Janice McLean's Aaron Ross Gallery is currently showcasing a number of new works, including her own, Passion, seen here.

artscetera

Most of us go to galleries looking for something to excite our senses and engage our intellect. But for a commercial gallery, the bottom line means more than numbers through the door: it's sales that pay the rent. The high value and high prestige quotient of art makes for some uneasy bedfellows: to line the walls of a corporate headquarters or restaurant may not be every artist's hope and dream, but purism requires either an independent income or an unfailing romanticism for penury.

For Janice McLean, owner of Aaron Ross Gallery (840 W. Hastings,www.aaronrossgallery.com), an insatiable interest in new technology led her down a path of diversification and controversy. Eight years ago she happened upon a new type of printing - Giclee - that used a high quality digital ink-jet process to achieve extraordinary resolution. Two years later she started a business, concentrating on printing. Five business partners later, she decided to go it alone and, in August of last year, opened the gallery.

While the gallery has become the main part of her business, McLean keeps her busy fingers in many pies. "I do a lot of art consulting," she explains. "I go to people's houses, take photographs and then look for art that I think would suit them. I superimpose artwork onto the digital photos so they can get an impression of how it will look."

She also creates custom artwork for restaurants, nightclubs, offices; she created the internal art design of the Richmond mosque. "The other thing I do is reproductions," she adds. "I make accurate copies of valuable paintings for people that own the originals: they display the print and put the painting in a safe." "Two of my prints were stolen from the gallery at UBC," she laughs. "It was quite a compliment."

Her gallery is crammed full of artworks - and it's an incredibly eclectic mix. "I pick what I like," she shrugs. "I look for work that is technically and aesthetically sound and I'm always looking for new artists." This last bit should interest many local artists who find themselves unable to get on the gallery circuit simply because they have no resume to back them up. "Ugh," tuts McLean. " I have analyzed that issue to death. Most galleries are run by businessmen who don't have either the ability or the confidence to make choices about art, so they will only take work that is established and already has a reputation." Currently, McLean is most excited about the first painting by Gabriel Von Ursus since his West Pender studio caught fire in July of 2003, destroying much of his work: "He brought it in a shopping bag," she laughs.

But the best work on display happens to be her own, in particular a gorgeous painting of three pears. Sensual and plump, cradled in darkness, the fruit is both provocative and classical, the piece accomplished, intelligent and just downright beautiful. It's worth the trip to the gallery alone.