APE Gallery is a nomadic gallery with a permanent online presence. The gallery follows the modern-day international trade routes of art fairs and biennals, interpreting these charged environments even as it inserts itself into them through guerrilla marketing techniques, displays, and interventions.
Most galleries and curators feign unifying themes in an attempt to bring cohesion to their choices in representation, but the true unifying thread in shows and galleries is nepotism: the closed-loop relationships between artists, gallerists, curators, collectors.
In a refreshing and groundbreaking take on the art world, APE Gallery exposes itself as engaging in nepotism and sycophancy. The artists are chosen based on their personal relationship to gallerist Alexandria Pembleton and on the potential for mutual career and financial benefit.
Alexandria's experience as a street kid, traveler, business owner, and artist have given her a broad and unique set of skills with which to interpret human behavior. Her education, culminating in an MFA in social practices from the California College of the Arts, has given her the sophistication to identify quality work and, more important, its potential for value.