How Alan Avery Is Changing the Atlanta Art Scene

How Alan Avery Is Changing the Atlanta Art Scene


People, Feature,

How Alan Avery Is Changing the Atlanta Art Scene

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People, Feature,

How Alan Avery Is Changing the Atlanta Art Scene

How Alan Avery Is Changing the Atlanta Art Scene

People, Feature,

How Alan Avery Is Changing the Atlanta Art Scene

Published By:   •   December 2, 2021

How Alan Avery Is Changing the Atlanta Art Scene

Published By:

December 2, 2021

People, Feature,


Times are changing for the better. We visit with Alan Avery to talk about some very difficult but necessary topics involving race and how art can act as a bridge.

Alan Avery with a work by Fabiola Jean-Louis. PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK HEAGNEY
Alan Avery with a work by Fabiola Jean-Louis; photo by Patrick Heagney

Entering into a new phase of his life, Alan Avery has never been more open to learn. One day while at his gallery’s location on Paces Ferry, a Black woman walked in. “At my previous gallery, I had, and I’m not exaggerating, one or two Black people come in a year,” says Avery. She did a quick look around the first floor, a loop around the second, and was out faster than Avery could get to her. The woman had darted out and Avery needed to know why. After a couple of minutes of thought, it suddenly hit him: Not one single piece in his vast collection had someone who looked like her in it. Not one piece featured a Black person, in look, theme or heritage, and he hated that. “It was the first time it really hit me in the face,” says Avery. “And I had been living with it.”

Fabiola Jean-Louis, “Madame Leroy” (archival pigment print unframed). PHOTO: BY FABIOLA JEAN-LOUIS
Fabiola Jean-Louis, “Madame Leroy” (archival pigment print unframed); photo by Fabiola Jean-Louis

This was not the last instance that it became glaringly apparent that the Black community wasn’t being represented in his world. Says Avery, “I come from a background of pushing limits with race. When I was 3 years old, or so they tell me, I was sitting at the dinner table when my mother and I discussed that Esther, my nanny, was part of the family. Of which I responded, ‘Why isn’t she sitting at the family dinner table?’ And ever since that day, Esther sat and broke bread with us.” Avery was one to question and push limits, but when it came to his own gallery, this perspective had escaped him and he knew this had to change. So, he consciously set out to find Black artists who were doing good work. “Six years ago, I started a program where it seemed like artists, one after the other, were pushing the limits of what was expected in Atlanta,” says Avery. “First being Margaret Bowland, a white woman from North Carolina, whose work depicts a Black girl with a white face—very controversial.” This started a conversation that transitioned into a real discussion on race, including not just Avery’s age group but younger and older. They involved Spelman and Morehouse, and there in Alan Avery’s gallery the Black community and white Buckhead collectors discussed, and it got very heated.


A group looking at Jean-Louis’ piece “They’ll Say We Enjoyed It”. PHOTO:BY DAVE KING/COURTESY OF ALAN AVERY ART COMPANY
A group looking at Jean-Louis’ piece “They’ll Say We Enjoyed It”.; photo by Dave King/courtesy of Alan Avery Art Company

After it was over, Avery looked at one of his top collectors, Robyn Sims, and asked, “How did this happen?” And when asked the same question today, Sims still responds the same, “You, Alan. Until you, nobody showed anything we were interested in, and until you, nobody thought that we could buy it.”

“My mission was to break down the barrier through art and to have conversations, to intermingle, to socially interact and discuss art with one another,” says Avery. “Not regardless of race but because of race!” He continues, “I walked the walk, I made the move, and I did the research and finally understand my own white privilege. Once I understood that, it gave me a whole new perspective. And now, most of our collectors, top collectors, are people of color.” 656 Miami Circle, NE, alanaveryartcompany.com


Lewinale Havette, “Everything’s Beautiful in the Sun” (mixed media monoprint), 30 inches by 40 inches. PHOTO: BY LEWINALE HAVETTE
Lewinale Havette, “Everything’s Beautiful in the Sun” (mixed media monoprint), 30 inches by 40 inches; photo by Lewinale Havette

Thoughts on Avery

“The presentation of masterly works from black artists I respect was one of the reasons Alan’s gallery spoke to my senses. Accurate artistic representation is a necessity. It serves as a way to dismantle stereotypes about race, gender, and culture. Black art opens the doors to necessary cultural and racial discourse.–Lewinale Havette, artist

“It is great to see that a movement of including Black artists into gallery and institutional spaces is finally happening across the nation. Given the large Black population in Atlanta, it’s about time for those communities to have representation. We have always created art, so that is not new, but this certain type of visibility is and much needed.”–Fabiola Jean-Louis, artist

“Alan was the first white gallerist, to show something I was interested in—pieces that create stories, that create conversation; pieces that I relate to and can understand.” –Robyn Sims, collector

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