgivable offense of randomly replacing the letter "C" with a "K" in "Koool". "Koool"? Nothing that is truly cool ever refers to themselves as such. It is pathetic and makes you look like you are trying too hard. And seriously, don't misspell words unless you have a good reason. Why did you decide to use a K? My guess is that this was your misguided (and failed) attempt at being edgy. And that extra O? I hate you for that.

PLEASE STOP WITH THE SLOGAN PLEASE SO I CAN PRETTY FUCKING PLEASE STOP WISHING THE DEATH OF THIS GALLERY.

With that said, you should also remake your website (or take it down and replace it with a tasteful Wordpress blog) and paint the walls a color that lets the art speak for itself.

Im very surprised at these comments...What absolute idiots these people are ..The comments from the people that actually visit is overwhelmingly positive.The art explodes off the walls..We are purveyors Of Koool Art..Its a criteria.Please all that read these idiots minimal comprehension ..visit the gallery and make your own conclusions.We are a new aesthetic for galleries ...Its actually amazing when you enter, its bold but as I stated the art has a dominant presence..Its elegant and professionally designed...Trust me the people that made negative comments are COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOTS...Sad to say there is so little sophistication in their comments and lack of knowledge ..Im sure if I met them I would immediately understand why..so would you....Look at the content of our website and understand we are trying to be consistent in our presentation..Which we achieve..Will we do better? Always......WE know what the FUCK WE ARE DOING from 20 years of experience in all phases of gallery presentation. Fuck Off you fucking mental midgets

Purveyors of Koool ART...Does not mean ..cool ..it means Fucking Koool ..you goofy fucking idiot...

Wow. I really liked the place when I was there and I don't get all the negativity. Like the guy above said, why don't you actually visit the place instead of writing shit about something you don't anything about? Theres nothing boring about it and I think they're on to something. Good luck to them.

i dont know whats wrong with the website. its just a plain old website. who cares? i think its about the art and if they want to do it up different, why not? this is supposed to be about ART, right?

This is about art..the whole idea is about art ...GalleryZero Purveyors Of Koool art is what we do..Its an idea based on integrity and concept...It is about standing out , doing something different . Molding a space from nothing into something very special..VISIT US and see something different with reverence towards art..It is a marketing concept not based on your grandmothers understanding of art presentation..Its based on ART

What is "koool art", Randy? You seem to be passionate, but when no one knows what you're talking about, the blame has to be placed on the one making the statement. So, how about telling us what "koool art" is. Explaining the 'k' and the extra 'o' might be a good starting place.

P.S. Calling people morons for not liking your personal aesthetics is a VERY bad sign in a gallery owner. Probably bad enough that I'll never walk into your gallery and give it a chance. Take a look at your behavior before criticizing that of others.

OK, I can't help but pick this apart a bit:

"This is about art."

It's a gallery, and people hate your aesthetics. How is "art" a defense of people thinking your gallery is shit?


"the whole idea is about art..."

It's an art gallery, I'd certainly hope so.


"GalleryZero Purveyors Of Koool art is what we do.."

That sentence conveys absolutely no information.


"Its an idea based on integrity and concept..."

It's an idea based on concept? What???


"It is about standing out , doing something different"

You did that and people said it was ugly. Try again instead of declaring yourself the arbiter of good taste (koool taste?) among the benighted masses.


"Molding a space from nothing into something very special.."

Our first impressions imply otherwise.


"VISIT US and see something different with reverence towards art.."

Perhaps if you didn't come across as self-important dipshit, I would. As it stands, there are better galleries with more respectful proprietors to explore.


"and It is a marketing concept not based on your grandmothers understanding of art presentation..Its based on ART"

One last time, Randy. Buzz-words and being a dick doesn't equal edgy or novel or trangressive. It's fucking boring. Your needless aggression is fucking boring. In the 30-seconds that most of us spend to decide if something new is worth our time, most of us decided that your gallery is fucking boring, and offensively ugly.

You failed, now suck it up and try again. Or continue railing against the morons that don't understand art until your funding dries up in a couple months. Whatever.

Im sorry ..your right..the fact that your taste is different than mine is swell. I am glad your taste is better than mine..I just wish I knew what your taste was...White walls ..yeah ..thats nice..I guess it just looks like the art is more defined with the red walls..It really is not..All the people that have visited the gallery have loved it...maybe just most..The fact that it does stand out and has a quality of elegance in a dynamic presentation is only an opinion..Not yours...obviously.....Im very glad you have an opinion..There are alot of people like you out there..I am very thankful that I do not know them..I hate boring idiots with no understanding of aesthetics and presentation but so willing to believe in themselves . Its good pals..Its good to be stupid...Our gallery is anything but ugly..Just an opinion based on reality..What a concept..Reality...Please try to understand...Im glad you dont dress me..I can only imagine ...Stop by the gallery and actually look at it...My background is galleries in Bevery Hills, Melrose , and Laguna Beach..Thats where I learned to throw away all that I learned for this , while keeping it REal..Just an opinion..THANK you for yours

The fact that some of you need to have words defined for you is awesome...Figure it out ..I clearly am of the understanding you have no idea what koool is let alone cool..Read our mission statement on our horrible website..The definitions are obvious ..your intentions are less..Sorry for getting into your faces , sorry for the red walls, oops ...I just hope no one with good taste allows you to define who we are. We know and visitors that ACTUALLY Visit us know...most anyway...Like I said I am glad you do not pick out my clothes

Randy, the fun thing about web forums is that the text is EVERYTHING. You can look back and see everything that everyone said. If a stranger reads this post, they can see that you were the one that started throwing around the ad hominems.

We criticized the aesthetics of your gallery and your website, you could have simply made the rather embarrassing maneuver of pulling the "art professional" card and stating that no one understood you because you're so edgy and we're so ignorant. Instead, you sailed right through that and started in on calling a bunch of strangers on the web "COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOTS".

This doesn't make you look good, Randy. In fact, it makes you look very very bad. Pulling the "relativity of taste" gambit while in the extreme minority, and then throwing out personal insults at strangers made you look a five year old.

Perhaps if you started to respond to criticisms and questions (like "what does "koool" mean) would help you come out of this looking a bit less like an unprofessional blowhard with poor taste and even worse social skills. Just a helpful suggestion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthet…)

Try skimming that, Randy. If you really can't figure out why there's nothing cool about declaring yourself cool (much less "koool"), you might want to just off yourself right now.

Also, I read your mission statement. For a place that's about the "exploration of opinion and perception", you certainly get hostile when people don't share your opinion. Come to think of it, that sort of behavior is just about the antithesis of cool. Perhaps you should rethink the "idea of your concept" or whatever.

its really quite sad that so many people's comprehension of art is based on the immediate sensations proposed by it. can i stand next to it? will my friends think im smart for attaining this piece? can i sell it? is it marketable? because almost everything in portland gels itself to someone or other, its not suprising that most of these comments were most likely made by people who've never made art or even set foot in a gallery that represent art thats DEEPER in concept and application than those cutsey lil ultra-modern design tack decorative lil faces with the eyes real wide and the noses falling below their chins. i'm glad that grafitti and stencil inspired art has made a place for itself in the consciousness of creative peoples, but can we get over it!! can we start to appreciate real art? i feel Gallery Zero is going be an oasis of real art for real artists. art that attempts to be more impactful and memorable than the tack shoe commercial shlock being sold at last thursdays, upper playground, compound...y'know all those "cool" galleries. ....but do what you like. we'll be doing the same. and while you're all out buying another scarf or another pair of shoes that Juxtapoz told you to buy, we'll be making real art. like real artists. -Dean Reiner, artist, nobody.

Randy, if all or part of that was a quote from "Dean Reiner", please use proper punctuation to denote that. You seem to have some serious problems with communication.

As it is, it seems like you or Dean are making a huge quantity of assumptions of people they know very little about. Why are you putting words in people's mouths? Why are you putting thoughts in people's heads? It seems like a rather cowardly way to go about what is, after all, a conversation.

I'm still curious to see you answer some questions posed to you, although it's becoming clearer by the post that it's unlikely to be capable of that sort of rational exchange.

oops, previous wikipedia link chopped off final ")". I suck.

Its been interesting to read the comment volley that has been going on between [A cat] and [Randy Young]. I'll chime in on a couple points. First, as a former gallery owner (Art Prostitute Gallery 2004-2007), there is nothing wrong with painting the walls of a gallery in any color. When we had DALEK and Mike Giant show in our gallery, they decided to paint the walls Pepto-pink as part of their installation. Seeing the gallery change with each show allowed for an element of surprise that our gallery patrons looked forward to.

One of the hardest parts of running a galley that serves as part launching pad for up-and-comers, and part exhibition space for the big-timer's was being attentive toward the varied needs, wants, and taste's of such a broad audience. Which brings me to my second point...

In order for a gallery to survive, it must sell art. Artists need to sell their work to make a living, and then come to trust the galleries that they know can move their work. And in return, galleries need to pay their rent in order to keep their doors open. Discriminating a potential patron's taste based on other galleries they visit, the magazines they read, the clothes they wear, the music they listen to, etc., is most definitely not an effective way to help out the artists who trust us to sell their work, nor would it be helpful toward the patrons, as it would give them the bad-taste-in-their-mouths that would keep them from returning. It was important for us to find ways of helping the poor art kids all the way to the high-brow art collectors in feeling at home in our gallery, to feel inspired, and ultimately to feel the desire to purchase and collect some great art.

Hi, Art Director. Glad to see a professional throwing in some input. I think you summarize the issue well.

Speaking purely for myself, my initial quibble was purely minor. I have nothing against curators doing anything for the sake of art; I believe the "all art spaces must be off-white!" objections were purely the product of Randy's tendency towards dishonest discussion (i.e. strawmen, ad hominems, etc.). I simply agreed with the original poster's opinion that the gallery and its website was an aesthetic abomination, as did others.

I think the place where Randy really lost his little Waterloo was when he started disparaging everyone that disagreed with him. If he had taken criticism on board (not necessarily following it blindly), I think he would have fared fine. Instead, he engaged in some shockingly unprofessional behavior, and I suspect that the vast majority of those that may have been interested in his gallery have now filed the venue firmly in the "to be avoided" category.

It's sad, really. If he could keep his anger issues in check, he could have come out of this scrap with some new patrons walking through the door.

The comment about other peoples tastes was not mine .t was an opinion by an artist that went unedited..Visit our gallery ..We understand our responsibility ..Check it out ..talk to me ..than comment..Im not afraid of valid comments or tastes that are different from mine..Uninformed ridiculous comments that have nothing to do with content is quite different..I respect what you say art director..Ive been doing it for a long time..The artists inspire us and we present their expressions in a valid space that only accentuates the art..VISIT US..

Randy, we are talking. You're talking with a number of potential customers, and you're being a complete asshole.

You want content? Here we go:

The molten-lava/swirly logo thing on your main page would look outdated in 2001. Any web-designer in the city will tell you the same thing.

Several people have called you one the word "koool" being ridiculous. This won't go away. Perhaps you should start defending yourself.

Your mission statement is filled with buzz-words that are devoid of content. I will pick it apart word by word if you really need that.

Far more "random people" (that's what you find on this blog) have thought your website and gallery are aesthetically offensive than have liked it. This means somethings. The tide of public opinion means something. We are your buying public. You're not holding out for someone more sophisticated, so please stop being a douche.

To define our gallery and make comments without even visiting it..is sad..For me to react to the triteness of most of the opinions with my own opinion of the people that made the comments is just being pissed off..The comments I believe were lame and unjustified..Its great to banter just to hear yourself banter......We show art that is defined by the viewer in a beautiful unique setting that only intensifies the significance of the art.Koool is whatever you want it to be..If you do not get it..Please do not ask me to explain..Art is to be experienced..the explanation of it is personal..Just an opinion..Sorry for not being like you (cat)..It makes me want to be religious in my gratefulness for not being like you, visit the GAllery ..Please..No weapons allowed

Just visit us ...put us down in person ..when you actually visit the gallery..Douche? wow your hypocrisy is AWESOME!!..Your Awesome Cat..Visit us..Your comments are so trite and goofy ..I really would love to meet you..WOW!!

You've ignored every legitimate criticism made in this post, dismissing them with ad hominems and shitty discourse. For someone with 20 years working with professional arts orgs, you certainly have very little in the way of communications skills.

(Randy, before you begin your next little missive, please go back and reread this thread. You've been presented with several specific grievances (which most arts professionals would agree with) and responded by saying that we're idiots and that people that don't "get it" when you make poor use of the English-language are somehow clueless.)

Keep digging that hole, mate.

Wow! I can't WAIT to see the place. With all the attention: good and bad! I've driven by it at night and was fascinated. I do have to say, based upon the website and the artists that are involved, I think everyone is so quick to judge when something "different & unique" comes along. It's like going back in time to the 60's and discriminating against those that are "different". Everyone is so use to the clean, elegant, "white-walls" of the typical gallery. But if any of you visit S.California, N.Y. , Seattle, you will find that this person has set up something unique, based upon the "unusual". I wonder how many of you that posted the comments are true art industry buffs? Remember Peter Max? The gallery is about who it represents. The website, cracks me up. It really got my attention. Rather than the typical boring sites out there that never change, that stick with the basics. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, however. It's just sad, during this big political campain (sp?) that people are wanting change and something new. I'm sure the owners are thinking the same thing. So don't be too quick to judge.

Nice sock-puppet, Randy. Try again.

Bravo! Mr."A Cat" you give a new meaning to the words big-ol'-bully! I've followed your comments about Gallery Zero and I think the most fabulous part of your self rightious, "I like to get on faceless blogs and pretend I'm an expert", attitude is, that all this whinning and you've never even been inside this creative dump of a gallery!

Here's a concept, put down your
stumptown triple mocha, get off your fat computer butt, and go down to the place! Hell, look in the window or something dumb like that, because usually when someone wants to make a big stink about something? they've actually experienced it in "real time" not in their "cyber mind"? Hiding behind your computer is kinda pathetic, O.K. alot pathetic.

Anywho, please, I know that life must just be a big dissapointment for you and it's sad that the only enjoyment you get is by "ego blogging" at the expense of others diversity. I'm sure you've learned this in one of your community college writing workshops, you need more material! then we will read your negative rantings with pleasure. Oh and I gotta say, you and that Randy guy need to get a room!

I quite like the gallery and the artwork, AND the red walls. But I think the 'koool art' thing is laughable and the website is just terrible by any standards.

But the gallery itself and the work inside it -- which should be the real focus, right? -- is really good.

But please get a smarter webpage up, it makes the gallery look bad when it really isn't...