March 19, 2020

"...at the end of the day, we serve our artists." EKV of VSF 

Esther Kim Varet, THIS lady – is one of the hardest working people you’ll find anywhere in the art world. It’s true. As the owner of Various Small Fires (VSF), she arrives to work every single day with one fundamental goal: to promote and protect her artists with the sharp team of people she has built to make it all happen. She's progressive, she's brave, and she's responsible. 

Esther is making decisions in realtime to determine how to deal with the threat of COVID-19 as its effects ripple out. It has already impacted the lives and business of most people reading this. Her protective and wise measures for her gallery are worth paying attention to and reproducing where applicable. There are digital, virtual, and analog solutions to consider in all of this. To learn about VSF's "touch-free viewing experience" please click HERE.

*Remember this is live AM radio, folks! These conversations are unscripted and unedited. This is how people are coping today, which means tomorrow it may look different! The guests I've had on are refreshing and brave to speak in such a vulnerable moment. I am releasing these conversations one by one and my goal is to connect you with voices that vary. My only rule, be real, be honest. 

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Various Small Fires (VSF) is a gallery owned and operated by Esther Kim Varet established in 2012 with locations in Los Angeles, California and Seoul, South Korea. The Seoul gallery opened last spring with a collaborative two-person exhibition of new works by California legends and longtime friends Billy Al Bengston and Ed Ruscha. VSF borrows its name from Ed Ruscha’s original self-published book Various Small Fires and Milk.

In its short exhibition history, VSF has presented the Los Angeles and Asia debuts of many internationally recognized emerging, mid, and late career artists like Liz Magic Laser, Math Bass, Julie Curtiss, Robin F. Williams, Jesper Just, and Diedrick Brackens.

VSF takes social responsibility seriously. The majority of their represented artists are women. The gallery uses 100% solar energy to operate its exhibition spaces and goes to great lengths to reduce their carbon footprint and eliminate plastic by-products.

VSF is also one of the few commercial venues to have a dedicated outdoor gallery for large-scale sculpture and installation. In April 2019, VSF opened a second location in the Hannam-dong neighborhood of Seoul, South Korea. This new ground-floor storefront added an additional 1,000 sq-ft (93 sq-m) of exhibition space in Asia.