Olfactory Art Keller entrance
New York City has no shortage of art galleries. They present aficionado with a diverse schedule of solo and collective art exhibitions that showcase artwork that on different levels can inspire thoughts and emotions that bring about wonderment. The city’s creative art gallery scene has shifted dramatically over the last few decades. Once New York’s art scene was run by artists in the East Village. But big money, rising rents, and gentrification with its greedy grip crushed the underground scene and it fractured with some moving to the Upper East Side to ultra-modern edifices and contemporary buildings designed by starchitects, while others decamped to Chelsea and Tribeca into hipster sterile and stark white cubes.
So where can artists and galleries find reasonable rents with creative spaces to showcase and express the art? It appears Chinatown and Olfactory Art Keller fills that void.
BLACK AND WHITE MAMBO No5 Christophe Laudamiel, 2021 edition 1/1 no artist proof
Since its opening in February 2021, the Olfactory Art Keller gallery has been the venue for eight exhibitions by scent artists including Master Perfumer Carlos Benaim, Master Perfumer Christophe Laudamiel, David Seth Moltz of DS & Durga, Mackenzie Reilly, Darryl Do of Delbia Do, Stephen Dirkes, Irina Adam, perfumer and former contributor David Falsberg and the winner of the 2019 Sadakichi Award for Experimental Work with Scent, Josely Carvalho. But it’s much more than just name perfumers. The experimental artists Andreas pulls in are far-reaching.
My introduction to Olfactory Art Keller was by way of an invite from Saskia Wilson-Brown of The Institute for Art and Olfaction for the opening of Ten Encounters last October which Saskia curated. While not able to attend I did set up a time to meet up with Andreas Keller.
TEN ENCOUNTERS (curated by Saskia Wilson-Brown)
I subsequently attended Sniffapalooza’s first in-person event since COVID – Behind the Scenes at a Scent Art Gallery in mid-November of 2021.
Ten Encounters, Perfumers Gone Wild, and Forest Bath was set up to give the public an opportunity to smell 18 different scents created by some of the world’s most creative perfumers and artists and it was captivating.
Luiza Gottschalk Glade To Touch Painting
My third visit was for Luisa Gottschalk‘s first solo exhibition in New York “Glade: To Touch Painting.” Six paintings, scented with four scents that she developed with expert help: “wet night”, “dry forest”, “citrus”, and “pasture.” Her paintings of forest scenes are meant to be touched to release the scents embedded in the paint.
So after three visits, I had many questions and thoughts so I reached out to Andreas and set up a time to discover what it takes to run a scent gallery.
New York New Fumes BRICK Stephen Dirkes feat. Vandal NYC
Hernando Courtright: You opened the gallery about a year and a couple of months ago. Had you planned on opening sooner but COVID got in the way or…?
Andreas Keller: In February last year we opened up. It was the time we wanted to open. It was formerly a barbershop. We signed the lease in October and did some work and remanded it. At the same time, I started to speak with artists who aren’t always sitting around waiting to do an exhibit. Each exhibit has run approximately four months but I’m changing my mind on that. It might now run between six and eight weeks.
Is the first “scent” gallery? I’m not aware of any other one. So what made you become the first “scent gallery?” So you invented the wheel as they say.
Andreas Keller: no outlet for what they are doing. Something unique. Share with the world. And get an income from it. If you are the first you have no competition but then you have to explain to everyone what it is you are doing.
The perfumers that you have used did you know them or just reach out to them?
Andreas Keller: A combination of both. The current artist Lisa from Brazil was doing a residency in NY and someone told her about the gallery. I had not heard of her before she walked in here. I had an open call which is where I met 5-10 new people who submitted their creations.
What has the reception been in the perfume world and the perfumers to what you are doing? Do they understand it?
Andreas Keller: There are two target audiences, the perfume world, and the art world and there are different challenges. The perfume world thinks they think of scents as something they can wear. So when they are told that it is there just to be appreciated, that takes a while to understand and might not be interested in it if they cannot wear it. I tell them to think of it like an antique book that it is something you own and are proud of. It’s something you flip through it and when your friends come over you bring it out and show it to them. That is how you think of a scent that is not meant to be worn but appreciated.
And from the art world, how do they perceive it?
Andreas Keller: There are two problems. One is to convince them that it is not a gimmick. Like the current exhibition, they feel it’s not necessary to add the scent. The art is great on its own and I have to convince them that the scent is an integral part of this work. It’s a multi-sensory work that without the scent it wouldn’t be the same. For collectors who are used to buying a sculpture made out of metal or stone that can last hundreds of years, there is always the worry about how long this will last. Will it go bad, dissipate and stop smelling? How will the future of this piece look?
What’s your schedule on the days you are not open?
Andreas Keller: I consider myself a smell expert. All the things I do are related to scent but very different. For example, there is a project that I am working on as a consultant to develop a smell test that doctors can use to test their patient’s sense of smell. COVID has increased interest in it the and momentum for that project. People now are more aware of how important their sense of smell is and how they will miss it when it is gone. Currently, there are a few places that are smell clinics or call themselves something like that. The first move would be to have Ear, Nose, and Throat doctors be a better first place for patients to reach out when they lose their sense of smell so they can be tested and get information on what to expect.
Philosophy of Olfactory Perception by Andreas Keller, First Edition 2016 ©photo Andreas Keller
You wrote a book, tell me about that.
Andreas Keller: By training, I am a philosopher. I wrote a book, The Philosophy of Olfactory Perception. The book is all about how smelling is different from seeing. Which is also what the gallery is all about. People go to other galleries and see art there and when they come in here smell art and then they realize that these are different ways to engage with the world. The book is unreasonably expensive because it is an academic book but I am willing to give people a PDF of it for free.
Andreas Keller of Olfactory Keller and artist Luiza Gottschalk
In this recent exhibition which I attended through Sniffapalooza, I met the artist Luiza Gottschalk, from Brazil. Her exhibition of scented paintings Glade: To Touch Painting was captivating. How did you connect?
Andreas Keller: Yes, she had a residency in Brooklyn. She created scented paintings. There is a book that corresponds to the collection. This is the first official exhibition of her works. She had exhibited scented paintings but had not told anyone that they were scented because people would want to touch them. This is the first time gallery-goers where one is encouraged to touch and smell the paintings. It is in parallel to an exhibit she has in Brazil at the National Museum of Brazil where they are not allowed to touch the paintings. The scented paintings are very accessible because they work like paintings and everybody knows how to experience that.
So your concept of a gallery allows that to happen so one can experience the way the artist created it.
Andreas Keller: It is not easy for artists to get into museums. Museums are worried about smells. Will it stick around, can we get rid of it, How will people that have allergies be affected? That’s what makes it hard. Here I have the expertise, and the tools, which are much more suited for these kinds of works.
Demographically, what is the breakdown and what have the reactions been like?
Andreas Keller: It’s very diverse. Some are gallery hoppers, which skews younger and are not fragrance aficionados. They are art school students. They like the art scene here. That is one group. There is another one that is the fragrance group that comes leans heavier on women. The artists here, like most of the artists shown here, are women. Many people come from faraway places that have heard about it and visit while they are in New York. They are all pretty polite. About half of the people are excited. The other half are not sure what to make of it.
I look at it like in five years’ time there will be other scent galleries around the country and there will be those that say they were at the first one.
Olfactory Keller Interior
Andreas Keller: Yes, like I knew him before he was famous! I was there! It’s also about expectations. It’s different when you know you are coming to a smell art gallery as opposed to when you don’t know it, you are confused. I had one exhibit that was difficult for the audience. It was immersive, the whole room was dark and filled with smells. Many people did not know what to do. Which has happened to me in art galleries so I’m sympathetic.
Everything you exhibit is for sale, to some degree so who sets the prices being that this is a brave new world you are creating here with no comps to use for comparison sake.
Andreas Keller: Yes. It is a commercial gallery where the works are here on consignment. So the artist and I work to sell the pieces. It’s in collaboration with the artists. Sometimes the artists have an idea of what the price should be and unless I find it unreasonable I go with that. Sometimes the artist doesn’t have an idea so I set it and see if it takes.
Do the seasons or the change of weather have any bearing on the scents inside here?
Andreas Keller: I never imagined being a gallerist I would be so interested in the weather. If people come depends on the weather. If there is a snowstorm no one shows up. If it rains it cuts the attendance to less than half. But in the summer if it’s a nice day on the weekend people don’t want to go to a gallery so then I’m hoping for rain again. It is a complicated relationship that I’m figuring out.
Do you have a three to five-year plan that you see for yourself and the gallery?
Andreas Keller: Yes, next steps would be to include performance-like art here. So far everything has been object-based. Smell is obviously a great medium for experiences. Fleeting experiences that exist at that moment and then gone forever. So I want to incorporate that more in the next year or two. If it becomes more successful I would like to go to art fairs.
Tell me about the connection with Saskia Wilson Brown and the Institute for Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles and how did that come about?
Andreas Keller: In February I had an exhibition at the Institute for Art and Olfaction. Saskia is a great supporter of mine. And they have a gallery space where they can accommodate works so one idea is to have the exhibitions that are here and have them travel so people can experience smelling art. So those are fantasies or next steps I have. In February I had an exhibition at the Institute for Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles. I’ve known her for a while and really got to know her maybe when the pandemic took hold and they moved their courses and lectures online. And I found things that interested me there so I started engaging with it much more. And then I got invited to give my own talk and I took a week-long perfume-making course there and got to know Saskia much better. And we realized that our goals and operations are very similar.
From olfactory objects, experiences, and performances to works of multi-sensory art, each exhibit is entirely unique. The gallery itself is permanent with changing exhibits each month, so be sure to check their website for the latest openings, talks, and shows.
–Hernando Courtright, Senior Event Contributor and Brand Ambassador.
Next exhibitions:
M Dougherty
Your Dog Knows
May 27 to May 29
David Seth Moltz
Religious Vegetables
June 23 to July 2
25A Henry Street
New York, NY 10002
Thursday to Saturday, noon to 6 pm
No phone
All photos of Olfactory Art Keller by Hernando Courtright© for CaFleureBon
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Olfactory Art Keller was the co- recipient of Best of Scent 2021-Best Event
Andreas Keller has kindly offered a free PDF of his academic book Philosophy of Olfactory Perception for a for a registered user anywhere in the world. You must comment to be eligible. Draw closes May 16, 2022
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