A couple of months ago, one of my partners and I were given the chance to sit down with Bella and beautiful.bizarre and talk for a little bit about our company, some of our experiences so far, and what we see in store for the future of Arch Enemy. It was a great platform to share some of our perspective and ideas about how we fit into the greater world of new contemporary art, and also to post awkward promo photos of ourselves that make us look like not-totally-comfortable members of a 90’s hardcore band.
In the piece one of the things I talked about is how we see our position and role not so much as just a static retail space for artist’s work, but rather something more fluid and always evolving. It’s something that is really important to us and at the foundation of what we are trying to build with Arch Enemy. To be good artist advocates and partners first and foremost, and to have the ability to adapt our efforts to better provide the services and tools our artists need to be better able to thrive and move their careers forward.
In my opinion, sharing our different perspectives and keeping the conversation between artists and galleries ongoing, open, and honest is one of the most fundamentally important things that we should be doing, which is why I could not be more excited that beautiful.bizarre offered me an opportunity to do this brand new bi-weekly interactive feature, ‘Open Call’.
We see ‘Open Call’ as being a combination of things… sort of a Dear Abby column, an AMA, a town hall meeting, and sometimes maybe even an interrogation. I’ll be in the hot seat. Starting immediately, you can email me questions, concerns, and challenges that you face as an artist to opencall@beautifulbizarre.net
Whether you are an emerging artist who is searching for a way to get your foot in the door, or established and seeking new ways that a gallery could help compliment what you’ve already accomplished, we’re hoping that this can become a constructive and ongoing conversation that can be insightful as either a participant or a reader, fun, and maybe even something that can challenge members of both sides to work more closely together and be better.
Thanks so much to beautiful.bizarre for the opportunity. I can’t wait to get this started.
I’m super stoked and looking forward to talking with all of you,
-Patrick
Have a question for Patrick? Send inquiries to opencall@beautifulbizarre.net
Patrick Shillenn is the co-founder and director of Arch Enemy Arts in Philadelphia. He doesn’t think he has all the answers. He just wants to have the conversation.
Follow him on IG @pshillenn & Twitter @mathclub
