On Friday, September 29, I found myself on the fourth floor of the Pioneer Bank building. I left the elevator and was greeted by a group of people that directed me to the makeshift gallery room. There was music playing, art on all of the walls, and a table in the center of the room with a directory of all the work, artists, and prices.
Troy Pop Up began in January of 2016 and featured only five artists at the time. Curator Tori Rodriguez expressed that the business aspect of being an artist is hard for many—showing work in a typical gallery can be a fruitless, discouraging process. Submission fees can be astronomical and, if the artist even gets accepted into the show, the formal setting often fails to give any feedback.
This style of pop up galleries is intended to be the opposite; Rodriguez aims to keep submission and showing fees low, currently at $10 and an additional $30 respectively. All transactions are also done through the artist, and Rodriguez doesn’t take a commission unless they fail to show up. If you want to buy a piece or a print, you get the bonus of talking with and directly buying from the artist who made it. I prefer to have a story or experience associated with most of the things I buy, and this show created the perfect atmosphere for that.
Submissions from all media are accepted, and this show in particular featured acrylic, oil, watercolor, photography, digital illustration, and mixed media. The variety among the works was refreshing—a photograph of an abandoned warehouse hung next to an abstract painting, and recognizable sceneries in Troy were interspersed between landscape drawings. There were only 10 artists, as opposed to the usual 12 to 15, making this the smallest of the year.
Rodriguez expressed that she always wants more students to get involved, and for anyone who might be interested, the showing fee is $10 cheaper with current student identification. For more information about submissions and future pop up events, visit https://poly.rpi.edu/s/rug2h.