PHILO
SOP
HY
We see the art world as having two forms: art as commodity and art as object. The market is one, and it has its place, but this is where we feel too many galleries get distracted. Parallel Form exists to focus on the other — the work itself, and everything that leads to its existence.
Reassessing the Gallery-Artist Dynamic
The gallery–artist dynamic is shifting. While they continue to loose commercially, digitally-native artists increasingly operate independently, and thus questioning the need for representation as it once existed.
At Parallel Form, we believe galleries should function less as arbiters of taste and more as collaborators, amplifying ideas rather than controlling them. Our aim is to provide space for thinking and making, rather than simply marketing and selling.
Art as Object
We believe that context is often pushed into the background in favour of immediacy and market logic. Our role is to bring it forward: the art historical threads, the theories, the personal experiences that shape a piece long before it’s framed or priced. In one word: context.
We want you to feel something beyond the frame — to engage and understand. Once you understand the context, you might connect with it instantly, or you might not form it at all — which is precisely our point. As some critic once said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
A Parallel Approach
Parallel Form exists alongside the traditional art world, not in opposition to it. Not having a permanent physical space means we have the flexibility to foreground context and conversation; championing artists who want their art to be valued not just because of how it looks. Less emphasis on transactions. More attention on meaning.
Art today is institutionalised narcissism, a conspiracy between creators and curators to make people feel stupid.