THE ENCOUNTER: THE ARTIST AND THE GALLERIST
“A good gallerist is one who takes a risk for an artist because it shows that he trusts the artist’s work.”
Art gallery management
The encounter between artist and gallerist usually occurs in formal and informal settings. A mutual attraction emerges between them, based on the gallerist’s profile and the type of artistic production they promote and market. It should be clear that the gallerist’s profession serves as an essential bridge between artists, collectors, and the public while also possessing a keen understanding of the artistic tastes of their time, a creative time that, in the 21st century, manifests itself amidst a remarkable eclecticism in which “(…) artists dedicated to a single expressive vein are increasingly rare, making a disparate set of disciplines essential to approach them”¹. The contemporary artist is increasingly multifaceted, embodying the multiplicity of artistic trends through techniques, materials, and signifiers that reflect our globalized reality
Zhongguo 2185
2017
Curated by Victor Wang
Sadie Coles HQ
London
https://www.sadiecoles.com/exhibitions/201/installation_shots/
Artists need support and exposure for their work. This is achieved through the bridge established by the gallerist, who is the artist’s main ally in building their career, since gallerists provide the artist with the physical space, the encounters with the public, collectors, and critics. The gallerist and the art gallery are the first mediators between the artist and society, between the work and the market, between the diffusion and the museum institutionality to which the gallery will always aim for the transcendence of the artists it congregates.
Frank Stella: Recent Sculpture
March 8–May 24, 2024
Jeffrey Deitch Gallery
New York
https://deitch.com/new-york/exhibitions/frank-stella-recent-sculpture
The necessary encounter between the artist and the gallery owner is based on the pair’s respect and common knowledge in their professionalism, in the agreement of pursuing the growth of the artist’s career, in the commercialization of the works, and in the fair recognition of their importance. For this, the gallerist’s operations extend beyond the visible, often involving risks in the primary art market when championing emerging artists.
Barrão
Josh Callaghan
FALA COISA
2022
Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel Gallery
Brazil, Rio de Janeiro
The artist and the gallerist, upon meeting, must understand their mutual passion for art, for its quality, for its aesthetic and communicative power. The relationship between the two must be harmonious since the gallerist will be the artist’s greatest advocate in today’s complicated art world.
¹ Carolina Díaz Amunárriz: La gestión de galerías de arte, Madrid, Agencia Española de Cooperación, 2010, p. 16
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