Brian Paul Clamp – Clampart gallery
From his first encounter with photography to the opening of his gallery…
Brian explains that he encountered photography for the first time in a random class in his senior year of art school. The teacher was young and very enthusiastic and pushed her students to go and see books at the library. He remembers being particularly blown over by the Aperture Monograph of Diane Arbus and The Ballade of Sexual Dependency by Nan Goldin. A few months later, he decided to switch majors and went from math to art history. Just after graduating in both art history and advertising, he moved from Colorado to New York with one-month worth of rent in his pocket. From there, he took the first available job and ended up in Owen gallery on the Upper West side where he actually stayed for 10 years during which he also attended a program in Art History at Columbia University.
In 2000 he decided to open his own gallery in Chelsea. He represents multi media artists but as he says his focus and “first love” remains photography.
A fond memory…
His discovery of the photographer Brian Finke who was then just out of his BFA program at the School of Visual Art. Brian Clamp had just opened his gallery and says: “we were both basically taking a chance on one another”. BF showed BC a series of high school cheerleaders, which he took to Photo LA on the very first year he was there. The project had a tremendous success and they still work together to this day. BC says it is the most rewarding thing in being a galerist: “being able to watch [your artists] careers, being able to participate in that”. He adds that with BF, it is a particular case since his career grew alongside PC’s gallery.
A bad memory…
In the past years, he has seen the art market shift in a way that makes it more and more complicated for galerists to be able to discover and showcase new talent.
A photograph that has a special importance in his life…
The Hug by Nan Goldin (back cover of The Ballade of Sexual Dependency). Brian says that the emotion and tenderness that he sees in this photograph perfectly sums up the whole diarystic aspect of her iconic project.
On his bedroom wall…
Bar by Lori Nix – (Large scale photography that the artist takes of tiny but very detailed diaporamas that she makes)
Man with fish in water and guys with guns by Evzen Sobek
Thank you Brian!
Stéphanie de Rougé
