JAYJAY Gallery Looks Back on Decade of Growth
By Victoria Dalkey
Published Jan. 21, 2011
Sacramento Bee
Ten years ago, when Jay Jay first opened its doors in an intimate space on Franklin Boulevard, it was like a small, feisty dog nipping at the heels of bigger galleries like Solomon Dubnick and Michael Himovitz. With the art world beginning to emerge from the recession of the late 1990s, Beth Jones and Lynda Jolley decided to try an experiment. They would open a gallery that departed from the two major trends of Sacramento art at the time: narrative expressionism focusing on the figure and realist landscape painting.
Jones had worked for Jennifer Pauls Gallery in the 1980s and had started her own art consulting business in 1991. But she had become increasingly interested in abstraction, which was easier to place in corporate settings than the confrontational figurative work Jennifer Pauls had dealt with. And then she had what she describes as an intense experience.
Looking at the abstract paintings of Peter Stegall at J. Maddux Parker Gallery, a struggling but innovative space, she underwent a transformation. It was a life-chaging moment for Jones who realized that great art, like great music and literature, could make a difference in one’s life. “To know you could have great art every day in your life was a revelation,” she said at the gallery, which has been on Elvas Avenue since late in 2002.Lynda Jolley had been introduced to contemporary art by Michael Himovitz. Bitten by the art bug, in 1991 she opened a quirky space that was part hair salon, part gallery on L Street in midtown. There she introduced the works of emerging artists such as Eric Brandon and David Wetzl.
When the spunkily named Big Hair, Big Art closed in 1999, Jolley joined Jones in her consulting business, bringing an awareness of more experimental, less well-known artists to the partnership. With small but serious galleries such as J. Maddux Parker and Katy Thomas closing, the two decided to open their own space, separate from the consulting business, at 2906 Franklin Blvd. Within a year, they were selling art and had become known as the hottest new gallery in town, featuring works by established artists such as Joan Moment and Mary Warner and up-and-comers such as Stuart Allen and Tom Monteith.
The gallery became a hub for serious abstract painters, among them Stegall, Moment, Mark Emerson and Michaele LeCompte, as well as a venue for annual “introductions” of promising graduate students at local colleges and universities. In recent years they have added local luminaries Suzanne Adan and Michael Stevens to their stable, rounding out their offerings to include edgier works from the Himovitz era. Jay Jay’s success has led the way for other strong galleries to open their doors in Sacramento, among them b. sakata garo and Pamela Skinner/ Gwenna Howard Contemporary Art. That success can be attributed to the strong vision with which Jones and Jolley have chosen the works that they show.
“It has to be something we would want to own,” said Jolley of the kind of work they display. “It has to be something we personally would want to take home and live with.” “Our mission is to expose people to great art and educate them about it,” said Jones.
The past three years have been difficult for all Sacramento galleries, including Jay Jay. 20th Street Gallery has closed and Solomon Dubnick has changed hands. Even galleries that deal in popular Sacramento-area landscapes are struggling. “We’re proud to be reaching a milestone,” said Jones. “If we were in a great economy, it wouldn’t be such a feat. What we hope is that we can bring attention to the good work that commercial galleries do.” The Crocker expansion is wonderful, she said, but the private galleries also play a role. And too often they are not given credit for it. They benefit the community by introducing artists who may in time be collected by the museum, as many of Jay Jay’s artists have been.
Their works make for a strong anniversary show at the gallery this month. To show the development and deepening of their artists’ visions is the goal of the exhibition. Among the many highlights are Stevens’ “King Pin,” a wall sculpture made of dominoes; Adan’s obsessively patterned “Maid of Honor;” Stegall’s eye-popping abstract “Cherokee Boogie in Red and Gray”; and Jack Nielsen’s “Burnished Faith,” an imposing and poetic wall piece made of burnished graphite on wood. The whole show is uniformly strong. And though, with more than 50 works in the show, it could be overcrowded, Jones and Jolley have given it a striking installation. You won’t want to miss this collection of works old and new by some of Sacramento’s strongest artists.
NOW AND THEN
WHAT: 10th Anniversary Show
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday through Feb. 19
WHERE: Jay Jay, 5520 Elvas Ave., Sacramento
COST: Free
INFORMATION: (916) 453-2999, jayjayart.com
