Photo by Andrew Trujillo
Andrew Trujillo, founder and CEO of St. Pete’s new Drew Marc Gallery, seems to have found his place – in more ways than one.
New Gallery, New Vision
Growing up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Trujillo always felt a powerful gravitational pull toward the world of the arts. He was drawn toward spaces where the work of artists comes alive in the experience of viewers. He remembers visiting art fairs with his mother as a child. Later, he would drop into the city’s many galleries as an escape from the pressures of nursing school. When the opportunity to assist in a gallery arose – a job he describes as a kind of “under-the-radar curator” – he knew he’d found his passion.
“It was meant to be!” he says.
Six years and 1,800 miles down the road, he now has his own gallery in St. Pete’s The Factory arts space and clear vision for what he wants to achieve: bringing museum quality pieces to collectors in St. Petersburg. With local investment in the arts rising almost as fast as luxury living spaces downtown, he sees a natural opening for a gallery that highlights national contemporary artists.
“As a city for the arts,” he opines, “St. Pete is about to pop.”
Abstract Narratives
Drew Marc Gallery opened in October, with a first exhibit titled Abstract Narratives. The show featured such artists as rising-star abstract painter Imani Bilal and famed neo-expressionist painter Hunt Slonem. The collected pieces had the vividness and fluidity of a dream unfolding against the gallery’s spare white walls. In one corner, a collection of Hans Petersen’s polychromatic, cryptically grinning Pure Joy faces smiled at Rhia Hurt’s stunning mixed media Wall Flowers. These stylized, stackable blossoms use cleverly concealed magnets, so you can easily rearrange them. The show also included sculpture and jewelry.
Trujillo’s favorite – not counting the classic Slonem bunny on his lock screen – was Bilal’s contemplative painting “If Dreams Could Wander.” Mimicking the languorous movements of water, Bilal coaxed aquamarine, beige, and purple inks across her canvas. She then highlighted fine edges with acrylic, crafting an image that billows like a cloud and – like real clouds – seems to contain endless hidden figures and fantasies. Trujillo reflects, “I see something new every time I look at this.”
Grandpa Art
Drew Marc Gallery will feature a new show each month, timed to open with St. Pete’s Second Saturday Art Walks. December’s exhibition, Coastal Harmony, features coastal contemporary pieces blended with plein air seascapes, all by women artists. As you might expect, the collection’s palette ranges from heady sky blues to warm sunset hues to inky blacks. Concepts span from Blair Vaughn-Gruler’s intricately patterned curlicues, sprawling across the canvas almost like a secret language, to Maggie Kruger’s luminous seascapes. The show runs through Jan. 12.
But there’s one painting in Drew Marc Gallery that is not for sale. Behind Trujillo’s desk, smiling out over the changing exhibits, is a portrait of Trujillo’s grandfather. His name, explains the grinning gallery owner, just happened to be Art. “Grandpa Art,” as he’s known, was painted by a friend who worked from a photograph, where Art wore his customary neutral expression. Grandpa Art’s smile emerged, seemingly of its own accord, as she painted.
And looking out over a vision realized and a grandson who has found his passion, who can blame him?
Drew Marc Gallery
2622 Fairfield Ave. S., Building 8, Unit 4, St. Petersburg. Thurs.-Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sun., 12-4 p.m.; and Mon., 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. DrewMarcGallery.com; 727-537-9731.
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