Field Projects

Field Projects was founded in 2011. It is an artist-run project space based in Chelsea NY dedicated to emerging and mid-career artists. Field Projects presents monthly exhibitions at their Chelsea location in addition to participating in pop-up exhibitions in and around New York as well art fairs around the world. Our virtual presence connects with a network of over 40,000 followers across social media and email. The gallery invites artists to submit their work for consideration twice a year through an open call submission process. We discover about 80% of the artists we show through our open call submission process. We are dedicated to fostering community and transparency in the face of the opaque capitalism that dominates the majority of the art world.

Interview with Fields Projects

Hi Kris! Thanks so much for talking with us!

Hey Emily, thank you for reaching out! It feels like we’ve known each other for so long and I am thrilled to finally sit down to chat with you.

I am so thrilled to chat with you about Field Projects, as I have been following the space for a long time and have visited in person numerous times over the years. I feel like you've been in operation for forever and are a New York staple. When did the gallery first get started?

We’ve been around for a solid eleven years now, almost twelve! We got started in 2011. It's’ been a long process, figuring out how to survive as an artist-run gallery in Chelsea–– especially since we’ve rejected lots of the proscriptive artist and commercial gallery methods that allow Directors to merchandise their business.   

Have you always been in the current location in Chelsea? What was the impetus to begin a gallery and who were the founding members?

My business partner Jacob Rhodes founded the gallery with Keri Oldham, after he started feeling frustrated about the inaccessibility of the gallery system for artists. He and Keri wanted to make a space that would help make the gallery system more transparent to artists, especially emerging artists, and that’s been our goal ever since. They started in Chelsea, and we’ve been in the same spot on the 8th floor of 526 W 26th street ever since. I joined the gallery later, in 2016. At that time, we had two other Co-Directors: Rachel Frank and Alissa D. Polan. Currently, Jacob and I are the only acting Directors of the space. It has been pretty difficult running the gallery with just the two of us throughout the pandemic (our last Director, Rachel, left during the hot months of the George Floyd protests).

We missed having a blowout celebration of our tenth year running in 2021 due to the general chaos and uncertainty of the pandemic. But Jacob and I have been joking that we are going to do something dramatic for our “lucky 13 years” celebration. Originally, he wanted to call the gallery “Pagan Holiday,” but Keri’s cooler head prevailed, and they settled on “Field Projects” instead. But, the pagan holiday theme still runs pretty strong in our curation and in the way we think about structuring the gallery and exhibitions. So a lucky number post-decennial celebration is in order soon. Hopefully it will include a moonlight rooftop performance of some kind, with lots of artists. 

It's been a hectic few years especially for New York galleries—what have been some of the biggest challenges you've faced over time? What keeps you going?

The biggest challenge over the last few years has been finances, since our rent has more than doubled. I know, a New Yorker complaining about rent! But really, that is such a major factor in galleries getting priced out of existence. Realtors only want artist run spaces around for so long, then they want to profit from wealthier commercial spaces and institutions with backing. We are in a building that is subsidized for the arts, which was in part ensured by Gloria Naftali (of Greene Naftali gallery), who just passed away in September.

The gallery is technically two rooms. But we always rented out the backroom to an artist as a studio. COVID took a toll on our long-term tenant and for many reasons they suddenly moved out just after Rachel left the gallery. We were left with double rent but also double the space. So, insanely, Jacob and I decided to start Field Residency, our now one-year-old residency program. We could have just rented it out again, but we decided to try something new. That’s how Field Projects has functioned and continues to function over time–– we keep encountering obstacles and trying to make them opportunities. It doesn’t always work, but if we succeed once in a while, I think that’s a massive win for alternative art spaces. I think that’s what keeps us going. We want to be open and we want to figure out what it means to be a gallery that genuinely cares about artists. And–– we love a challenge.

What is your background as an artist and curator? How did you become interested in the arts?

Ok, I’ll give you the short version for me, and for Jacob. I have always been attracted to fields that are by definition ill-defined and cross-disciplinary. Art is such a field, because really, art can be everything. I feel the same way about art history, which is why I am currently finishing my PhD in medieval art history. I started curating after moving to New York City and feeling completely at a loss for how to enter the art world. Then I thought “why can’t I make the art world?” So, I started putting together shows. I became part of a four-person collective of artist-curators called Es Ef Eff which also included Ben Cowan, Zorawar Sidhu, and Alex Sewell. I started curating for the same reasons that Jacob founded Field Projects. I wanted to see more transparency, more honesty, and more accessibility in art. I work in my studio every week, and I am constantly exhilarated and motivated by meeting and speaking with artists in the Field Projects community. It keeps me working and thinking every day. 

Jacob came to art for similar reasons but from a really different place. We’ve both always made art, but whereas I came to it from set painting as a kid, Jacob came from playing in punk bands, making zines and tee-shirts. Both of us made collective art as kids, which, I suspect, is why we are both so interested in promoting community among artists. After touring around with his band, Jacob went to Otis college of Art, then joined the army at 27 and went to Yale for his MFA, which he proudly renounces today. Yale, for Jacob, was the opposite of what he wanted from art: people were competitive and as he says “operated on a scarcity model.” Jacob believed that community support was the point of art. So while at Yale he turned his sculpture studio into a gallery that showed artists who applied to the program but were rejected. Trying to make exclusionary spaces and experiences accessible to others is a core value for both of us and that’s a major reason Field Projects exists today. 

What kinds of shows are you most drawn to curating?

My policy toward curating has always been to put people together who need to be in a show together. I don’t often curate solo shows at the gallery itself, but if I do, I always want to push that person to try to make something they couldn’t make or do with any other gallery. We always strive to show marginalized artists and I feel a particular draw toward artists working with a strong research subject or with a particularly unusual studio practice. In terms of mediums, I’ve always been a bit biased toward painting, but I truly have put together shows with every imaginable medium.

What is the role of guest curators in putting together in-person or online shows?

Right, so we have an Open Call, which we always try to have a guest curator head. We all sit down and review the portfolios together. Jacob and I flag artists for future shows during that process, but the ultimate show is the decision of the guest curator. Together we cut the applicants down to about 20 people, then we send the curator home to try to come up with a show from that group. We get to see so many amazing works during this process–– it’s always disappointing to reject artists. Often the decision comes down to space constraints (our Chelsea gallery is tiny!) and the theme or subject the guest curator focuses on.

Your most recent in-person exhibition, Eve's Rib, features work made with clay. It's a stunning show, and as someone who recently reignited a love for the medium, I am always thrilled when I see ceramic work take the spotlight. What inspired this particular show at this time?

That show was all Jacob. Well, every show we do is collaborative, but we usually take turns spearheading one show, and step back a bit on the next so that we can share the workload equally. We both have jobs outside of running the gallery, and curating is an intensive practice. Additionally, we curated a booth of Fay Ku’s work at Spring Break Art Fair at the beginning of September. Jacob wanted to put together an exhibition that countered that show. Often, that’s how we work at Field Projects–– we never want to get stuck showing one medium or type of work.  

There’s been a notable resurgence in ceramic experimentation over the last five years, and Jacob has tracked this closely. During that time, he’s become friends with many prominent ceramic artists, including Melissa Joseph (who's also known for her figurative felted works). This exhibition is the result of his observations over that time, and her input on artists from her time at The Bray residency program. 

In addition to the gallery space, you also feature online shows, run a residency, print Field magazine, AND record a podcast! I know how much time just one of these endeavors can take! How do all of these moving parts fit together? I would imagine there are a lot of wonderful intersections between all of these paths?

For sure. As I said earlier, right now it’s just Jacob and I running the space. We have rotating paid interns, but the logistics, organization, and production is all on us. We take turns doing everything; editing the podcast, interviewing artists, putting together shows. Field Projects is really dependent on our motivation to get things done. We both come to it with the mentality of treating it as an art practice and a service that we are trying to do for artists. It takes a lot of energy, but its honestly worth every second.

What are the day-to-day operations of running everything like? How do you do it all! Any tips for managing what I can only assume is a lot to organize?

Yes, find the organizational system that works for you! Jacob and I are really different people, so we organize our tasks differently. But there's also a lot of crossover–– technology is our greatest friend. We have a shared google calendar and multiple Zoom meetings and phone calls every week. We used to use Trello to organize our tasks, but now we just make extensive use of google docs and Dropbox. 

Jacob and I are in the gallery at least once a week, and our intern is there during opening hours. We also do studio visits and meet with people in the space who make appointments. So it’s quite a bit of time. I’m too afraid to count up my hours, honestly. We wouldn’t do this if we didn’t love it, and I have really enjoyed finding a creative community outlet. 

Your open call has been around for a long time, and is a great opportunity for emerging artists to exhibit their work in the city and connect to other artists. I imagine you have seen many artists get a foothold in the city and launch their careers. What's it like to see that transformation and have the potential to be a supportive catalyst?

Watching artists thrive is what keeps me at Field Projects. Jacob and I could have chosen to represent artists, and we’d be doing pretty well if we had. But we choose not to because we want to help as many people as we can.  The Open Call lets us constantly expand our network and the artists that we work with. We have a widely followed platform, and more importantly, after we show an artist other galleries start to notice them because many of our followers are other galleries with networks of collectors far larger than our own. That’s a subject we haven't gone too far into, but the reality of which galleries make sales and which don’t is a whole new avenue of transparency that Jacob and I are strategizing how to approach at the moment. 

Whats up next for you and the gallery?

Up next is our fall Open Call exhibition! We also run a series of in-person workshops. Our last was on “Monstrous Air” with KS Brewer, and our next will be on Saturday, November 19th with Rex ​​Delafkaran, who is an amazing DC-based ceramicist and micro-movement performer. Rex applied to our residency Open Call and we’ve been wanting to work with them ever since. Please come to that if you can!   

Anything else you'd like to add?

Yes. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about how crushing entering art can feel for young or newly identifying artists. I want to tell them that, because art is everything, art can be anything. You don’t have to do it one way, and you don’t need institutional approval to be a valid artist. You have to find what works for you, what you're passionate about, and what drives you. Don’t just make work you think would please an old professor or that might attract more likes on social media or the eyes of some wealthy collector. 

On our recent Field Pod we were speaking with the artist María Luisa Portuondo Vila. When she came to New York from Chile, she didn’t know how to connect with the social practice art community (or any art community, I think). So she just set up shop in the subway! She is such a great example that anywhere, and everywhere, can be your space to make. You don’t need a conventional gallery, though they are helpful in the long run. If you’re driven, passionate, and invested in uplifting your community, the galleries will find you. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us!

Thank you Emily!

To find out more about Field Projects check them out on Instagram or on their website.