“All these galleries are crazy!” “. It is not uncommon to hear this from visitors who discover the streets of Douarnenez. A good number of these galleries emerged in the 2000s, others were born just before the health crisis, and around ten after the pandemic.
Have another activity
In 2019, both retired, Alain Eudot and Martine Chapin opened Chambre Claire, a gallery dedicated to photography. “We have an associative status. We really do this for fun. With four exhibitions of six weeks each, the Chambre claire has an opening time of six months per year. Alain straightens a frame on the wall: “We don’t have rent and we don’t pay ourselves… Otherwise it wouldn’t be viable. This is not a for-profit activity, it would not be possible. We’re just balancing our cash flow.” Martine adds: “Those who can make a living from a gallery today, very often, have another activity on the side… Or they are galleries linked to buyers all over the world, otherwise it’s difficult.”
A gallery, or a galley?
Clémentine Denis opened “La main bleue” last May, where she exhibits mainly Douarneist artists. “When I opened, the first comment I got on Facebook was: another gallery! I had a lot of requests from local artists to exhibit, but not necessarily from buyers.”
Live on it? This seems difficult today: “It’s very complicated. I did one summer with a maximum salary of €450, and in November, €38. Since September I started my activity as a therapist, my first job, and I also took a third job.”
I naively thought I was going to play the saleswoman behind my counter
She doesn’t know if her shop will last much longer: “I’ll give myself another year or two and we’ll see. I was not ready for the job of a trader. I naively thought I was going to play the saleswoman behind my counter.”
She also thinks that its location may not be ideal.
The ideal location?
It is undoubtedly that of the contemporary art gallery Plein Jour, place des halles, run by Alexandra Duprez and Jean-Pierre Le Bars, both visual artists in Douarnenez for almost thirty years. “We are going to celebrate ten years of Plein Jour next April.” The gallery is installed on the ground floor of their home. “I set up my workshop there, and the location was so well located that we decided to make it a gallery, with two or three exhibitions per year. But we are first and foremost artists and our income comes from our activity as visual artists. Gallerists are for pleasure, under associative status,” she says. According to Jean-Pierre, “to make a living as a gallery owner only, you have to be able to invest yourself fully, participate in shows, fairs, and sell on the internet. Without that, it’s complicated.”
