Close Up with Charles Hardman from 100th Gallery

Tell us a little about 100th Gallery and your role?

one hundredth gallery is dedicated to aspiring and emerging artists. We also work with established artists who are trying something new. I started the gallery at the end of last year and currently manage and run it on my own (with some occasional expert assistance from qualified friends and family).

Charles Harman

Image Courtesy from Business Chic

What are the five words that people who know you would use to describe you and 100th gallery?

For everyone new to art.

What was the purpose on starting 100^th gallery and how has the concept come about?

The purpose of starting one hundredth gallery was to provide a launch pad for new artists to exhibit their work in a formal setting (rather than cafes and restaurants). Equally, the gallery is for all people new to art; people who like art but who may think that they do not know anything about it.

During high school and university, I was an aspiring artist. I had two group shows and one solo show that I organised myself. When I took my work to commercial galleries for representation, I was always asked three questions.

1. Where have you exhibited before?
2. How much of your work sold during those exhibitions?
3. What was the average selling price of your work?

It became a bit ‘chicken & egg’. I couldn’t gain gallery representation because I didn’t have gallery representation.

I decided to put my art on the backburner until I had the means to do something about it, and made a commitment that when I did open my own gallery, that I would never ask those three questions. After 18 years in corporate, most recently as Director of HR for an ASX200 company, I resigned late last year to fulfil the commitment that I made to myself way back then.

What are the most common issues that relate to artists who come to see you in your Art Gallery?

There are two main issues that I deal with everyday; however they are not issued in the negative sense of the word. It’s quite the contrary actually.

1. Objectives. The vast majority of artists that I speak with have not thought about ‘why’ they want to exhibit or about their ‘objectives’ for the exhibition. There is a still an unspoken rule in visual arts that you create, and then you exhibit. Few people have questioned ‘why?’. I don’t mind why artists want to exhibit their work (e.g. to sell, to build their CV, to tick a box etc.) but I do feel the need to keep us on the same page and therefore will always discuss objectives for the exhibition.

2. Confidence. Artists will always ask themselves and others whether their work is good enough. If you have got yourself to a position of speaking with me, then it most cases it definitely will be! That is what the exhibition process is for. Exhibitions give the artist an opportunity to get direct feedback from the public. Exhibitions and galleries are a marketing tool.

Untitle By Artist-  keith Melder

Tell us more about your services that you provide to the Art industry?

At our core, we are a rental gallery with a business consultancy focus. We rent the gallery on a wall by wall basis so artists do not need to take the whole space. We only charge for the walls that the artist wants and don’t charge for business consultancy that comes with it. We also do a huge amount of promotion on behalf of our artists and their art. We have embraced new media and promote work through our blog, website, facebook, twitter, and tumblr. We also do print promotions in Art Almanac, Trouble, and occasionally in the Melbourne Weekly Magazine.

The real service we provide is in introducing new artists to the public and vice versa. We are the launch pad for the next big things.

Tell us about your process for working with clients?

We aim keep our processes fairly informal. We don’t have a formal submission process for artists and we have an open door policy for the public. As we are for everyone new to art, we aim to take all the ‘fear factors’ away to make the gallery experience an enjoyable one.

We also do a lot of work by email as it seems to be an easier and more convenient choice for many artists. There are artists that we have represented that we have never met!

Bretagne- By Artist Alana Aphoy

What advice can you offer to artists who are looking for a gallery to represent their?

Be careful. Your art is your commodity. It is your product and your brand. You need to own it and a gallery should be there to help you with that. Many galleries are commercial operations so be aware that they can charge anywhere between 40% and 70% commission (we charge 11%).

This is the main reason that we have gone for a rental model. We expect artists to share in the risk and reward for exhibiting their work; ensuring that they get a greater reward than the conventional model.

Do you have a book that you would like to recommend?

Nope. All books are helpful, otherwise they would never have been published. The thing that I would like all artists to keep in mind is ‘know why you are creating, and know why you are exhibiting.’ When you know why, you can then develop a plan to achieve those objectives.

By Artist-Christopher Smith

Where do we find your services? (list office, links websites & contact personnel)

We’re located at 49 Porter Street, Prahran, VIC 3181 and are open 11am-7pm Wednesday to Friday and 12pm-5pm Saturday and Sunday.

We are always contactable on email charles@100thgallery.com and phone 0413 00 1234.

Our web address is

• http://100thgallery.com and you can find us on
• http://facebook.com/100thgallery
• http://twitter.com/100thgallery and
• http://100thgallery.tumblr.com

Whilst we’re based in Melbourne, we represent artists across Australia and the world.