Palm Beach County Joins Gotham as a Gallery Hub

After a visit to a museum with masterpieces from Warhol to Impressionists, tourists, connoisseurs, collectors and art lovers can drop by a dizzying array of galleries such as Pace, Acquavella, Adelson and others. It’s just normal for New York City. But it’s also the new norm for Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, where art is becoming not just a pleasure, but big business.

A combination of demographics, including wealthy part- and full-time residents, affluent visitors, collectors and financial companies are fueling the Palm Beach and West Palm Beach Renaissance. Think of it more as the “Deal of the Art” than “The Art of the Deal” behind a growing gallery business and appetite for art.

“Many of our clients in Palm Beach either live nearby or visit often,” said Adam Adelson, executive director of Adelson Galleries, New York and Palm Beach. “They are typically art collectors, or aspiring art collectors, who know what they like and have the same emotional connections that we have to the artworks we show.”

As people spend more time in Palm Beach County, they are bidding and buying as a region dubbed “Wall Street South” might easily earn the nickname “SoHo South.”

“The art scene in Palm Beach County has been growing for quite some time. It increased during the pandemic, because a lot of galleries from New York and elsewhere opened pop-up galleries in Palm Beach because Florida was so much more open than other locations,” said Jessica Ransom, director of artist services at the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County. “Some of those businesses have remained; others haven’t.”

Scott Simmons, the Norton Museum of Art’s public relations manager, in West Palm Beach, sees culture and commerce as linked. “The arts go hand-in-hand with business.,” Simmons said, citing weather and taxes. “It may be friendlier for businesses here than elsewhere.”

GALLERY GROWTH

Galleries here are giving Gotham a run for their money. Findlay Galleries, which traces its roots to 1870, opened in Palm Beach in 1961. Holden Luntz Gallery was founded in 1999 in Palm Beach, specializing in fine art photography. Sarah Gavlak opened a contemporary art gallery in Palm Beach in 2005, primarily showing female and LGBTQ+ artists.

Adelson Galleries, which in 1965 launched in Boston and opened in New York City seven years later, in 2018 opened in Palm Beach. People buy for passion, because they love artwork; fashion, because it fits their home and “to cash in” or invest, Adelson said.

“More often, our clients are a mix of these three, but we do encounter individuals that fit exclusively in one category,” he added.

Museums aren’t the only place in Palm Beach County to find world-class art. At Sotheby’s Palm Beach, in the Royal Poinciana Plaza, Palm Beach, for instance, Roy Lichtenstein, Willem De Kooning, Alexander Calder and Robert Rauschenberg work was all under one roof.

THE MANHATTAN MIRROR

Many galleries in Manhattan or the Hamptons now have a Palm Beach presence. Onna House, which originated in The Hamptons, recently opened a Palm Beach pop-up gallery.

“In the winter, a lot of New Yorkers come to Palm Beach,” Ransom said, “so they want to see a lot of the same things that they have access to in New York.”

But gallery owners also are moving north to Palm Beach County. The Jennifer Balcos Gallery, of Atlanta, recently opened in Palm Beach in what Ransom calls an example of galleries “expanding into Palm Beach because they see it as a growing art market.”

Art collectors are moving to the region, fueling the fire. “Once galleries realize that there are collectors, they’re willing to open,” Ransom said.

Miami is further fueling art interest in Florida. Art Basel Miami Beach, in December, attracts visitors to Miami who sometimes also visit Palm Beach County. New Wave Art Weekend, usually the weekend before or after Miami Art Week, leads to visitors traveling north, “realizing that Palm Beach has its own art scene,” Ransom added.

COLLECTOR COUNTRY

Affluent individuals are key players in the Palm Beach art scene. Kenneth Griffin, who leads Citadel, grew up in Boca Raton and gave the Norton a gift to name its new building that opened in 2019.

“The Norton recognized that the area was changing and growing,” Simmons said. “So it expanded to keep up with that.”

Jane Holzer, a former actress, model and muse to Andy Warhol, donated art to the Norton.

“She’s a Palm Beacher,” Simmons said. “She donated work that is part of the collection on display right now.”

Collecting art is catching on as multi-millionaires and billionaires spend more time in Palm Beach County.

“There are so many people eager to own works of art, to collect,” Simmons said. “There are serious art collectors.”

ARTISTS IN THE HOUSE

If art galleries and collectors are here, more than 600 professional artists are listed in the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County’s directory, leading to what Ransom calls “an incredible number of excellent, top-quality artists in our county.”

Ransom believes, until recently, real estate was “reasonable compared to Miami or New York,” so artists saw it as a place to go. “It’s become more difficult for artists to find reasonably priced studio spaces,” Ransom added.

Adelson said the majority of the artists they show “are not seven-figure ‘Blue Chip’ artists,” although they typically have gallery and museum representation and sales.  They base pricing on previous sales of comparable works and “prescribe an increase in value based on market and Institutional demand.”

Adelson said some emerging artists’ prices range from $1,000 to $10,000, while midcareer artists are $5,000 – $250,000 (depending on scale) and highly established artists’ works, such as Jamie Wyeth, “can sell in the millions.”

Collectors sometimes buy multiple works by artists. Federico Uribe, who uses ordinary objects to create life-like sculptures and collages, has a following.

“Many clients decide to live with more than one,” Adelson added of Uribe’s works. “In some cases, dozens.”

Galleries use online sales platforms such as Artsy and ArtNet to sell and drive in-gallery business. “We do sell some works online, but mostly they are tools to encourage in-person visitors at the gallery or fairs,” Adelson said.

Many galleries produce beautiful catalogs in a screen-saturated world. “A physical book or catalog is a welcome reprieve for most collectors who want to learn more about an artist and review an artist’s oeuvre,” Adelson added.

The region attracts an international crowd who see it a “cool and easy destination to get to” from New York, Ransom said.

Relationships are key elements in this mix of creativity and commerce. Adelson, for instance, said his galleries have long been associated with Federico Uribe.

“The artists that we have stuck with for years share a kindness and gentleness,” Adelson said. “Several were at my wedding in February, and Federico Uribe even designed my wedding suit.