New AIPAD Members

The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) (here) has announced the appointment of eight new member galleries. To qualify for membership, galleries need to meet a series of straightforward (and pretty obvious) ethics and integrity criteria, show they have been in the primary business of selling/promoting high quality work for at least five years, and get five current members to act as sponsors.

Three of the new members we've had some interaction with over the years:

• Amador Gallery (here), New York: We've begun to get to know the folks at Amador Gallery in the past couple of years and have been impressed with our interactions to date. The gallery represents a solid mix of high quality international contemporary photographers, many of whom are puzzlingly less well known in the US, like Gabriele Basilico and Osamu Kanemura. This approach is a welcome addition to the existing NY scene, deepening the visibility of many excellent photographers who haven't been in the spotlight in NY as much.
• Danziger Projects (here), New York: James Danziger has been in the gallery business for nearly twenty years, and his project space combines a mix of established names and newcomers. He also writes a terrific blog (here).
• Rick Wester Fine Art (here), New York: Rick Wester has spent much of his career in and around the photography auction world (with Christie's and Phillips). He is now providing a variety of services from artist representation and advising private collectors/corporations, to secondary market sales and appraisals.

The other five new members are generally new to us (with a short synopsis of the types of work each seems to be representing):

• Gallery 339 (here), Philadelphia: contemporary work
• Charles Guice Contemporary (here), Berkeley, CA: contemporary work
• Higher Pictures (here), New York: a mix of mid 20th century masters and contemporary work
• Monroe Gallery of Photography (here), Santa Fe, NM: black and white photojournalism and humanist work
• Photography at Quaritch (here), London: 19th/early 20th century work by British photographers

Given the current economic climate, it's great to see new members being added to AIPAD; they'll offset those members that close up shop or transition to being private dealers/advisers, and add some fresh energy to the organization.