Voices: Scott Speh, Western Exhibitions, Chicago
Scott Speh
Scott Speh is the Owner and Director of Western Exhibitions located in Chicago, United States
Installation view of "New Work" by Richard Hull (2018) Photograph by James Prinz. Courtesy of the gallery.
What are some common themes in your program?
Personal narratives, unique cosmologies and worldviews; LGBTQ artists and issues; Feminist art/fighting the patriarchy; pattern, decoration and surface concerns; works on paper; and artist books.
What qualities do you look for in an artist?
I look for artists who present their own worldview, either by creating new worlds or by developing unique perspectives on the world we live in. I lust for skill and craft but not necessarily in the academic sense. I like art that is interestingly crafted.
Installation view of Drawings Without Words by Deb Sokolov. Courtesy of the gallery.
What does success as a gallery director mean to you?
Putting on a good show is the most important thing to me. I want viewers to be intrigued, wowed, captivated, enlightened, tickled, even enraptured by the work on view. Also, staying open. This qualifies as success for any small business.
Installation View, Heaven on Earth by Orkideh Torabi. Courtesy of the gallery.
Tell us about an artwork you recently acquired and why.
I just bought a painting of Mary J. Blige by Robert Brown Jr. from the Lawrence & Clark Gallery in Chicago. Per the gallery, Bobby “Get Down” Brown was an accomplished R+B musician in the 70s and 80s. Music is still in his blood, but Jesus is telling him to paint portraits of people he admires: Lionel Richie, the Beatles, Oprah, Freddie Mercury, Joni Mitchell, etc.
The past few years, I’ve mostly bought work from artists who make work at progressive art studios like Creative Growth in Oakland and LAND Gallery in Brooklyn. Some call this work, for lack of a better word, outsider art. Much of our art collection, outsider or otherwise, celebrates rock stars – we have Prince paintings by Michael Pellew (LAND, Brooklyn) and Daniel Green (Creativity Explored, San Francisco), a manipulated photo of Rod Stewart by Terri Bowden (Creative Growth), a Taylor Swift piece by Kenneth Moore (Visionaries + Voices, Cincinnati) and a quirky work on paper by Cary Leibowitz that repeats the phrases “I love you more than Michael Jackson” and “I love you more than Prince” on tiny cut paper hearts. Robert J. Brown’s “Mary J. Blige” joins our rock pantheon.
Western Exhibitions, Chicago. Courtesy of the gallery.