This essay on the importance and disappearance of gallery exhibitions is Jerry Saltz's best bit of writing ever. A Must Read! The bit about self knowledge is crucial as is the sense that the overall heuristics of an exhibition good or bad is a way to store and share collective intelligence...

All that said there are now more galleries scattered in cities throughout the globe than ever before... perhaps this is just the price of decentralization? Then again, the quality of collectors hasn't necessarily improved. In some respects it is a chicken and the egg situation that probably has a lot to do with the proliferation of art schools and the lack of long term development of artists. That is one of the things I like about Portland... artists are allowed to develop for over a decade before they launch onto the national scene and have their first NYC solo show.