Bruno David Gallery in Grand Center will open a second location in St. Louis' Grove area, focusing on women artists.
The new spot, called Bruno David Projects, will be located at 1245 South Vandeventer Ave. Its first exhibit, which opens Oct. 30, will feature the work of local painter Cindy Tower.
Bruno David, who owns the namesake galleries for contemporary work, said the new Projects space won't feature female artists exclusively. But it will offer the women he represents -- including Patricia Olynik, Yvette Drury Dubinsky and Jill Downen -- the chance to show new work sooner than they might have.
David said that more female artists have emerged in the last 30 years. But he doesn't necessarily see a trend toward exhibiting more work by women.
"I've been showing women artists, forever, so that's not a trend," David said. "But there might be more gallery directors who happen to be women and they want to have a program more targeted toward women artists."
The Bruno David Projects space is also configured to exhibit more video art.
The idea for a second location has been in the works for several years. But David waited until he saw gallery traffic increase as the economy slowly improved. His last opening night drew more than 500 people, twice as many as he would have expected two years ago. As David waited out an economic upturn, he kept a close eye on his budget.
"I run the gallery on a shoestring. And I find a little bit of money here, a little bit of money there," David said.
Exhibitions will be free to the public, as they are at the Grand Center location.
Keri Robertson has been named as director of the new gallery. Robertson said the 2,000-foot rental space needs no renovation.
"It's ready to go," Robertson said. "It never operated as a commercial gallery but there were studio shows and private shows there."
The original Bruno David Gallery has operated at 3721 Washington Blvd. in Grand Center for a decade. It sits across from the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and the Contemporary Art Museum.
In this 2005 video, David talks about the opening of his Grand Center location.
