“The Art Galleries are not Okay”
A June New York Times essay by industry veteran Marc Spiegler feels dire. The article was written in the aftermath of recent closures and downsizings, notably that of Pace, which reduced the gallery's staff count and artist roster each by 50. Spiegler describes an art market that has scaled, globalized, and commercialized. But the marketplace is lopsided: the pool of serious collectors has simply not kept pace with the explosion of galleries and fairs.
With the added pressures of inflation and geopolitical instability, galleries are stressed. Recent headlines celebrating record sales at auction are simply not indicative of the true market.
So what to do?
Spiegler writes, “galleries need to prioritize developing markets closer to home, keeping more continuous contact with their potential patrons.” In-person–aka, IRL–“cultivation” is necessary, and such activity should happen inside one’s own city. Notably, Spiegler doesn’t give many answers on how to do this, but he points to dealers past, who he writes "discovered, nurtured and promoted artists to collectors, many of whom were connoisseurs eager for deep-dive conversations."
Another article, Inside the Business of Prints, Multiples and Editions–this one offering a relatively sunny picture of the art market for contemporary art prints–was published in the Observer just one week later. In it, J. Cabelle Ahn illustrates convincingly that if anyone understands how local networks and communities foster healthy markets, print publishers do.
Ahn tells readers that the market for prints has actually grown, in spite of prints being generally misunderstood by the public. (What is a print? Who makes them? Are they original or copies?) To support this claim, she identifies several print gallery expansions and cites market data. For example, ArtTactic’s “Prints and Multiples report found that the category has grown its share in the auction market by 52 percent between 2015 and 2025.” She credits the approachability of pricing, particularly for Millennial and Gen Z buyers, as key to this "dark horse" of the art market.
After doing a fantastic job of lifting the curtain on the actual workflows and players within the process of bringng prints to market–explaining the role of the publisher relative to that of the artist, gallery and printer, for example–Ahn, like Spiegler, touts the relevance of community in the formation of a healthy market. In doing so, she cites the rich histories of New York and Los Angeles, which house both blue chip publishers like Pace Prints and Gemini G.E.L., but also artist- and printer-driven workshops like Mixografia and El Nopal Press who have extraordinary reputations and high profiles. It is crucial that these are cities teeming with artists and galleries. It is also no accident that Los Angeles and New York are home to adjacent financial and creative industries that foster a culturally savvy collector class. But, the community really begins on press: the production of a single print edition can require the competencies, contributions, and talents of many individuals from the artists themselves to the printers, framers, galleries, publishers, and sales staff, from its inception to its launch.
We do this work in Chicago: at Process/Process, we develop and bring to market (“publish”) contemporary art prints in limited editions by artists, and we also print fine art on a contract basis for clients.
When we started, my partner Angee Lennard and I didn’t have much experience selling prints or any experience building a business. But, we had run nonprofits (including a printshop), advised collections, taught, programmed, and curated. All of this amounted to a combined forty years in the art world when we began Process/Process two years ago, amounting to dozens (hundreds?) of meaningful relationships across the community. So for us, in our first years of learning this market, it has only been natural (and necessary) for us to lean on our own community through collaboration and cultivation. 
What has this looked like so far?
So far, we’ve launched our new print editions at Chicago-based galleries like PATRON, DeGroot Fine Art, and Soccer Club Club; nonprofits such as Filter Photo; museums like the DePaul Art Museum; and even Chicago’s beloved Lula restaurant. Many of these programs included an artist talk or moderated conversation, and there was always a meaningful link between our partnering host and the artist with whom we were launching a print.
We’ve partnered with Gertie, Early/Work, Ox-Bow School of Art, and the Chicago Artists Coalition on educational programs aiming to demystify the market for and process behind contemporary art prints.
We’ve collaborated with the Re/Match Foundation, Door County Contemporary, and Chicago Exhibition Weekend to develop and print meaningful editions by artists (Sofia Fernandez Diaz, Tyson Reeder, and Leonardo Kaplan, respectively) that they could share with their stakeholders.
And, we’ve participated in regional fairs including EXPO Chicago, the Chicago Art Book Fair, Stape+Stitch, and the Fine Print Fair at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
With each collaboration and program, we are (we hope) doing our part in building and educating the market for prints–and by extension, building an appreciation for contemporary art. We do not plan to stop! At the moment, we’ve got a print pop up in the works in partnership with several galleries, as well as co-publishing initiatives brewing, including a special edition album with Ox-Bow.
We don’t take these incredible relationships for granted. They took years to build! And in moving forward, we know our growth depends on them. We hope you’ll follow our work and be a part of our growing community.
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