Golan art gallery may close

4 comments February 3rd, 2009

Roni Golan says he’ll close his Golan Liberman Art Gallery in Rockford if he doesn’t make enough at an art sale later this month to pay rent, or if others don’t help him come up with a way to keep the gallery open. Local arts boosters say it would be a shame for his gallery at 2209 E. State St. to close.

Golan creates abstract wall art, sculptures and furniture and will sell about 100 pieces. Prices range from $100 to $6,000. His art will be discounted up to 80 percent from 6 to 11 p.m. Feb. 27 and 28 at 2209 E. State St.

(art by Roni Golan)

His gallery on East State has been open about a year and a half, but he’s had galleries in Rockford and Cherry Valley a total of 10 years. “This is not about me,” Golan said in an e-mail. “It is about our cultural survival.”

Anne O’Keefe, executive director of the Rockford Area Arts Council, said Golan is passionate about the arts in Rockford and has been innovative in getting people into his gallery, including hosting routine Laughing Club socials. But the economic crisis is tough. “It’s not friendly to retail art galleries or support for arts organizations,” O’Keefe said.

O’Keefe said one possible upshot from Golan’s maybe-going-out-of-business sale: It could spur other local artists who want to display and sell their works into working out some kind of co-op deal with Golan. “The space is beautiful,” she said, and it’s surrounded by upscale operations such as Poska’s gift and novelty shop, an interior design studio, and DiTullio’s, which is relocating its deli to the strip mall there.

If you have other ideas for Golan or the Rockford arts community, share them in the comments section here.