Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Lednicky.
Joe, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was working the high-tech industry as an electrical engineer and business analyst when due to family tragedy, I became the primary caretaker of my cognitively-impaired parents. It was while I helping elderly patients suffering from Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease that I saw how music and art therapy produced reliable results in the patient’s treatment. In addition, I noticed that non-pharmacological interventions such as music and art therapy improved the patient’s quality of life.
I therefore decided to start building a non-traditional art gallery that would help support local artist’s endeavors and also provide a venue to assist others in selling their estate items to help pay medical bills. We had the grand opening in May 2022 with 14 participating artists.
The vision has grown since and the diversity of art offerings now includes over 40 artists. In addition, there is an estate area where consigned estate items are sold at a discount.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We are lucky in the planning of the business as the sale of art and the discounted estate items can be a complimentary business. Art is a luxury item purchase. When the economy starts to sour, the sale of art slows but discounted priced estate items serve as a fallback option as those sales seem to maintain their levels. When the economy improves, both the sales of art and estate items also improve.
The challenge through the last 3 years has been impositions put on the gallery business by local ordinances (e.g. sign ordinances that won’t let me put signs letting the public know the location of the gallery) and county tax systems (i.e. the location of the gallery has seen rapid increases in the property taxes). We continue to struggle through the imposed ordinances and business taxes.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Primal Gallery is different than other galleries in the sense that we try to exhibit works by both established artists and new artists. We have fine art exhibited right next to unknown artist’s works. For example, I have new artists that traditional formed galleries would not invite for showings unless the artist could demonstrate they had unrealistic large number of followers. Artists need a break so we always try to find a way to exhibit new artist’s works.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t believe in luck. I do believe in hard work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.primalgallery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primalgalleryllc/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@primalgallery
