Chalk Horse: Chalking it up

DESCRIBING CHALK HORSE poses a unique problem, because you aren’t really describing one gallery but several. Since its inception in 2007, the organisation has responded to the buffeting winds of an ever-changing global economy and assumed a state of permanent evolution: moving from an artist-run initiative (ARI) to commercial gallery model. And, by all accounts, the development is not finished. When I call James Kerr, one of the gallery’s three directors (alongside Jasper Knight and Nick Curtis), this reality is immediately confirmed by the sounds of hammers and power tools in the background. “I’ll just step outside, I’m standing in the construction site of the new space,” he hurriedly explains, before exiting onto William Street in Sydney’s Darlinghurst. The fading sounds, on the other end of the line are perhaps the perfect metaphor for the gallery, which in many senses is still being built.

Yet while much has changed over the past decade, the ethos of Chalk Horse has remained the same. Indeed, although Chalk Horse may have relinquished its mantle as an ARI, it retains a communal structure that seems somewhat at odds with most other gallery-autocracies. And while Kerr concedes that sometimes this structure complicates things – “if it’s one person with their name on the door it’s a little easier to manage” – he also submits that this collaborative style makes for more dynamic programming. For instance, the selection of every new artist is a lengthy conversation, where one director may champion one creative while other directors may gravitate towards another. Yet, despite their length, these conversations have paved the way to success.