3960 60th Street, in the Tallac Village Shopping Center at 14th Ave and 60th Street in Tahoe Park, Sacramento
Welcome to Gallery 14, Sacramento's newest fine art gallery.
Gallery 14 is located in Sacramento's sedate, slow-paced Tahoe Park neighborhood, a bit off the Midtown grid, but is not itself sleepy nor sedate. Gallery 14's mission is threefold: One, to provide its owner, artist Walter Rhoads, with a permanent place to show; two, to show exciting work by established contemporary artists; and three, to introduce the public to deserving artists who have been ignored, been underrepresented, or have never shown at all.
These artists may or may not be "outsiders," in the sense of being naive or uneducated. But they will be outside "the system," whether defined as commercial galleries or government grants. In this third category, I am looking for artists, who, like me, have continued to make art without regard for approval by galleries, critics, patrons or anyone else, instead answering only to their own sensibility. These artists, like me, are constitutionally incapable of jumping through anyone's hoops. For that reason, they may not have shown before, but they can find a home here—if I like their work. That is the only test here at Gallery 14—if I like your work enough, you can get a show. If I don't, you won't.
This gallery doesn't exist to provide a home for neo-Impressionists painting Valley landscapes. That work, which is perfectly valid artistically, already is well represented by other galleries. I won't categorically reject it, or any other particular style, but I won't be seeking it either.
But while Gallery 14 won't seek out work that is "safe" and easiest to sell, neither is it intended to be non-commercial. We want sales! Although as an artist myself, my primary goal is the advancement of my own career, let it be understood that I intend to promote my artists as fully as possible, within the limits of my resources. I don't disdain sales—I crave them. I just won't change my art to get them.
Gallery 14 will showcase artists who are bold and emphatic: fearless explorers in search of a sometimes elusive visual truth. Like the pioneers of 20th-century modernism, they believe that the irreducible essence of art is personal expression. And for the potential buyer, it's the same—what matters is his or her personal taste. When the taste of the artist and the customer coincide, a sale happens and everyone is happy. Especially me—I have rent to pay.