In a time of disruption of the art market by auction house and online agents, global accumulation of wealth at the high end, and growth of the world’s contemporary art market (21 times between 2001 and 2008), Belgian investment banker and art connoisseur/collector Alain Servais believes in the brick-and-mortar model of the art gallery.
In his opinion, a brick-and-mortar gallery, like a museum or an art biennale, is where works of art look best. Galleries are a “right location” and a “right context” for works of art. “There is an aura to the work of art in the right location and the right context, which nothing replaces.”
Mr. Servais provides insight into his collecting and offers his thoughts as to how the gallery could well evolve.
Why collect?
“I don’t believe that one decides to become a collector, but rather that you are or you are not. And more generally, collecting is more than acquiring works of art. It is a way of living, a way of thinking.”
“To express myself. Adding my “sentence” around the “words” created by the artists. To share new ideas, questions, doubts, and surprises. To learn about myself and the world I am living in, so to open my mind to other options. To participate in the constitution of the history of the art of today. To feed my insatiable drive to learn what is not taught. To think outside of the box.”
“Finally, art must surprise me, challenge me, open up my mind and heart following the definition that I heard many years ago from Mera Rubell: “Art is a language which opens your heart to the Other.”
How does he collect?
In “constant conversation with art history, because when you look with connoisseurship you can find people who are completely forgotten, disregarded, or underestimated.”
How should the gallery model evolve?
The goals of the gallery are to court collectors, sell artists’ works, and give priority to the artists and to the art.
What must galleries do to evolve well?
reinforce legal and best-practices infrastructure
stabilize the artist-gallery relationship
balance contracts at all levels of the industry
provide more transparency
on pricing: “there are growing conflicts of interest between artists and gallerists. Sometimes what is in the interest of the gallery is not in the interest of the artist. For example, pricing policies. How fast do you want to raise the price?”
on the gallery-museum relationship, “what’s dubious about the gallery system? One thing is the relationship between the museums and the galleries. Right now only the wealthy galleries can get their artists work into museums because one of the problems is: who can produce the works? Who can put the money up front for massive pieces for exhibitions and biennales?”
develop multiple exhibition strategies
multiple exhibition spaces
select art-fair participation
space exchanges in different cities
pop-up exhibitions in dedicated spaces
cooperative events with artists and peer-group galleries
animate with intellectual discourse
“art spaces need to be “animated” – with talks, conferences, and events
this will serve to enable meeting spaces – forums for exchanges – between artists, galleries, dealers, curators, collectors, and other stakeholders
See:
“Interview with Alain Servais” | BMW Art Guide
“Collector Alain Servais on Why Galleries Should Act Like Luxury Brands to Survive the Internet” | Alain Servais, Artspace, 27 December 2016
“Collector Alain Servais on Insider Trading in the Art Market, “Blood-Sucking Leeches,” and Why We’re Now Just the Fashion Industry” | Andrew M. Goldstein, Artspace, 23 May 2015
“Art in the shadow of art market industrialization” | Alain Servais, NYAQ/LXAQ/SFAQ International Art and Culture, 10 November 2014
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