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Photograph by Neal Waters
Chris Hogan recently opened Gregory Kate Gallery at a loft on The Alameda where he lives. The works of Miles O'Bryan are on display.
Chris Hogan turns loft into gallery of dreams
By Mary Gottschalk
When Chris Hogan explains that his Gregory Kate Gallery is a dream come true, he's talking literally, not figuratively.
"It sounds corny, but I kept having this dream where I was in an art gallery writing and I thought, 'What the hey?'" Hogan says.
"I needed a place to live, so I bought this live/work space and started this art gallery."
The Gregory Kate Gallery at 925 The Alameda is in the Lofts on The Alameda development. The gallery, as well as Hogan's home, is in space 101, the former sales unit on the corner of Morrison Avenue.
Hogan has none of the pretensions often found in art dealers.
"I have no experience running a gallery, but I do collect art. That's my experience with art," Hogan admits.
The art he does collect, he selects with great care.
Hogan says he has few pieces and among those he has, there is no unifying theme or pattern.
"I spent a couple of years looking at artwork before I bought any," he says.
"I got divorced five years ago, and I had empty walls, but I'd wait until I found a piece I'd really, really, really like. I finally filled most of the empty spaces on my walls.
"Now, I've downsized. This condo is only 1,000 square feet, and the gallery takes up a third of it. There's not a lot of space for my own personal stuff."
Now 52, Hogan says he moved to San Jose from Boston "after the blizzard of 1978. I was tired of the snow so when they said they were barbecuing the day after Christmas in California, I left the snow and came here."
Initially he attended San Jose State University, majoring in accounting.
"I got a job with a property management firm, and I never finished my degree. I was going to school to make money, and when I started making money I stopped," he says.
This past January, Hogan started taking the remaining classes he needs for a degree and he expects to graduate in December 2008.
After graduation he intends to start writing, just like in his dream.
"I write a little now," he says. "I feel like I have a novel inside of me, but it doesn't want to come out.
"I fancy myself a writer a little bit. My plan is to take less schoolwork starting in January and focus on the gallery and maybe on some writing, too."
In 2006, Hogan sold his business managing homeowners associations and started trying to figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
At the time he was renting a home near his ex-wife and their children.
"It had no air-conditioning, and I have MS, so air conditioning is kind of critical for people with MS. I decided I couldn't go through another summer," he says.
Hogan did a search of live/work condominiums and found the Lofts of The Alameda.
"I found this place in May, and they were itching to sell in this market. I closed escrow on June 29, and I opened the gallery on July 15.
Although some gallery visitors mistakenly assume the gallery is eponymous, Hogan named it after his son Gregory, an 18-year-old student at De Anza Community College, and his daughter Kate, a 15-year-old student at Pioneer High School.
"They were thrilled; they thought it was pretty neat to have something named after them," he says.
Once he had the space, Hogan says he asked his friend, photographer Noella Vigeant, to help him work the bugs out.
"She'd never done a show of her work, but I asked her to chose 26 pictures, and I had a gallery just like that."
Vigeant, who has been shooting photos since childhood but professionally for just the past 21Ž2 years, says the experience was quite a shocker.
"It was exciting to see everything there together. It's one thing to have the photographs leaning against couches, but to see them hanging in a gallery is a jolt of reality that it really could happen."
Vigeant said selling some of the pieces in the show made her happy.
Of Hogan she says, "Chris is a true entrepreneur. He's decided that's where he wants to be. He wants to have a gallery, and one way or another that will happen, and he'll have a successful gallery.
"His own collection of art is very well chosen. He has a good eye for decorating his own space with beautiful pieces, and he takes pride in the pieces he owns.
"I think one of the reasons he loves the gallery is it allows him to sit with the art, which is what he wants."
Hogan is aware of the fact that most people don't understand why he would open an art gallery without any experience and seemingly based on a recurring dream and a whim.
"I tend to be the type of person who dives in, almost to the point of overcommitment," Hogan says.
"It's just how I do things. I tend to jump in and really get immersed in something."
That said, he's quick to add, "I don't see this as a short-term proposition. This neighborhood is up and coming with two restaurants moving in next door and one across the street.
"I don't see myself as ever really retiring. People who retire roll over and die. I see myself continuing on. I would like to see the gallery be successful."
Since opening in July, Hogan has staged a new show each month.
Nancy Ann Rice displayed her abstract acrylic paintings from mid-August to mid-September.
From mid-September through mid-October, the gallery had oils by Danielle Dufayet, watercolors by Susan Ashley and sculptures by Suzanne Sable.
Currently, Miles O'Bryan's abstract paintings are on display.
Camille Ahern will close out the year, from Dec. 3 through 30, with her handpainted silk abstracts and art quilts.
Hogan says with his first two shows, he invited the artists. Now he's hearing from artists who want to show.
"There's not a lot of available gallery space for people to put their artwork, and that's been good for me," he says.
"People contacting me are proactively marketing themselves, and if they're marketing themselves, they're the type I want in the gallery as I need to be marketing the gallery as well. We help each other out."
Gregory Kate Gallery, 925 The Alameda, No.101, 408.271.2626, www.gregorykategallery.com. Hours are noon to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and by appointment.
