Art collecting needs a rebrand. For people outside the art world, the image of an art collector is likely a Gilded Age robber baron or the nouveau riche downtown New Yorkers of the Basquiat-Warhol go-go 80s. Within the art world, there’s constant chatter about the inaccessibility of buying art from galleries. This is justified because many people cannot afford a $3000 painting, let alone $30,000 or $300,000 offerings.

Enter flat files: Nearly every gallery has them, but not every gallery opens them to the buying public. Flat files hold works on paper, loose canvas, or smaller works that can fit in shallow, flat file drawers. Flat files items tend to run toward the lower price ranges so are a more affordable way to begin an art collection for someone not looking to make a huge investment. In the last thirty years, galleries around the country have embraced it as a way to reach more collectors and better support emerging artists.

“… the founders of Kentler International Drawing Space were interested in drawing not just as drafting in preparation for another art form but as something valuable in its own right.”

One of the oldest flat file programs is The Kentler International Drawing Space, a nonprofit gallery in Red Hook, Brooklyn that began storing flat files in 1990. Programs Director Sallie Mize from Kentler said that “so many artists, no matter the medium, have drawings. Scott Pfaffman and Florence Neal, the founders of Kentler International Drawing Space, were interested in drawing not just as drafting in preparation for another art form but as something valuable in its own right.” Kentler is not a commercial gallery, but still sells to many collectors through the flat files program. Artists take 65% of the sale price, considerably more than the 50-50 split most galleries offer.

“We have a proposal process for artists, and we accept 5-10 artists a year from it,” Mize said. Over thirty-five years, their program has welcomed nearly 2500 artists with about 300 artists currently represented in the program. Sometimes, interesting techniques have a presence: they’ve started a focus on mokuhanga, for example, a form of Japanese printmaking that few other galleries in the world store in archives.

“The incentive is to get the work seen by the public, to make wonderful shows out of it and to have a really high-caliber international collection. We’re really proud of the items in our flat file collection being so diverse. We have work going back to the 1970s and ‘80s, but then also work made just a month ago.” Audiences can see those works both in the flat file archives and in the numerous shows Kentler puts on. Mize recommends the work of David Ambrose, Joan Snyder, and Philip Chen, among the artists in their archives, but she couldn’t pick a favorite.

“It’s like a candy store.” 

In 1994, just north of Kentler along the Brooklyn-Queens Express Way, Pierogi Gallery of Williamsburg, Brooklyn began its flat files program. That files program is now legendary in the art world. Pierogi, a commercial gallery, connected flat files to the commercial art market in a way that nonprofits don’t tend to. Owner Joe Amrhein said that “The community in Williamsburg was what enabled the flat files to develop.”

30 years ago, Williamsburg was a low­-rent neighborhood with a burgeoning artistic community, and Pierogi entered into that scene. The flat files concept was a way for artists wishing the community could buy from each other at a relatively low price point, and artists were eager to share their works on paper. Amrhein began with 20 artists and then quickly realized he needed to expand the program. The flat files didn’t just stay in the gallery—they traveled the country and became part of multimedia projects. Amrhein and his wife ran a small publishing house called Pierogi Press and used work from artists in the flat files as covers.

“Flat files add a tactile nature where you can look at something in a more direct way than through plexiglass at a museum or curated on a wall.”

When Amrhein traveled with the flat files, he met artists along the way. He would encourage them to give him their works on paper as flat files to grow the collection and give more artists an opportunity to show in New York. The flat files, rather than being a neglected cabinet, are an integral part of Pierogi and part of what made it famous.

“Some people will come in two or three days in a row and look through the entire cabinet,” Amrhein said. It attracted curators from the Brooklyn Museum and has now been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum and the Andy Warhol Museum, as well as perused by major collectors like the late Wynn Kramarsky.  “Flat files add a tactile nature where you can look at something in a more direct way than through plexiglass at a museum or curated on a wall,” comments Amrhein.

Amrhein lamented that it’s much harder to get people to come to brick-and-mortar galleries now that you can view artwork online, but he has hope. “People are going back to vinyl, maybe they’ll go back to other physical media,” he said. “If you’re an art lover, sometimes you can feel art is impenetrable…and I never thought the art world would be as commercialized as it is now,” Amrhein reflected. He encourages people to view flat files in person and really spend time with them. “It can be overwhelming, but it’s like a candy store.”

“…an implicit invitation to come and buy the art.”

Pierogi’s flat files inspired a Chicago-based gallerist, Claudine Isé, to start her own program at her space, Goldfinch Gallery. She viewed Pierogi’s flat files at a traveling exhibition and bought a small embossed leather piece by Michelle Lopez. Isé approached her flat files collection from her own experiences wanting to buy art without being ultra-wealthy. “I was so excited and delighted by the process of going through Amrhein’s files because the art was right there in front of me,” she said. “I want to encourage people to buy works on paper, but I also put the prices right on my website because I don’t want anyone to feel embarrassed to ask about buying something less expensive. We have the prices listed for transparency and for an implicit invitation to come and buy the art.”

Because Isé also runs a commercial gallery selling at a higher price point, for her flat files she offers a 70-30 split for artists. Artists get 70% of the commission. She exclusively works with artists who don’t already have gallery representation. The flat files are then a way to get their work out there. Some highlights are Madeline Gallucci, whose acrylic on paper mirror series was on view at Goldfinch, or Jenny Kendler, an environmental activist whose series of “Feather Knives” lives in Goldfinch’s flat files due to its small size.

“Flat files show you can sell art to people that are not in the so-called 1%.” 

Though many young collectors buy from Isé, a huge part of her flat files sales is to art consultants who want to buy work to hang in clients’ homes. She has a feature on her website where potential buyers can view what a piece looks like on a wall for scale. “There’s a lot of talk right now about how inaccessible the art market has become. But small and mid-size galleries are working towards accessibility with flat files. They show you can sell art to people that are not in the so-called 1%.” Maybe flat files can be part of the renaissance that affordable art collecting needs. You just have to know where to look for them.