Readytex Art Gallery 25 years!

Readytex Art Gallery is 25 years old on February 8^th 2018. A significant milestone! The gallery celebrates this with a special anniversary exhibition that opens in the evening on March 8^th, and is open to the public from the 9^th thru the 24^th of February.

Who would have thought when the gallery opened its doors on February 8^th 1993, upstairs from the Readytex Craft & souvenirshop at the Maagdenstraat, that Readytex Art Gallery would be located in such a large and beautiful building 25 years later? And who would have thought then, that Readytex Art Gallery would someday be the most prominent, active and the most talked about art gallery in Suriname? A gallery that represents Surinamese top artists with whom she, in collaboration with various international contacts, goes far beyond the borders of Suriname?

The gallery opened 25 years ago primarily because of a love for art, but also to provide in a need. Several local artists were already bringing small artworks to Readytex, where they were then sold in the souvenir shop. They clearly needed a space in which they could offer their work to the public.  And space was indeed available on the floor right above the Readytex store. Thus Readytex Art Gallery was born on February 8^th, 1993.

Over the years the art collection of the gallery grew. The relationship with the artists became stronger, the approach more professional and the services were expanded. An important group of art enthusiasts and collectors started to develop, while the artists grew and became more ambitious as well. With their studies at the Nola Hatterman Art Academy, the ‘Academie voor Hoger Kunst en Cultuur Onderwijs’ (AHKCO), Edna Manley College of the visual and performing arts in Jamaica, or at institutes in the Netherlands, the artists affiliated with Readytex Art Gallery possess the potential and the drive to expand their boundaries, literally and figuratively. This is where the gallery plays an ever-increasing role. Together with the artists the gallery cultivated many international relationships, which made it possible for them to regularly participate in international exhibitions, projects, and artist-in-residencies. And on the website, anyone from anywhere in the world can view as well as purchase, art from all artists.

With the opening of her new, larger location at the Steenbakkerijstraat in 2015, Readytex Art Gallery can now display many more works of art. At that time we also started with our monthly Thursday-Night-Features in which artists or other art professionals give a diverse range of presentations.

The Readytex Art Gallery platform is extremely valuable, and has become indispensible to the Surinamese art scene. The momentum is growing steadily. There is a lot of hard work involved and the challenges are still significant, but the motivation remains, and we dare to dream bigger and bigger. So keep an eye on the plans and the activities of Readytex Art Gallery. 2018 will be a special year!  

We start with our anniversary exhibition in which all of our artists will show how their work has developed over the past years. They each show two works in the exhibition: one older piece from earlier in their careers, and one recent work. As the gallery grew so did they after all, and of this they will share a fraction with the public.

The exhibition is open from February 9^th – 24^th, Monday thru Friday from 8:00 am – 4:30 pm and on Saturday from 8:30 am – 1:30 pm, with extra nighttime opening hours on Friday the 9^th and Saturday the 10^th of February from 7:00 – 9:00 pm.

On Saturday the 10^th of February at 7:30 pm, Managing Director Monique NouhChaia will hold a presentation in which she looks back and looks ahead. She will also reveal some of the new plans of the gallery. Everyone is invited to join this presentation and encouraged to participate in the discussion.