Thomas Scoon, Your Kind #4, #5, 2009. H 59, W 16, D 8 (tallest). courtesy: ken sanders gallery
In July, when Marx-Saunders Gallery began contacting its collectors and artists to inform them that, at the end of the summer, Bonnie Marx would be stepping away from the gallery she had built up over 20 years and leaving operations in the hands of her partner of 15 years, Ken Saunders, the plan was to have a subtle and seamless transition. But because it’s impossible to call everyone, some people heard about it from their friends, and began to speculate that there was more to this story than a simple decision by Marx to spend more time on her other business interests and personal life.
That’s why the gallery decided to send out a letter signed by both Marx and Saunders that clearly stated that Marx was leaving “to devote her attention to other businesses and personal interests,” and that she would continue to work with the gallery on projects, as Saunders led the gallery into a new era.
In a telephone interview, GLASS asked Saunders whether the economy played a role in this decision. “It’s actually a better economic moment than it had been,” he says. “I wasn’t going to let her go during the good times, or the worst of times. Now we’re at a pause—a moment on which we can build.”
For this major Chicago gallery that has built a reputation for investing in the artists it shows with lavish exhibition catalogs and high-end presentations in their loft-style multi-level space in the city’s River North gallery district, the transition will be hard to detect. None of their artists are leaving. Gallery director Donna Davies will remain in her position. Even Marx herself will continue to be involved, says Saunders: “She’s going to stay committed to the gallery and available to work with us for special opportunities.”
The changes will be subtle, and will reflect Saunders’ vision in small but significant ways. The new Ken Saunders Gallery website has a more sleek and design-forward feel than the Marx-Saunders website. The catalog for the new Thomas Scoon exhibit opening on September 11, for example, features photographs of the cast glass and granite sculptures set in the Chicago landscape rather than in a more standard white-box gallery setting as had been typical of Marx-Saunders catalogs. It’s also available for download as a PDF file, a move that makes it easier to distribute and cuts costs. (There is also no catalog essay, another cost-saving move.)
“We might not have done a catalog this way earlier,” says Saunders. “But, I wanted to show Scoon’s work in a different light—near water, and in an outdoor setting.”
Saunders, who has experience as an art dealer specializing in painting, plans to continue to bring his knowledge of the larger art world and contemporary art fairs into the continued success of the gallery that now bears his name exclusively.
“When things got very tough last year and earlier this year, we worked extremely hard to get us through that, and we are through that,” says Saunders. “I’m a little younger than Bonnie, and I think my voice will have a slightly different resonance.”
