Giant Sale at A.P.E. at Window
July 10 to 29, 2009
Opening Reception: Arts Night Out, Friday, July 10 5-8 pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 12-6 pm, Friday & Saturday, 12-8 pm
With Extended Hours during Northampton’s Sidewalk Sale

Sidewalk Sale Special Events- Saturday, July 25:
Handsome Truants rock n roll 2-4 pm
Blondes in the Jungle Film Screening 7 pm
Big All Day Closing: Wednesday, July 29, 12-6 pm.
For more event details go to:
www.giantsale.wordpress.com

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Northampton Arts Council, Inc. and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Giant Sale
Sara Blaylock & Rachel B Glaser

Giant Sale transforms A.P.E.’s Window gallery into a high art gallery/discount market hybrid. In the midst of a national recession, where sales are plummeting everywhere but the biggest discount shops, Giant Sale redefines the market for high art by both showcasing fine art and offering art pieces at affordable prices.

As per gallery standards, paintings, prints, and videos will be hung on the wall or exhibited on pristine white pedestals. These works will be priced high, but juxtaposed with cheaper alternatives. Rachel Beth Glaser’s full-scale NBA paintings will have corresponding handmade figurines sold for $30. Although Sara Blaylock’s inkjet prints may be too expensive for the average visitor, a notebook with a glossy image from a print can be bought with little financial worry.

Giant Sale critiques and embodies the concept of both a discount store and a gallery gift shop, drawing attention to the near-irrelevance of “high” art as product. We consider ourselves essentially “going out of business.” Like any savvy industry, we are trying to revitalize or rename our market.

Moreover, Giant Sale will give A.P.E. its first real presence at the Sidewalk Sale. This is not only a symbolic, but a pragmatic gesture. A.P.E. will, for the first time, participate with its neighbors in this commercial festival in the shared hopes of clearing inventory and generating revenue.

Not only a showcase of the work of Blaylock and Glaser, this exhibition invites other local artists to participate in a community art market. We also intend to use local avenues for producing and advertising this show. Our flyers and posters will be printed at Paradise Copies; we hope to advertise in local papers/radio stations; all framing and printing will be done locally; and we will hire a local band to play during the Sidewalk Sale.