METRO 100: Cult Status Gallery

LynLake gallery promotes local art with an edge.

“You’re not going to just find art to put behind your couch,” at Cult Status Gallery owner Erin Sayer says.

Image credit: Photo courtesy Cult Status Gallery

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METRO 100: Good

By: Emily Cain

Editor’s note: The METRO 100 list – described ever-so-humbly as “the best damn list ever” – includes 62 people, places, organizations and other community features we think make the Twin Cities great. And while some of the list makers received full write-ups, many did not.        

In an attempt to better illuminate our selections, writers at metromag.com are offering extended stories on the elements of our community we think deserve your attention. The stories will appear over the next month.

See our full METRO 100 (Good) list here; and the evil (in a good way) list here. As always, we appreciate feedback, and encourage you to comment on this story, post on our Facebook page or tweet us @metromag using the hashtag #metro100.

Where exactly does one go to view, buy, and enjoy some of the Twin Cities’ most innovative and thought provoking artists? The Cult Status Gallery, that’s where.

The modest LynLake gallery, which appears on our METRO 100 list for its unparalleled ability to attract cutting-edge work, possesses just the type of enduring appeal that its moniker suggests.

Gallery owner and artist Erin Sayer says the gallery features distinctive, place-defining work that – as it does in the gallery’s simplistic, straightforward setting – is more than capable of standing on its own.

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“You’re not going to just find art to put behind your couch,” says Sayer, whose murals appear at South Lyndale Liquors and The Herkimer.

Sayer acknowledges there are more people in Minnesota who appreciates art than buy it, but says the work at the gallery is often taken home out of sheer love.

She attributes that draw to the “cutting-edge ideas and techniques” and non-traditional mediums used by many of the artists. The local nature of the work, and relative affordability – pieces range from $50 to $1,000 – are additional attractions, she says.

The gallery is currently featuring Sons of Northern Darkness by MPLS DETH CREW, a showcase of work by Artists Chris Krapohl and Nate Vincent Szklarski. Stemming from their interests in modern age tattooing and the powers of mysticism, the showcase has an eerie sadness, which seems only enhanced by the starkness of the gallery.

It’s uniqueness is part of the charm of the gallery, where there exists a certain kind of authenticity that can’t be faked.

New exhibits open monthly with free opening parties that Sayer describes as a “good outing and an alternative to just going out and getting hammered” (there are drinks, yes, but spilling is strongly frowned upon).

Beyond viewing and purchasing authentic and original art, one of the best parts about hanging out at the Cult Status Gallery, Sayer says, “is that it’s a place where like-minded, creative people come together” and talk about modern art, in a “non hoity-toity way.”

It’s time to join the conversation.

The Cult Status Gallery's next exhibit, Gods and Monsters III, opens on Sunday, Oct. 30. The exhibit will feature over 100 artists, contributing pieces across various mediums that allude to, or reference, a horror film (METRO 100 list-maker Amina Harper is among those who will be included in the show).