Here & Now: 5 Years of CPM, Baltimore

May 23 - June 26, 2026

Akea Brionne
Ōtsuki Chōzaburō
Luba Drozd
Richard Ayodeji Ikhide
Esther Kläs
Pooneh Maghazehe
Lior Modan
Devin N. Morris
Clifford Owens
Margaret Rorison
Irina Rozovsky
Alber Stein

Gallery Statement

Here and Now reflects the relationships, tensions, and convictions that have shaped the gallery since it opened in November, 2020. As CPM’s founder, our five year anniversary exhibition has prompted me to look back at what we have done, envision what we want to do, and share some of the underlying ideas and beliefs driving the program.

A bit of history: “CPM” initially stood for “Columbus Property Management” when I opened a prototype gallery in Chinatown, New York, in 2018. We operated out of a studio apartment in a tenement building along Columbus Park in lower Manhattan, and the project explored the intersection of the real estate and contemporary art markets, artists’ living and working conditions, and the common experience of navigating between ambition and survival. I operated as a curator/property manager, collaborating with artists and giving them keys to use the space throughout their exhibitions.

In 2020, in the midst of the Covid Pandemic, I moved the gallery to Baltimore, which for some may not have been an obvious choice. This decision emerged from the revelations that came out of the Chinatown space as well as my work in my former role as Director of Peter Blum Gallery in New York, where I spent seven years working on exhibitions and traveling internationally for fairs. This experience was a valuable education about the interconnectedness of the art world, but over time I found myself resistant to some of the patterns I was operating in that felt misaligned with how I wanted to engage with art. I began constructing a vision of a professional life that incorporated my values and my speed. Somewhat surprisingly, Baltimore, the place where I grew up, a city full of quirk, charm, and a rich, consequential history, became the place where this seemed both possible and energizing. 

When I opened the gallery in Baltimore, I changed the CPM acronym to stand for “Critical Path Method,” a business technique developed in the 1950s to identify priorities and allocate resources for construction of skyscrapers, aerospace equipment, software, and other industries. The name also referenced Buckminster Fuller’s 1981 book Critical Path, a summary of his life's work that addresses humanity's global crises, including resource scarcity and political and environmental challenges. I chose this name to cement a systematic commitment to my vision of a healthy business that could incorporate ambition, sustainability, collaboration, and mutual interest. I wanted to build a program that would invite others into this vision of exhibiting, engaging with, and collecting art. Since we opened in 2020, I truly feel that we have been finding our critical path.

I have to pause here in gratitude. CPM could never have grown this program without the patronage and support of the collectors who have invested in our vision. Every person and organization, including many first-time collectors, who have collected and appreciated work from CPM has supported artists, ensured future programming at the gallery, and helped grow a viable and visible art business with the power to attract more artists, galleries, creativity, and financial resources to Baltimore. 

Curators, museums, and other institutions have spurred rich dialogues and deep engagement with our artists and contextualized their work within wider critical and historical frameworks. Over the last five years we have been thrilled to place works by our artists in the permanent collections of MoMA, The Whitney Museum, The High Museum in Atlanta, The Virginia Museum of Fine Art, UMBC, Johns Hopkins University, and especially the Baltimore Museum of Art. 

Growing national and international attention to work happening here has inspired us to keep moving forward, with exhibitions covered by Frieze, Artforum, Washington Post, Artnet, Bijusu Techo, Tokyo, and others. Local writers and publications, most notably BmoreArt, Baltimore Beat, Baltimore Banner, and Hopkins Review, have been more than press; they have been a sustaining, critical force for the gallery. 

To every individual collector, curator, institution, arts publication, and writer who has engaged with the gallery—thank you for your partnership!

When I initially announced my move and opened the gallery in Baltimore, at times things felt uncertain. But over time I’ve been heartened by the growing web of networks the gallery has become a part of with artists, curators, collectors, writers, and academics around the world. Recently there have been some popular articles exhorting artists to move away from cultural centers like New York, to decentralize and discover new models for success. It’s one thing to tell other people to do something and another to do it yourself. My time in New York as an artist and an arts professional shaped me in many ways, mainly through my relationships with some of the brightest people in the field—friends, colleagues, and collaborators whom I miss seeing on a daily basis. Real change requires real risk, and these decisions are practical and personal for everyone. 

Here and Now is a celebration of what we’ve created over the past five years and a recommitment to our convictions. When I chose to put the gallery in a 19th century row house in a quiet Baltimore neighborhood, I wanted to blur the line between the coolness of a contemporary art gallery and the warmth of a domestic space. The works in this show reflect the relationships we’ve built with artists, many of whom have come to Baltimore to learn about this city and make work, most of whom have stayed in our guest suite on the second floor of the gallery and shared meals, conversations, ideas, and ambitions. While all galleries (like all artists) operate under constraints, CPM aims to be a place where artists are encouraged to stretch what they do and explore with the same curiosity we aim to cultivate in our visitors, patrons, and ourselves.

So where will our critical path take us next? 

A growing branch of the gallery is exploring slower forms of engagement whose value comes to fruition over time. This includes publishing editions (including Pooneh Maghazehe and Luba Drozd), collaborating with curators (including Seph Rodney, Kathryn Brennan, and Max Warsh), hosting gallery conversations with writers and historians (including Lowery Sims, Cara Ober, Laurence Ross, and Jane Lewty), building an archive of long form conversations with artists, hosting visits with high school and college classes, and creating a CPM Seminar Course that recently concluded its second cohort. If you want to sponsor these initiatives, please email the gallery and I would be happy to tell you more about exciting possibilities for the future.  

When I opened CPM, I wanted to cultivate a space where artists and audiences can engage seriously with art while remaining connected to everyday life. I open the door and welcome every visitor. After five years, that is a lot of people and a lot of conversations.

Thank you to everyone who has encouraged this work—it is a labor of love, and I am grateful for all of the people who bring their time and energy to this program. If you want to be a part of this project moving forward, I look forward to working with you.

Vlad Smolkin

Founder, CPM, Baltimore