For centuries, artists have emerged from Baltimore to make lasting impressions on the national and global scene. At the same time, renowned artists from outside of the city have come to Baltimore for inspiration, using it as a multifaceted backdrop for their works. The museums here contain some of the world's top collections, and the city has created a disproportionate number of cultural offerings for its size.

Yet Baltimore seems to suffer from a lack of confidence when it comes to its art. Nestled among some of the country's—not to mention the world's—most significant creative cities, Baltimore residents are often slow to recognize the value of their own art. In an effort to better understand the realities of Baltimore's contemporary art scene and how it fits into the world at large, Urbanite sat down with the Baltimore Museum of Art's Darsie Alexander. A former assistant curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Alexander came to the BMA six years ago, first as its associate curator of prints, drawings, and photographs, and now as its senior curator of contemporary art, with a mission to bring work by international artists to the Baltimore community while also creating a platform for local artists to be seen in the context of the global art world.

When it comes to contemporary art, many people feel that Baltimore suffers from an inferiority complex. Do you hear that sentiment expressed here often?

I have found a lot of people have said that, and I'm not totally sure what they mean. I think that Baltimore is surely a smaller city, and it doesn't have the same numbers of collectors or practitioners of art as a major metropolis, but the proof is really in the pudding in terms of Baltimore as a viable artistic community. All smaller cities feel a degree of inferiority because the art world is so dominated by certain cosmopolitan areas like Los Angeles or Berlin, so in that respect, sure, it's a smaller, more compressed scene here. But it's not legitimate to say that it has an inferiority complex. I disagree with that assessment.

What's happening with contemporary art in Baltimore that proves its significance in the larger art world?

Baltimore has a very active, vibrant art scene that is promulgated by both higher institutions and museums and a kind of grassroots array of alternative spaces, galleries, and performance venues. The trick with a place like Baltimore is that there are these various spheres, and sometimes those spheres don't intersect. There's the art school sphere. There's the high-end collectors' sphere. There's the institutional sphere. Looking ahead, one of the opportunities that we have as a city has to do with cross-pollinating those different outlets.

How can Baltimore achieve that?

Everyone has to take a degree of responsibility to create some coherence among these various clusters of activity. There are some practical ways to do that. There's actually very little information to help navigate the alternative spaces, even just geographically. The active art collector who may be in a position to support younger artists in Baltimore can't actually find them purely on a pragmatic level. Some of the most interesting sites are definitely off the beaten path.

Does Baltimore have a unique artistic voice?

We are in a situation now where it's very difficult to pigeonhole a community by attributing a particular aesthetic, attitude, or style. The reality is that we live in a global art sphere. The sources of the influence flow via the Internet as much as they do the classroom. The points of reference that artists in Baltimore have transgress any geographic constraints.

Does Baltimore as a city affect the art being produced here?

Baltimore is a very gritty city, and certainly the most interesting spaces devoted to showing work by emerging artists in Baltimore reflect that grittiness. But I wouldn't necessarily call the art that is being produced here unilaterally gritty. In fact, there is a lot happening in the areas of design and technology that is pretty high-end in its production and in its look.

It's actually a really sophisticated city in terms of what the art schools are doing, in terms of what kinds of systems there are to get work disseminated. Maryland Art Place has its role, and the Creative Alliance, and don't forget about the Maryland Film Festival. These are serious places, and while even the most serious places have a real fun-and-games spirit sometimes, I think they are on a level of impressive art institutions and organizations in comparable cities.

How do you see Baltimore fitting into the contemporary art world at large?

There are very unique features about Baltimore that I've enjoyed both as a curator and as an advocate for the city for artists. … It's in an excellent place strategically located between New York and Washington. It's incredibly affordable. The studio spaces available are amazing. There are excellent art programs here and systems by which the artists can disseminate their work in the real world. I think that Baltimore fitting into the contemporary art world is ultimately measured by what the individuals who live here produce, and I think that we have seen artists from Baltimore and the region often get more national attention outside Baltimore than they do inside the city limits.

Is there a specific type of art you're seeing more often out of Baltimore?

The current trend in artmaking among many is to identify in the detritus of everyday life the materials of art. Baltimore produces some pretty good detritus for artists to work with. In a recent walk-through of local galleries, there were some really interesting applications of found materials or p ractical materials in the art being made.

Who are the emerging artists poised to shape the art scene in Baltimore? Who are the ones to watch?

The more emerging artists, by and large, are the ones who have graduated from art school in past five years. People like Seth Adelsberger and Tonya Ingersol, who just had her first show at June Kelly Gallery in New York. Also, I just saw this work by Valeska Populoh that I thought was really interesting. She makes the garments that she performs in out of garbage bags and found fabrics, and they are incredibly beautiful. Nicholas Petr, Nicholas Wisniewski, and Scott Berzofsky are artists who make work onsite for a specific installation. Often their work is very explicitly about Baltimore, so if you're interested in people who are imagining the city and its condition seriously from an artistic vantage point, they would certainly be very high on the list. They are really smart, they do a ton of research, they clearly have a great affection for the place, and yet they are critical at the same time. The piece they did for us last year was a giant map of Baltimore, which consumed a whole wall of our gallery space.

What is the BMA's role and responsibility in showcasing current artists in Baltimore? Do you consider how residents of Baltimore City will respond to the art you choose to appear in the museum?

My goal is to bring work by international artists to the Baltimore community, and to create a platform for local artists to be seen in the context of a global art scene. So it cuts both ways. I think about audience to the extent that I want to produce exhibitions that spark both creative and critical thinking about the world that we live in. … My criteria for art is really about what the artist is producing and not what the audience is expecting. So if I see really good art, I investigate it and then I ask myself, How does this fit within the picture of this scene?

Before you came to Baltimore, you were at the Museum of Modern Art. How has your experience as a curator for a major museum in Baltimore been different from your experience there? Any surprises?

I felt like I could do more and take greater risks here. If I can say one thing about Baltimore, it is a place where you can take risks. … When you are not in the spotlight, you have a kind of freedom to venture into unknown territory without the sense of a world of critics and collectors looking over your shoulder. It's so close to other major cities that there's an energy that comes from having the ability to travel freely and bring major ideas home. Why does Baltimore have an inferiority complex? I have seen some really good art here, and [artists] have to have a lot of confidence. You can't worry what people are going to think. You can't worry what audiences are going to say or what critics are going to criticize, you just have to make your work. ... That's the beauty of the city, and the beauty of being an artist here. It's a free space to make those leaps of faith and creativity.