Alexandria Gallery’s Cleveland-Area Model Puts Access at the Center
A gallery in Woodmere, just outside Cleveland, is making a case for a different kind of art-world infrastructure. Alexandria Gallery, founded by Irina Falberg, began as a nonprofit pop-up focused on supporting artists and introducing their work to collectors. It has since become a permanent gallery space representing more than 50 artists from more than 30 countries.
The gallery’s growth has not changed its underlying premise. Rather than organizing exhibitions around familiar market categories such as painting or sculpture, Modern or Contemporary, or figurative and abstract, Alexandria builds its program around the strength of individual works. That approach gives the gallery a flexible identity and allows artists to be seen on their own terms.
The roster reflects that range. Zoe Sever is currently the subject of the solo exhibition “Take a Tour of Kaleidoscopic Cityscapes,” on view through August 31. Olivia de Rossi’s practice moves between representation and abstraction, with canvases that foreground conceptual concerns as much as technique and motif. Fausto Perez, meanwhile, creates vivid, carefully rendered landscapes and village scenes that draw on the visual traditions of El Salvador while remaining firmly contemporary in outlook.
Alexandria has also built out a broader educational and community-facing program. The gallery produces affordable artist’s prints, hosts educational events and artist talks, and invites writers to respond to artworks through short stories, essays, and more experimental forms of writing. Those initiatives position the gallery as more than a sales space: it becomes a site where artists, collectors, and audiences can meet without the usual barriers.
That emphasis on access is especially notable in a field where exclusivity often shapes who gets seen, who gets collected, and who gets to participate. Alexandria’s model suggests that a gallery can expand its reach without diluting its curatorial identity — and that openness itself can be a form of cultural value.
AlexandriaGallery ContemporaryArt ClevelandArt ArtCollectors GalleryCulture ArtEducation
