Martha’s Contemporary: A Not-So-Middle-of-the-Road Gallery

By Hayley Labrum Morrison

Last week I linked up with Ricky Morales, director of Martha’s Contemporary gallery in Austin, TX. Ricky’s grass-roots approach to showing and supporting cutting-edge contemporary art in and outside of Austin has led to one of the most exciting galleries in Austin. Read what Ricky had to say about his unique space and how he is coping with current economic challenges.

CA: Where are your roots?

RM: My partner Meredith (@mer_mar) and I are both born and raised, true and true Austinites.

CA: How did you get into art and how did Martha’s get started?

RM: I was always into art, liked art class, and thought it was interesting. I started to collect some work. Whenever I had extra money, I would buy art. I had some friends in the music scene that linked me up with Jenaro Goode (@jenarogoode) and I bought some of his work. It occurred to me that I could use some of my extra money to start a studio, like a creative place for artists to work. In exchange for rent they could feed my habit by paying me in paintings. We started at the 2502 Webberville location. It was really cheap, and kind of run down, but we put some work into it and turned it into a studio. One summer we were all talking and decided to cut the space in half, keeping half as a studio, and the other half would show art in an official capacity. We wanted to keep it low-key and underground to start to gauge if what we were doing could have a lasting effect. We’ve been lucky to be able to make use of weird spaces that aren’t overly expensive. 

CA: How did you come up with the name “Martha’s Contemporary”?

RM: Naming anything—an album, a band—is always kind of hard. The most random thing is usually the one that sticks. I was thinking about making it sound contemporary, or suave, or just using my name. But since my partner Meredith and I are both from Texas and sometimes I’ll joke around and call her Martha in a Texas accent, I thought let’s name the gallery something middle-of-the-road and random like Martha. But then when you go inside the gallery it’s the exact opposite. So we ran with that: a middle-of-the-road-name, for a not so middle-of-the-road gallery.

CA: Tell me about Martha’s recent location change.

RM: A new landlord bought the building on Webberville and they didn’t have us in their plans for 2020. So we had to move and didn’t know what we were going to do. But, we had an abundance of luck and found a temporary space. It’s the old Morehands Maids Service building on North Lamar by Counter Cafe. It’s a 952 square foot building on a 15,000 square foot lot. It’s a bizarre little place, but we are used to that. The owner agreed that if we pay the electric and keep it clean, we can use the space as a temporary gallery while we look for a more permanent location. It’s a blessing as it’s a good location, fits our vibe, and we put down grass (turf) and painted the ceiling blue so it has the Martha’s feel. We’ve been lucky to have this space, especially right now, when so much of the art world has gone cold with the economy and the virus. 

CA: Tell me about your team and gallery operations.

RM: It started out with just me and Jenaro. Jenaro had his studio at the gallery and he was also an electrician’s apprentice, so he’s a handyman and helped me a lot in the beginning with hanging lights and stuff like that. For the first year I curated all my own shows, just based on artists I liked, had collected, or had been talking with. For the second year, I wanted to add people outside my direct circle, like McConnell Bobo (@mcconnellbobo). He’s an architect and has a project called “Wares” (@wares_atx). He’s done design shows and I wanted to bring in a new aspect to the gallery beyond paintings and sculpture. I also wanted to get more curators involved and see what they could do with the space. He brought in a lot of really cool photographers and designers. I also brought in my friend Wes Thompson (@smatchmo_the_chunkateer), who hangs all our shows now. My partner Meredith, a dean of Special Education at a chartered high school, helps with the gallery in the evenings and on weekends. 

CA: How do you attract international artists to show in Austin?

RM: By building a relationship. I met Sam Keller (@sam_big_gulp) first. Sam and I hit it off and he’s from New York and knows a lot of artists including Royal Jarmon (@royal_jarmon). I also laid groundwork. I’ve gone to New York and visited artists’ studios and they were receptive to how energized I was by their work. It’s also just kind of lucky. But since I’m a pretty small gallery I’m able to pay my artists right away, and artists appreciate it. If I make a sale, I don’t wait till the end of the show to pay, I take care of the payment right away for fear that I might go to Uchi (and spend it). When you create a relationship in which you are taking care of your artists, paying them on time, and respectful of their craft, they kind of spread that knowledge to other artists. So when they are asked “How’s business at Martha’s? Did they sell your work? How fast do they pay you?” And if it all sounds good, they are more likely to work with you. You have to maintain a good reputation, because the art world is very small and word travels. The Christina Nicodema (@christinanicodema) show was when we started to get a little bit more attention. She was fairly new at the time and I hopped on a call with her and was like “let’s do a solo” and she was super down. She sent me the work, we hung it, we did the show, and it was badass. That just all happened really smoothly. Now she is represented by Nancy Little John (@nancylittlejohnfineart) in Houston and on the fair circuit. 

CA: How do you usually communicate with artists?

RM: Instagram has probably been my biggest tool. It’s so easy to reach out to people and start conversations, even professionally. People from different cities can reach out and just talk about what they are into. I talked to a lot of artists on instagram, built some relationships, and for our first show we were able to have some really cool artists from across the U.S.

CA: Is that the sweet spot for you, showing artists before they get picked up by a gallery?

RM: It’s my sweet spot for now because I don’t want to overpromise to artists about representation or selling their work consistently when maybe a bigger gallery has that infrastructure in place already. I’m still small, I’m still growing. I’m still working on getting a big base of collectors and press. Now that we have something more tangible to work with, we are reaching out to the press and elevating our business model. I like to find artists that are on the verge of a breakout or just completely unknown and give them a platform to show their work. I’ve been lucky to work with some artists that have been in that sweet spot that have gone on and done some really cool stuff. I like to mix artists from around the country with artists from Austin so my shows don’t feel local, they feel national. A lot of the local stuff here is amazing and the only reason it’s local is because it’s in Austin, but if we bring artists or other ideas in from around the country, it doesn’t feel local, it feels national, and it gives the local artists a platform to be seen by people around the country who might be already following the national artists that show with us.

CA: What does showing national artists bring to Austin?

RM: It gives Austin the chance to see artists from other places that they might only see on instagram or maybe they are a fan but haven’t made it to New York for a show. If we have that artist in a group show and bring their work to Martha’s, people can see the work in person and it feels more accessible. We live in a world where you see a lot of things on Instagram and you’re like “Oh this is one of my favorite artists, look at their paintings, they’re amazing paintings” but you’ve never seen the work in person. Even if it’s just one painting in a group show, it delivers this context of “Wow, okay, this is actually what it’s like.” It just allows you to see things differently. And local artists can even see the work in person and maybe say “That painting doesn’t look as clean as I thought,” or “I like the way they used that line,” and you can use it as a self-critique for how you match up to these national names that you have been following. 

CA: Are there any artists you’ve got your eye on to show at Martha’s?

RM: There’s one artist that we are figuring out how to show. Her name is Emma Cook (@__just__es__) and she is great. She lived in New York for a little while but she lives in Austin now. She makes these black and white oil paintings but they’re really just one color, it’s just one black color, but it’s a matter of how hard she goes with the color, how light she goes with color, but it’s all one color. They’re just really large badass paintings, I really like her work. Kate Klingbeil (@k8klingbeil) just killed it at Spring Break and I’ve been following her for a while. Marisa Adesman (@marisaadesman) is a RISD grad and is going to have a show later in the year. 

I’m also trying to focus on some of the artists I have worked with in the past in the future. I’m working Jenaro and Carlos Donjuan (@carlosdonjuan). and we just applied for (New Art Dealers Alliance) NADA (@newartdealers) Chicago and we’ll see if we get in. We’d like to put Austin on the map in that way too by entering the fair circuit soon. I’m going to show Payton McGowen (@pmcgowenart) later in the year. I think her work is really badass and playful but like really tight and neat and has a lot to say, and she is local.

CA: Is there a particular art movement or artist that you are passionate about? 

RM: There are so many great figurative painters right now. Figurative paintings are what I have always collected most, but there is definitely a wave right now that I’m really excited about. That’s kind of how we started at Martha’s, with tons of figurative paintings. Jenaro has always been one of my favorite painters and his new work is so good. He just elevates all the time. He taught me the patience of painting. I was able to watch him for so long to see that he spends a matter of weeks on one oil painting. There are just so many great artists out there, including Jordan Kasey (@jordankaseyjordankasey) and Cheyenne Julien (#cheyennejulien).

CA: Do you have an all-time favorite figure painter?

RM: An artist named Ebecho Muslimova (@ebecho). She is suuuper cool. Her works are amazing, they’re very cartoony but also have so much technical skill. 

CA: Tell me about a couple of your favorite past shows at Martha’s.

RM: I’ve liked different things about different shows. I get very nervous about how people are going to feel about the shows. I’m not a natural curator, I didn’t study to be a curator, and I’d never done it before, so I’ve always felt a little bit of imposter syndrome. I thought what I was doing was cool and other people have said it was cool, so I’m cool with that. I really liked Jenaro’s solo with us. He’s my guy, I’ve loved his work always and it was fun to see his process since we are in the gallery in the front and he’s in the studio in back. I really loved Christina’s show because it felt like we were taking a step up. We made a lot of good sales and a lot of people were interested in the show. The paintings were really vibrant and Christina came down for the show and was great to be around. That show to me felt very successful. I really liked “Another Scorcher” because we had so many cool artists in there. We just packed in the talent. I liked the “Different Flowers” show too. It was a little harder to sell the work, but I really liked the way it looked. I liked Sam Keller’s joint and the hot Cheetos, Anthony Padilla’s (@anthonyzpadilla) flower painting, and Rebeca Milton’s (@rebecamilton) ceramics and concrete. I really like the design show that we have up right now, “BODYs.” This is probably one of my favorites. There are these badass photos by Jinny J (@heyjinnij) that we put on the wall and she printed some on silk and hung them about two inches in front of the flat image on the wall so it created this really cool lenticular effect where you can see through the silk print onto the print on the wall so it’s like you are seeing double. And when the wind hits it there is so much depth and movement. Urzulka (@urzulka) and Cydney Cosette (@cydneycosette) are photographers and they have great work up and then there’s just a bunch of great furniture designers. And the way McConnell set it up was so that when you walk into the gallery there is a porch, and then there is a sitting room, and then there is a den, so there are three different levels to the show, it is very strong. I hope that every show that we do in the future is my new favorite show.

CA: How has COVID-19 effected Martha’s?

RM: We had a lot planned: A live mural for SXSW, the design show, “BODYs,” curated by McConnell Bobo in the main gallery March 14-22, a Puerto Rican BBQ in the parking lot, paintings in the front studio space, and a duo show with Sam Keller and Alexis Mabry (@a.e.mabry) starting March 28. We were really poised to have a great March utilizing the entire space and fully-functioning for the first time. But then the virus happened. It’s tough to think about the artists in my life right now and I want to do what I can to help. I’ve been a gallerist now for a year and-a-half and have a lot of learning to do, but I am trying to work through ideas to help, whether it’s an online platform or generating smaller sales while people are tighter with their wallets.

CA: What are you doing with the BODYs exhibit during COVID-19?

RM: The lockdown happened the day of the “BODY’s” opening. I want to abide by the rules of being non-essential and not have too many people in the gallery at once. I recently released a small video with music on instagram of the inside of the gallery with nice views and angles of the work. But McConnell, a videographer, and I are going to go into the gallery soon and do a video with voiceovers discussing the work. Glasstire (@glasstire) is accepting five-minute walk-throughs and we will also submit the video to some blogs and sites and put it on Instagram TV. Basically it will be a video of the entire gallery with a focus on each piece, crediting the artists, talking process, maybe doing some interviews with the artists. We are also about to launch a website and we will make sure we have proper documentation of the show there. And I think we will work on trying to do some 3D digital viewings where you can pan around the gallery and focus in on specific pieces. It’s a stressful time but we are doing good and at least we have Instagram. It’s definitely a weird time though and I really feel for galleries that have to pay high rent or for artists that have to pay apartment and studio rent. It’s a hard time all around but hopefully we can translate the digital love we are sharing to in-person love when we get out of the woods. Then we can have a recovery period and get back to normal, barbecuing and viewing art together. During quarantine I’ve been going for walks, cooking a lot, emailing, just doing what I can, it’s time like this I wish I could paint. 

CA: What do you recommend to artists that want to approach a gallery?

RM: I  like to pick who I want to show and try to book up the year at the gallery way ahead of time. Often when I get requests from artists I’ve already got my timeline figured out. So I recommend coming to shows, keep posting your work, and engage with the gallery as much as you can. I’m very responsive on Instagram. I follow a lot of artists that I haven’t had the opportunity to show yet, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not going to happen or I haven’t thought about it. There are just only so many shows I can have. I have thought about cutting shows shorter and trying to do more than seven shows a year and pack it in with programming, so stay engaged and see what happens. Or, start your own gallery. We need more artist-run spaces in Austin, we just need more galleries in Austin. I know it’s not easy to find a place and pay rent, but I’d like to see more artist-run spaces in Austin.

CA: What recommendations do you have for a first-time art buyer? 

RM: Buy what you like. If you have a little extra money to buy some art, or you’re worried about being charged too much, do your due-diligence, meet the artist you like, find their galleries, look them up on Artsy. Or, find a dealer and trust what they recommend. I would tell the buyer “If you like it, just buy it,” Not only are you getting a piece of art you love, you are helping the art world eat and pay their rent. I think art, more than many things, gives you the satisfaction of knowing where your money is going. You’re getting a piece of art you can have forever, or flip if the artist gets really famous, and you are sustaining the practices of galleries and artists. There are several reasons to buy art if you have the means. 

CA: What’s the ideal future of Martha’s?

RM: A bigger space for sure. We’d like to get a couple fairs under our belt and enter the fair circuit. Some cool press from a great outlet like artnet. Having success for our artists to where they might even have extra money. Having a good space, a smooth-running program, people coming to the gallery and open-hours all the time would be ideal. Long-term I want to be able to have the option to run the gallery with Meredith as our sole income. And eventually setting up some kind of artist residency where artists from out of town can come and stay in Austin, make work, meet Austin artists, become a part of the Austin community and have a little show of their work at the end of the residency would be cool. 

CA: Where can fans follow along with Martha’s?

RM: Instagram is where you are going to get the best news. It’s where we do our promotions and share everything new. Keep up with Instagram because we are launching a website soon. I’ll be posting links to press on Instagram too. 

Follow Ricky (@motorolla_rick) and Martha’s Contemporary (@marthascontemporary) on Instagram.