Gallery Associate

Job Title: Gallery Associate

511 Gallery is a salon-type contemporary art gallery located in the Chelsea district of Manhattan. We represent and exhibit contemporary artists who work in all media, including sculpture, photography, painting, and site-specific art. We have an extensive practice, 511 Projects, for backroom and curatorial work. In our backroom practice, we work in the secondary market to deaccession art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries on behalf of both public and private collections. The artwork that we represent is diverse and wide-ranging, and our current focus is the representation of the Yvonne Pène du Bois McKenney Estate, a collection of over 300 works by 20th century American Modernist, Guy Pène du Bois. In our curatorial practice, we propose, organize, and/or design exhibitions for museums, art centers, and corporate venues. The primary mission of both 511 Gallery and 511 Projects is to place great artworks in public institutions.

511 is seeking interns for Summer 2023. The internship begins in mid-to-late May and concludes end of the first week of August. For over a decade, we have successfully incorporated interns into the work of our gallery and they have gained valuable experience in all aspects of the gallery and art dealership business. Our interns are not go-fors, receptionists, or data inputters. Depending on their skills, talents and interests, interns might write thoughtful and analytical letters about artworks to curators and collectors; write press releases; correspond with artists, curators, and collectors; conduct research for our backroom projects; learn art-handling and installation skills; even research, write, and then propose curatorial projects. 511 is a collaborative and non-hierarchical working environment. Interns thus emerge from their internship with a wide range of accomplishments, knowledge, and understanding of the commercial but also museum-centered art world. Our internships are not paid, but many interns have received course credit from their colleges for their experiences at 511. Interns have gone on from working at 511 to internships or full-time jobs at museums, galleries, and auction houses, or to top graduate programs in art history and curatorial studies.

We consistently seek interns who are strong researchers and writers and who like doing both; who have an expressive but objective voice of their own when talking and writing about art; and who are passionate and curious about art and art history. Background in art history is preferred, but more important are reading, writing, and thinking skills.

Please send your resume, cover letter, and an academic, art-focused, analytical writing sample of 3 pages or more to 511gallery@gmail.com with SUMMER 2023 INTERNSHIP APPLICATION as the subject line.