When Peter Taub came to Randolph Street Gallery in 1985, as executive director, it had an annual budget of $60,000 and was $50,000 in debt. That was in the midst of one of the biggest art-market booms in U.S. history and during a period of enthusiastic governmental support. Eight years later, at a time when the private art market and government funds are best described as meager, RSG has increased its annual budget eightfold, has erased its deficits, and is aiming to raise $600,000 to buy its space on Milwaukee Avenue. And though many of the artists RSG has showcased are the very ones who stirred censorship and funding controversies, the gallery still receives 70 percent of its funds from government sources.
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That’s a well that’s pretty much run dry for other arts groups with progressive social agendas. But Taub says he’s bucked art-world trends by integrating art into the life of the gallery’s community. Of the 200 exhibitions and events the gallery puts on a year, almost half are jointly sponsored by social-service agencies, community groups, schools, or other arts organizations. When Taub came to the gallery, RSG saw its mission as providing exposure for artists who had yet to gain acceptance in the local commercial galleries. But at that time the opportunities for local talent were expanding quickly: where there had been only 35 commercial galleries in the early 80s, by 1985 the city had 85.
“I am probably the only person who would still describe myself as an artist,” Taub says. “But I approach everything with the problem-solving approach I brought to my photography.” When asked if he would return to the subjects he photographed before–he focused on the juxtaposition of man-made and natural objects–Taub says, “No, that would be impossible. I’ve become interested in too many more and bigger things.”
