New Kid on the Block

There is a beautiful space on the corner of Homer Street and Smithe Street in Vancouver that I have had my eye on for a while. It is 2 levels, warm wood floors, brick walls and huge windows. It was occupied by something (it always seems on the tip of my memory) when I first started working in Yaletown, then it was an import furniture store and then it was empty for a while. I always thought that it would make a perfect art gallery. Just exactly what this area of town needs. And then I went by there again the other day and it is an art gallery now! Harrison Galleries, previously of South Granville Street, has moved down to 901 Homer Street.

Unfortunately, it looks like they have brought the art of South Granville with them. Not that I have anything against that kind of art, but sailboats, windswept beachfronts and cornfields are firmly rooted in the kind of "safe" art that rich, conservative people favor. You can't go wrong with it. There tends to be a lot of this kind of art in the South Granville art shops, which is a good place for it, because I suspect there are a lot of those kinds of people close by and they probably do a roaring business.

I do not think this is what Yaletown needs, as I went off on in an earlier post, and it is not just because that kind of art really (really, really!) does not appeal to me. It's because it is safe. Safe art is for hotels, and while it can still be perfectly beautiful, it does not often inspire new ways of thinking and new spin-offs into more art.

By the looks of their site, they also do art restoration, conservation and appraisals, and by the look of their shop, they do custom framing! So that's great, if anyone in Yaletown finds an old portrait in their attic, they can bring it in to Harrison to get it all spiffed up. In the meantime, I will be looking elsewhere for cutting edge art, but I am never going to knock more art galleries in the hood! Come on down!