Before the artwork, the artist.
There are galleries that begin with exhibitions. There are galleries that begin with transactions. DRS Arts Company® (formerly Marvel Art Gallery) has always believed that the art ecosystem begins one step earlier: with the artist being able to continue being an artist.
An artwork can only reach a gallery wall, a collector, a museum or history if the artist is first able to create it. Since our inception in 2004, we have supported artists wherever we have felt our intervention could make a meaningful difference, across emerging, mid-career and senior practices, as well as students pursuing their BFA and MFA.
Our support has extended to painters, sculptors, printmakers and other visual practitioners, without rigid distinctions of whether someone is established or still learning, represented or unrepresented, recognised by the market or yet to be noticed, male or female, known or unknown.
The first question
What are you trying to do, what potential do we see in it, and is this a moment where our support can make a genuine difference?
For us, the first question has never been, "Who are you in the art world?"
If we find something extraordinary in the person, the practice or the idea, and if we believe that timely support can help that creative path move forward, we have always tried to stand behind the artist.
Because support should not begin only after success has arrived. Sometimes, support is what makes that success possible in the first place.