Orex Art is a veritable tour de force in our local art scene. Verve recently enjoyed a catch-up with gallerist and owner Rex Armstrong.
Orex Art is such a beautiful place. Please tell us more about your gallery, the space and its concept.
Thank you very much. We provide the best we can for the artists we show. I started 31 years ago on Upper Queen Street, as Oedipus Rex Gallery, and through the years have had large industrial-type spaces, usually destination locations, well known to our clients but to a certain extent unknown to a lot of others. By moving onto Ponsonby Road in a highly visible space, I’ve opened up our artists to a whole new cliental. Visibility and exposure are key. Art isn’t a secret, it’s an extremely valuable addition to our lives.
What do you enjoy most about running a commercial gallery?
I show artists at the forefront of their careers, that is highly enjoyable. Of course, commerce is part of the equation, but ensuring I show the best of an artist’s work is what I do. There’s an honest and singular transaction between the purchaser and the gallery based on the artist’s past, present and future career aspirations. The purchaser isn’t in competition with another buyer who may be intent on pushing the price up, there is only one price and one decision, does the work ’speak’ to you enough for it to be part of your life. What do I enjoy most about running a commercial gallery? Seeing a purchaser excited to get a piece home, and seeing an artist’s genuine pleasure at hearing the news.
Do you think the market is currently on the rise? Is it subject to any major trends?
The market, if we want to call it that, has been running hot. Maybe a lot of the press centres around the sales of high ticket items at auction where competing buyers push prices up due to an understanding of rarity. It has always been so, but investment purchasing is sometimes akin to land banking and can be subject to rises and falls as the market dictates. The commercial or dealer gallery works directly with the artist, finding a balance between their pricing and their career. Price an artist out of the market and their career can stall. They need continuity, stability, a safe and encouraging place to grow.
An unforgettable Orex Art moment?
Opening the doors on Ponsonby Road after lockdown and having people come in and say they very much appreciated seeing the constantly changing art in the widows on their daily walks that made them feel as though the world hadn’t come to an end. Sales, as an old gallery owner said to me once, have continued to be gratifying.
Do you have any advice for aspiring artists or collectors?
My advice to artists has always been to do it, keep doing it, and don’t chase fame, chase excellence. My advice to collectors is to do it, keep doing it, and don’t chase fame, chase excellence! Perhaps for collectors I’d also add to buy because you love it, worry about where you’ll hang it later. And remember your walls are never full.
Special plans for the future?
After three decades the future looks very bright. I’ll keep buying art for my own collection and keep selling art for others’ collections, and I’ll keep showing my artists because they just keep getting better and better. The gallery is in the perfect Ponsonby Road position for its next special decade.
221 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby
Tues-Saturday 11am-5pm
rex@orexart.co.nz
021 213 4449
