Claiming That Art Is ‘Essential,’ Some California Galleries Have Reopened in Bold Defiance of Stay-at-Home Orders

As art dealers across the US wonder when they will be able to
reopen for business, two galleries in the San Francisco Bay Area
have taken matters into their own hands and thrown open their doors
in brazen defiance of stay-at-home orders.

“We are well beyond the
conditions under which there remains any practical, legal, or moral
justification for keeping our business closed
indefinitely,” Linda
Cordair, the co-owner of Quent Cordair Fine Art in Napa, which reopened
Monday, told Artnet
News.

“We’re being told to sit
obediently at home, watching everything we’ve worked so hard to
build and maintain become more endangered by the day, for no other
reason than a fear of what might happen, with no evidence that it
will happen, and with no end date in sight for when the local or
state authorities might allow us to reopen.”

As of Wednesday morning, Napa
County had confirmed two coronavirus-related deaths and 75
infections. Statewide, California has had nearly 55,000 confirmed
cases, and more than 2,200 deaths.

Meanwhile, the Art Ventures Gallery in Menlo Park reopened
Saturday for limited
hours and will do so again on May 6.  

“Don’t forget about us,” the
gallery’s owner, Katharina Powers, told SFGate. “Art is so important. We’re more important
than other businesses. I want to be taken seriously.” She
added: “Art is the highest form of hope, and it’s
essential.”

Cordair, who runs her gallery with her husband, Quent, announced
her intention to reopen in an op-ed published by
the Napa Valley
Register this week,
saying they were willing to “risk fines, arrest, or jail” to
operate their business. Quent also tweeted a quote he attributed to
Ayn Rand.

“We simply can’t wait any
longer,” Linda told Artnet News. “We’re already between a rock and
a hard place, and we’re choosing to start digging our way
out.”

The gallery, which had been
closed for six weeks, specializes in “Romantic Realism,” and mostly
sells allegorical and figurative works that “celebrate the moments
of happiness, joy, and success possible to man on earth,” according
to the gallery’s website. 

In Menlo Park, Katharina
Powers has instructed visitors to the Art Ventures
Gallery to wear masks,
remain 12 feet apart, and sign in through a guest book, should she
need to trace contacts.

But Powers still said she received warnings from the Menlo Park chief of
police and the mayor’s office, as well as numerous emails from
local residents urging her to follow protocols.

“Everybody who walked in was not
concerned,” Powers told SFGate. “They were relieved that they could
actually talk to someone real. I don’t understand where the harm
was.”

Linda Cordair said that
supporters have cheered her own decision to reopen.

“We refuse to die here in the
tunnel,” she said. “We’re pushing through to the light, and we’re
already seeing sales pick up for having done so, with hundreds of
messages of support from around the nation and the
world.”

The post Claiming That Art Is ‘Essential,’ Some California
Galleries Have Reopened in Bold Defiance of Stay-at-Home Orders
appeared first on artnet News.