2018 sees the gallery celebrate 25 years as an independent gallery in Brighton. In recognition, we thought we’d take a look at our colourful history.
It all started with the selling of contemporary art posters (a very important market back in 1993). We were (as we still are) rooted in the heart of Brighton’s iconic North Laine, where independent businesses and community driven projects are the lifeblood.
Pretty soon, we were in touch with a whole new generation of street artists who had something important to say.
Instead of confining their messages to their favourite canvases of choice - concrete walls, shopfront shutters - they started to produce limited edition prints, which we started to sell, and you started to buy.
And it’s not hard to see why: with a first wave of artists including Banksy, James Cauty, Jamie Hewlett, Dan Baldwin, Dave White, and Peter Blake, it became clear that small run editions by brilliantly talented, up-and-coming artists, at affordable prices, were in high demand.
The ethos has always been important to us: Our artists have a voice, and it’s important that we make that voice heard. Often driven by politics - think Shepard Fairey, Billy Childish, Blek le Rat - and always conceived with breathtaking visual prowess, it’s the art flowing through our veins that makes our gallery the success that it is today.
But it’s also very much you - our visitors, our viewers, and our buyers. Creating a space in which everyone is of equal status, and where everybody who walks through our doors could feel welcome.
Maybe you’re just after something to be framed; perhaps you want a limited edition print; or even a full scale original from a well-known contemporary artist - in any case, our aim is, and always has been, to make art accessible and enjoyable to all.
But we didn’t stop there. The last twenty-five years has seen a constant drive to find new artists, to keep thinking one step ahead, and to keep innovating. We’re always keeping up with the latest releases, and its key to our business that we keep discovering fresh and exciting new forms, that we keep changing, and that we keep opening new spaces, for new types of art.
Always, our aim is to introduce to you more artists - not just the ones whose names you’ve already heard, but those who are still looking to get their work out there.
As the main sponsor of the acclaimed Brighton Fringe Arts Festival, we have spent the last 25 years investing in Brighton’s vibrant art sector, because we think it’s one of the most important parts of our city’s creative character.
Every year, we run the Art Yard Sale - an opportunity to buy specially produced prints, often from the artists themselves - and every year it gets bigger and better, with people travelling in from far and wide.
Who knows what the next twenty-five years may bring. Our aim is to make it even more exciting, even more colourful, and ever more encompassing. Here’s to a very bright future - we hope you’ll be joining us.
Find out more about Enter Gallery's history.
