There’s a problem in the Philly art scene: Emerging artists have few places to show their work. Divided between DIY spaces focused mostly on giving support to their friends and community and established commercial galleries with an already strong roster, it can feel like Philly just isn’t a welcoming city for artists establishing long–lasting careers in the art world.
That is exactly where Megan Galardi’s Blah Blah Gallery is stepping in—to bring a physical space to showcase those emerging artists. These artists otherwise might not have felt a home in Philly; instead, skipping us over for bigger art cities like New York or Los Angeles, where they feel like they have room to spread their wings. Galardi, instead, wants to establish a formidable bastion for these artists. A home where they can start showing their work in Philadelphia without feeling constrained by the city’s limitations. Galardi's work with Blah Blah might just change the narrative around art collecting in Philadelphia.
There’s a “big challenge,” Galardi says, “in artists who are just finishing up school.” The challenge is in navigating the transition from school into the workforce, one not too different from the many transitions Penn students go through after every graduating class. As Galardi puts it, “When you’re in school, you have a lot of guidance, especially with if you’re in an MFA [Master of Fine Arts] or a BFA [Bachelor of Fine Arts] program, you’re having studio visits and critiques all the time, and then when you come out of that program, you lack a lot of structure anymore around your work.” Instead, you’re thrown into an increasingly difficult–to–navigate world of gallery placements, group shows, and just trying to afford materials, often without the guidance that an art student might be so used to in art school. Students with more traditional training might have better luck in some gallery spaces, based on my conversation with Galardi, as there certainly seems to be more of a collector base for that. But artists who have something to say, those can be tricky to represent. The tight margins and few–and–far–between sales of artists coming into prominence require galleries suited to their needs.
Yet those artists that are "saying something" are exactly what Blah Blah is based on. Galardi could not underscore enough how important it was that the pieces in their collection were “having a conversation about something.” Blah Blah is a space where craft and technique are as valued as how it would look on a buyer’s wall. And even more vitally, one where meaning prevails.
These two aims, well–made art that speaks on important topics, marries perfectly with Galardi’s other aim, to have fun. In her words, the works she collects “are often bright and colorful and fun on the surface, yet also technically well done [and] having part of a conversation about something.” She critiques other creative impulses out there, saying, “There’s a lot of work out there that’s just pretty to be pretty. And there’s a lot of work that you look at, and it’s really heavy.” Worse, it seems, is art where “you look at it, and you immediately know this is what this work is about.” Works that are so transparent in their meaning or aesthetic vision are of no interest to Galardi. Yet she refuses to let the art be subsumed to being totally about ‘serious’ topics, too, maintaining a sense of levity and intrigue in the art she curates in her space.
Galardi’s unwavering devotion to principles of aesthetic and semantic, makes up what she calls the “curatorial vision” of Blah Blah, a mission that has kept the gallery growing over the past years. Galardi herself is strong–minded, part of why she only shows women and non–binary artists, as women in the toxic male commercial art world are undercut and underserved by men who seem to know it all, and she’s not willing to put up with it. Under her own guidance, Blah Blah has grown quickly and impressively, outgrowing their former space in Vox Populi, itself a vital Philadelphia art institution, to occupy its own in the Italian Market. The strong vision is exactly how they've had over 400 applicants for their impressive open call show, Curtain Call, a collection showcasing the range of techniques and backgrounds Blah Blah can represent in their fold. It’s how they have almost 7,000 followers on Instagram, an impressive base for a gallery of Blah Blah’s size and newness, especially as art sales continue to move digitally.
To achieve such success like hers, Galardi has advice for those entering the art world. In addition to expertly curating your space, providing something artists and collectors alike can connect with, and being unforgiving in sticking with your guns, she recommends keeping costs low. “A lot of galleries go in too deep, too quickly. Either rent is too expensive in the space or just have too much of an overhead with whatever the project it is,” she says. Making too big of financial risks can make you compromise your vision, thus compromising the whole integrity of your project. Instead, Galardi says that “started off keeping my costs very low, being over in that Vox [Populi] building, my overhead was like 500 bucks a month. It was nothing, which allowed me to really have this freedom to prove concept.” With a more limited budget, she could focus on making the space look beautiful, contributing to their impressive social media presence (which is what is driving their sales, too) and attracting an international plethora of artists.
Their current show, Mack Brim’s first solo show in Philadelphia, is evidence of just how uniquely Blah Blah Gallery is situated. Showcasing this technically rigorous painter, one who has undergone almost no formal training shows just how sharp Galardi’s eye is. Brim’s art showcases a conversation between girlhoods, drawing on childhood motifs just as much as hyper–contemporary sexuality, wading through coquette nostalgia to speak to Gen Z and Millennials alike. Its bright colors and tongue–in–cheek references make the pieces pop in person and online. Keeping in that vein, Galardi wants to continue to grow, establishing and entrenching relationships with galleries like Concept Bean or Peep Projects. We might even see them represented at New York art fairs, the bread and butter of the commercial art world. As a fierce advocate of Blah Blah’s curatorial attitude, couldn’t be more excited to see where they go next.
