Triple Canopy has a lovely interview with Penny Pilkington and Wendy Olsoff, co-founders of P.P.O.W. Gallery. The two dealers are refreshingly candid, especially given how tight-lipped the art world can be about its own history. For instance, here is Ms. Olsoff speaking about the early days:
Neither one of us had very much information about contemporary art. I had studied art history as a minor, at William Smith College, Renaissance, Rococo, Baroque art. Penny’s parents owned a gallery, and she studied sociology. We kind of knew what we liked when we saw it, but we didn’t have anything articulate to say about it. Which is kind of amazing, I think, sitting here thirty years later. When we opened, we’d just meet people and say, “Tell us what artist to go see.” One person gave us a list that was an Avery Label sheet with thirty-three names on it, and we’d just go. I would not do that today! But it was fun. In fact, as we were painting the apartment upstairs, the East Village suddenly became “hot,” and the Voice in those days was something everyone wanted to read, or I did, and Kim Levin was the writer, and Penny answered the phone one day and said, “Kim Levin’s on the phone. She wants to know what our agenda is.” And I didn’t even know what that word meant.
Note the not-so-subtle “in those days” swipe against the Village Voice. Good stuff. Read the rest of it here.
