The art of owning a gallery

When Jason Martin opened his own Sydney art gallery in 2007, he drew on a wide range of skills from a diverse working and studying life.

From the world of banking and statistics he had learned the nitty gritty of finance.

From academia he had learned about art history, and in artists’ studios – including his own – he had gained an insight into the creative mind.

As right-hand man for seven years to one of Sydney’s most colourful art dealers, he had picked up a store of on-the-ground know-how.

Two years ago, Martin pulled it all together when he opened Flinders Street Gallery in Surry Hills, where he shows contemporary Australian art.

Martin acknowledges his debt to his past working lives.

“You really have to have a broad range of skills, especially if you’re doing it on your own,” Martin says.

Born and schooled on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Martin always loved art but was also good at maths.

Enrolling at the University of Sydney, he began a science degree but switched to psychology and fine arts.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, Martin enrolled at the National Art School where he studied the atelier skills of painting,drawing, printmaking, sculpture and photography.
“I thought it would be a fun thing to do, and it was,” he says.

Martin embarked on the life of a painter, but found studio life isolating and lonely.

“I sort of empathise with artists now,” he says. “On the one hand you can say making art is a great thing to do, but also it’s not easy. So I went and worked for Westpac for a few years.”

Martin worked in Westpac’s human resources department in Martin Place.

“I had studied psychology at uni and I had also started a masters in commerce which I didn’t finish,” he says.

“I worked as an assistant business analyst. I was quite good at maths which I did at uni, and I did statistics, so they had me looking over staff statistics.”

The bank turned out to be well located.

“I was just over the road from the Art Gallery of NSW and I used to go over there for lunch,” Martin says.

“At a certain point I decided that I’d like to get back to doing something with art.”

Having put in three years, Martin left Westpac. He had been spending his weekends helping out at a gallery in Woollahra, and heard about a job going with Ray Hughes, the well-known art dealer in Surry Hills. Martin got the job and started in early 2000.

“There was no real job title [with Hughes],” Martin says. “One of Ray’s strategies is to throw you in at the deep end and see what you can do and hopefully things will work out.”

Martin’s first role was to help out in Hughes’s vast stock room, but he moved on to selling works of art, doing banking and liaising with artists overseas.

During Hughes’s regular trips overseas, Martin was left in charge. When Hughes was in town, Martin was witness to his flamboyant way of dealing with a procession of famous artists and leading collectors.

“On one hand it’s tough going, on the other hand you get the opportunity to do a lot of things,” Martin says.

Martin could have stayed on and enjoyed the ride, but he wanted to set up his own gallery. But he had no romantic notions.

“It’s basically a shop,” he says.

A friend helped him with legal and accounting aspects, and Martin found there were endless details to attend to. There was also the issue of start-up capital.

“To open an art gallery is not an inexpensive thing to do,” Martin says.

Where the gallery financials have been concerned, Martin says ‘”the Westpac stuff has been very useful”.

While Martin believes his background in art history and studio practice has been valuable, he acknowledges the validity of the the non-expert’s instinct.

“I’ve noticed that most people have an intuitive sense for what is good art, but I think you have to have confidence to get behind it,” he says.

“After doing a lot of shows and seeing the reaction to things and whether people will buy something, I’ve found that it’s not as subjective as you think.

“There are some things that are objectively good-looking things. But it certainly helps to have studied art history.

“In some ways the success to it is finding artists who are going to have a good future and make good things. It’s like just having good stock. The two sides of the equation is having good art and having people who will buy.”

How to be an … Art gallery owner
Qualifications
Qualifications are not strictly required, although relevant courses include the Master of Art Curatorship at Sydney University and the Master of Art Administration at the College of Fine Arts at the University of NSW. “I didn’t do [a] course but I’d say it’s a good idea,” Jason Martin (pictured) says.

Course
Both courses are postgraduate. The Master of Art Curatorship is one year full-time or two years part-time. The Master of Art Administration is a three-semester program.

Cost
The University of Sydney course is $15,120 and the University of NSW course is $7200.

Assumed knowledge
Running a successful art gallery requires a depth of knowledge and experience in the fields of both culture and business.

From the inside
“I’ve always had an interest in art,” Martin says.

“The careers adviser at high school never mentioned this kind of thing, but all the planets have lined up and everything seems to make sense.”