A lesser writer might start by telling you that Katie Brennan (M.A. ’98) knows the intimate details of Leo DiCaprio’s art-buying habits, but brushes with celebrity seem far from the driving force behind Brennan’s curatorial work as co-founder of Brennan & Griffin gallery that started in L.A. and now has two locations in New York.
Rather than focusing on the glamour, Brennan is quick to emphasize the hard work – and risk – that goes into running a gallery focused on emerging artists with oftentimes challenging work. For example, quite a few exposed body parts interact with Barbie dolls in the Keith Boadwee show that ran last fall in her Lower East Side location. But she believes Boadwee, and the artists she represents, have a place in art history and that’s what motivates her.
“I want my artists to be a chapter in art history books, like Janson’s,” says Brennan. “That is a much slower process.”
Brennan’s background studying 19th-century French art, while not immediately applicable to the contemporary art she’s focused on today, gave her the a solid art historical foundation, she says, but also, more practically speaking, got her foot in the door at her first gallery job in L.A.
“If I hadn’t gotten the degree I wouldn’t be where I am now.”
Initially Brennan thought she’d go on to get her Ph.D. and teach, but two things dissuaded her: the painful process of writing her masters thesis and the excitement of working with living artists.
“Nothing feels better than working to get an artist you care about to get in front of the right museum curator or writer and have people pay attention like you’ve been thinking they should all along. It’s incredible.”
Katie Brennan is co-founder of Brennan & Griffin on New York’s Lower East Side. A second location opened in Red Hook, Brooklyn in summer 2015.
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