With a laugh, Gallery Jones co-owner David Chaperon refers to himself as a blue-collar art dealer. “The art business isn't always as glamorous as most people assume,” he chuckles. “I get a lot of young kids wanting to get involved, and I always tell them: 'Ok, well this is what you have to be prepared to do. You're painting the walls, you're sweeping, you're sweating, you're hammering in hooks, you're doing everything'. It's installing exhibitions and storage, doing all the grunt work. Selling art... it happens. But it doesn't happen as often as you'd think.”
Blue-collar or not, David and his partners, Shane O'Brien and Mark Reddekopp have made a career of doing just that: not only selling art, but representing some of the brightest names in the art world – from Vancouver and beyond – displaying their work, hosting their openings, and introducing them to a world of local and international buyers.
“In the beginning, we did everything,” David recalls. “We dealt with sales, crating, photography of the art for the invitations, making the invitations, postage, you name it. Anything that needed to be done, we had to do it.”
