Anna Moreau chats with Douglas Sheerer, Gallery Dusseldorf director for 32 years.
WABN: Describe a day at work.
DS: “I check all my emails early in the morning. By the time I get to the gallery I am ready for all the other stuff I have to do. You have look after the current show but of course you also have to plan for future shows. Recently I have been also been working for a Howard Taylor exhibition that I am doing in Sydney.
“Our exhibitions are scheduled for the next 18 months; all the other things that include advertising editorial have to be organised well ahead of time too.”
WABN: What is the best piece of advice you can give someone to motivate a team?
DS: “I think that when you work in the arts, it has to be because you love doing what you’re doing. Working in the arts just because you think you can follow it as a business and make money has led many galleries to close down because the wrong business was there in the first place.
“It’s like for an artist; you’re not going to survive doing what you are doing unless you are passionate about what you are doing…that’s what keeps you going. Being an artist or running a gallery is very similar, actually.”
WABN: What has been the most challenging event in your career?
DS: “I think, for me, it was probably going to university as a mature-age student on a grant, trying to run a gallery as well and trying to survive; that was many years ago. You can’t do those things if you’re not passionate. You learn to be persistent.”
WABN: What's best measurement of your performance, and can you name a highlight in your career?
DS: “There are many highlights; I think it’s very difficult to pick. I think having worked with Howard Taylor is probably a big highlight. He was an absolute genius, so having worked with and experienced discussions with him about art and seeing his work evolve, I think is probably a big highlight.
“The other one would be the day-to-day highlights. Running a gallery, you’ve got younger artists who weren’t even born when we started the gallery and older artists who had their first show when we just started the gallery, all at the same time, that’s very special.”
WABN: How do you deal with egos in your workplace?
DS: “I think any business person has to deal with egos. A good manager actually manages to do that very well. I think convoluted egos are the main problem and where egos are above the capabilities of the person is a problem. In arts it’s actually relatively easy after a while and one tries to look at works in an objective way but always carries some subjective content in the way you work. There are many artists whose work is not that good who have big egos and there are many artists whose work is brilliant and don’t have big egos, so work that one out.”
WABN: Is there an organisation/business model that you strive to achieve/reach? What is it?
DS: “Years ago when that whole company goals manifesto model was all the rage we looked at what we could achieve, but in the end it’s some sort of gimmick, I think.
“It probably works really well with bigger organisations but what we do on a daily basis we do on a yearly basis and on a ten-yearly basis to promote our artists locally, statewide and across Australia.”
WABN: What frustrates you the most about your sector and what would you do to change it?
DS: “I think the inability of various governments to understand the importance of culture and to fund it well.
“If I was premier and I had an understanding of culture and how important it is I would inject far more money than what was just even recently done. I’d make sure that excellent Western Australian artists are supported to a point where they don’t have to go to Sydney or Melbourne to be recognised.”