Andy Marko has helped run semantics gallery in Brighton for nearly two decades. He joined artists like David Dillon, Sandy Eichert, Julia Rantz and others heavily involved in running the space over the years. He also sat on the board of Mockbee, Inc. and on the city’s Arts Allocations Board for a number of years. CityBeat talked with him about the history, and future, of DIY spaces in the central city.
CityBeat: How did you get involved in semantics, and what was that space all about?
Andy Marko: “I didn’t get involved, lightly, until 1995 or 1996. But you can clearly say that semantics has been around 23, 24 years, Maybe as many as 25. It started on Walnut Street in OTR and also kind of roving and itinerant. We moved to Brighton in August, 1997. There were literally asbestos sheets on the door in the space there, hundreds of nails in the floor. All of that was taken care of with volunteer labor. We’ve redone the walls dozens, dozens of times.”
“Generally speaking, we kind of evolved over time into a more community service kind of thing. We didn’t really use the gallery as self-promotion, or shown our own work. I think that’s a more admirable approach. Forty, fifty, sixty people have been involved with Semantics over the years. It was community. It’s all about artistic community. Some of the shows are conventional in some way, but a lot of the others really aren’t. It gives options for artists.”
CB: What made Brighton so special?
AM: “One of the positive aspects of having arts districts is the density and proximity. That’s really what Brighton has offered. At one point, there were five galleries there. It’s some kind of urban joy where you can walk from one space to another. There’s a real advantage to having exhibition or performance spaces really close to each other. There’s a certain, I guess you’d call it synergy, there. It’s also one of those things where art crowds can be a little grubbier. Perhaps with new owners and things like that, zoning considerations suddenly start to pop up.”
CB: Do you think it’s getting harder to run spaces like semantics in Cincinnati? Do you see Brighton in particular changing with the purchase of buildings like the one semantics occupied?
AM: “Personally, I never knew when that scene would end. I think that lent a certain aura of edginess to what we were doing. ‘This is what we’re doing. We’re going to plow ahead until someone turns off the lights.’
“Development is moving up Elm Street. They’ve been building around there — the old brewery tours, and all that — so the groundwork had been laid some time ago. I always argued that in some ways semantics was one of the best realtors in the area. We brought in close to 200 shows and well over 600 artists when you consider group shows. You can imagine the foot traffic that went through there. That’s mostly through sweat equity. We put in track lighting, did emergency wiring, and just invested a lot of ourselves into the space. That’s a very different type of investment.
CB: What do you see for these spaces in the future? Do you see semantics continuing in some way in the future?
AM: “I think Wave Pool has invested in Camp Washington, and maybe that will draw people there. I think if we’re talking about the future of DIY spaces, on a positive note, maybe an improving economy, there will be more financial opportunities for groups that are presenting less traditional work. But nationally, rental space is getting more expensive. And if organizations have an angel to buy a building, that can create all kinds of opportunities. But while owning a building is the goal of most formal arts organizations, do you lose some of the edginess?”
“What are we going to do? You do this that long, and it’s very much a part of your being, some of your social life. You’ve gotta go where there is an opportunity for it. In some ways, that may have been one of the pluses of semantics, is that it expanded beyond the physical space itself. That’s the most important thing. For two years, semantics was itinerant. But still, there were things going on. There were linkages. The walls are important, but you can extend beyond the walls. And sure, economics are a part of it. These are tough times. They’ve been tough times forever. But if we can pitch in, there’s a great joy in community.”
This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2015.
