Art of Engagement: Tales from a New York Art Dealer

The question is often asked why some art is more important, more relevant, than the average decorative or handmade object. Why isn’t everything of equal value?
For 30 years, Douglas Walla has had the pleasure of working with a number of thrilling and thought provoking artists and situations which address the architecture of amnesia, issues of “conscience”, emotionally urgent subject matter (both personal as well as public in origin) and obsessive, compulsive personal undertakings. Mr. Walla will touch upon several past projects to illuminate the possibilities.

While undertaking studies at the University, he worked in various capacities in the local community, first assisting the painters B.J. McCoon and Rollin Pickford, later apprenticeships with the Hans Sumpf Company constructing large scale architectural reliefs and as a preparatory for the Fresno Arts Center. From 1973 to 1976, Mr. Walla was curator of the Fresno Arts Center organizing three exhibitions and publications entitled Masterworks of Modern Sculpture, 200 Years of American Painting, and the first retrospective for Alex Katz. At the time of his enrollment in the Master’s Degree Program in Fine Art, he also was given one man shows at the Monterey Museum of Art, the Fresno Arts Center with Rollin Pickford, and a graduate installation at the University.

In 1976, Mr. Walla relocated to New York City where he would become the Vice-President of Marlborough Gallery and coordinated the exhibitions and activities for Francis Bacon, Larry Rivers, Alex Katz, Red Grooms and the Estates of Jacques Lipchitz and Barbara Hepworth. With the departure from Marlborough in 1985, Mr. Walla founded a new gallery on the corner of Madison and 57th Street named Kent Fine Art, Inc. The new entity would publish over 40 scholarly books, and organize over 200 exhibitions worldwide. Representing the surrealists Dorothea Tanning and Meret Oppenheim, the Estate of Herbert Bayer (Bauhaus), to the larger group of mid-career conceptual artists of conscience, Dennis Adams, Chris Burden, Llyn Foulkes, Antoni Muntadas, the gallery would provide support, and coordination on all projects.

Recent activities include the recent Venice Blennale project by Emily Prince entitled American Servicemen and Women Who Have Died in Iraq and Afghanistan (but Not Including the Wounded, nor the Iraqis nor the Afghans) which documents over 3900 casualties in drawing form which has been favorably reviewed by The International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, and New York magazine along with numerous European journals.

This project is viewable online at www.alltheamericanservicemenandwomen.com and the gallery archive may be accessed through www.kentgallery.com.

by Douglas Walla
B.A. Art 1973, M.A. Art 1974
Founder, Kent Gallery