Gallery Talks:Posted by Michael Xuereb Aug 16, 2010 09:58PM I have been a contributing freelance writer for MANIC Magazine for over a year now. In my regular article, titled 'Gallery Talks: Art Interview',
I interview different gallery owners/directors from London for each
issue, and ask them questions on a number of subjects related to their
gallery, the relationship with their artists and the art market.
Contemporary Art Tours in London
is run by Victoria Chaine Mendzyk. She graduated from the Royal College
of Art (London) with an MA in Curating Contemporary Art, From
Goldsmiths College (University of London) with a BA in Fine Art and
History of Art and from Paris X (France) with a BA in Philosophy.
CATIL offers guided tours through museums, exhibitions and galleries.
Victoria
Chaine Mendzyk is passionate about contemporary art and education and
has worked in various international contemporary art museums and
galleries. In the past two years, she co-curated Of this Tale I cannot guarantee a single word at the Royal College of Art in April 2008 and was the sole curator for Turning Points at Norwich Outpost in May 2009.
I hope all my readers from MANIC Magazine, FAD online and CATIL are enjoying my
conversations with the people I'm interviewing! Feel free to suggest
anything you would like me to ask or any gallery in particular you would
want me to meet.
Sculpture by London based conceptual artist Michael Xuereb.
Progress surrounds and time progresses, but I am still. Over and over, the same. Again and again, ennui. Paralyzed while conscious, on the roadside of life. How much longer can I wait? Frustration as my hands are tied behind my back, on this ride of apathy and loss. No progress in repetition.
'No Progress in Repetition' is made from acrylic resin. It is signed and numbered from an edition of 10. Special thanks to Patrick Mifsud for technical help to make it.
There are two versions - a small version with a limited
press amount of 1500 copies, and a larger hardbound version, limited
edition of 100.
Review by Dr. Raphael Vella
A grand title like 'Everything you need to know about Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and other major Religions' on the cover of a slim booklet instantly gives away Michael Xuereb’s tongue-in-cheek intentions. The diminutive, religious pictograms like the Cross and the Star of David that elegantly adorn the title as well as the solemn, golden yellow colour of the cover hold you up only for a second or two, before your fingers open the book and find...nothing. No text, not even page numbers; only thirty-six pages of nothingness. Do major religions have nothing to offer us? Or is the emptiness in this book the best way to reflect their immense potential?
I have been a contributing freelance writer for MANIC Magazine for almost a year now. In my regular article, titled 'Gallery Talks: Art Interview', I interview different gallery owners/directors from London for each issue, and ask them questions on a number of subjects related to their gallery, the relationship with their artists and the art market.
FAD is a London based art website covering contemporary art news,
street art, video, design, etc. They cover new openings, art fairs from
around the world and have extensive interviews with artists themselves.
As well as news from the London scene, the team at FAD covers Berlin,
Paris, New York and
even the Asian market.
I hope all my readers from MANIC Magazine and FAD are enjoying my little conversations with the people I'm interviewing! Feel free to suggest anything you would like me to ask or any gallery in particular you would want me to meet.
This interview was published on the May
2010 edition of MANIC Magazine, for The Malta
Independent
Gallery talks with Michael
Xuereb
I’d like to start talking about Hannah Barry Gallery by talking about another gallery: ‘All Visual Arts’. AVA is a high end, uber-slick, glitz and glamourous arts enterprise with a polished approach to everything they do. Now Hannah Barry Gallery is the antithesis of AVA. Some contrasts: AVA show their artists at One Marylebone; HBG show theirs in a converted warehouse in Peckham. AVA is the offspring of one of the biggest hedge fund CEOs; our HBG is the offspring of a bunch of college pals. At worlds apart, the thing that HBG is capable of perfectly emulating is the only thing that really matters: good art.
I met the HBG team not too far from the gallery. They were organising their next exhibition, while giggling about each other’s middle name. Hannah Barry, Ross Chalmers, Joseph Balfour, Jamie Byrom, George Howard - all sitting around a table with enough laptop power to launch a spaceship.
Most questions were answered by Hannah Barry - the distinct ringmaster.
What made you open a gallery? What is the gallery fulfilling for you? The gallery is here to do a very simple thing: to look after new international artists and to make the very best exhibitions of their work. The gallery is very focused on solo presentations, in-depth solo exhibitions because we believe that that’s the best way to show new art.
Is there anything else - something you did not have and now you do have since you’re running a gallery? A lot of hassle! Joking aside, the fact that we are most often working with young artists, while being young ourselves, creates a partnership of understanding. Working with your contemporaries, which become friends, makes us all work on the same level, which is a good thing.
Is there any difference for you between a good work of art by a young, un-established artist and a good work of art by an established, maybe dead, artist? There are A-grade works, B-grade works, C-grade works, and so on. An A-grade work, in the context of what it is is always a great work. It’s just about what the ‘thing’ is. At the same time, if I’m looking at a Picasso, I’m looking at it in a different way. There is a different context, because there is a lot of history and comparison to be made, but most of the time you have to look at the ‘thing’ itself and question yourself what is the quality of that ‘thing’, not what is the quality of that person. These are two completely different things. Also different things are important at different times. What’s important to us may not be important in 25 years, while things that are not important to us now may be more important to some in 25 years. For example Jasper Jones is important in different ways, depending who you are and how you look at him, where you come from, what you do, what you think about painting, how you think about America and so on. The great thing about art is that it can involve everyone because it’s so diverse, and you always find out surprising things about yourself when you look carefully.
How do you meet your artists? How do you come across new work/artists? Do you visit a lot of degree shows? We don’t spend that much time looking at degree shows. We’re not really thinking about ‘artist-post-degree’. We’re just thinking about having a gallery that works for the artists in it. We share with each other artists that stand out for us. We say ‘Hey you should really have a look at this artist’s work.’ Sometimes the artists that we work with say ‘Hey, just seen these paintings. Hannah, you should go have a look at them.’ Then we go and have a look at them. It’s really an organic process. You never know where the next good work is going to come from.
How much risk do you take when you come to decide what sort of art to represent? How much risk do you think it takes to open a gallery with no backing, no money, with artists who have no reputation and begin in a world which is dangerous? That’s how much risk it takes. Art is always risky. Any kind of activity that involves supporting someone else is risky.
Yes, but is there a sort of criteria, maybe a subconscious criteria for when it comes to judging to choose the work you represent? There is no criteria. It is about great works and whether you can do something for the artists. There are things you can do, things you can’t do, things you can learn how to do, things you can make yourself do. But there are things that will always avail you. One of the most difficult things is to learn to surrender to what you cannot do. Because there are things you just can never do and that other people will always be better then you and the best thing to do is to go and admire that person for doing what they do so well.
If your question is ‘Are we commercial?’, well, we are commercial because we have no financial backing and we have to make it all work, but there is no commercial judgment. The point is, we just have to make great exhibitions. We try to show people the importance of the things we show, and if we succeed in doing this, then it will be a success. We can’t say: ‘This is high risk art - so we won’t show it.’ There are a lot of galleries who do fantastically well showing what’s considered high-risk art, such as installation work.
The following day I went to the exhibition venue - to The Hannah Barry Gallery itself, to take the photos you see here. Luckily for me, there was Sven Muender who gave me an impromptu guided tour like no other.
The gallery is situated in a patchy area where you wouldn’t expect a gallery to be. Neighbors include a scaffolding warehouse and a car-wash. On the other hand, if one looks at the bigger picture, it is in a location where it should be: placed ideally between Camberwell College and Goldsmiths College, with many art students crossing its paths.
The current exhibition, titled: New Work, New York consists of work of four painters from New York. Matteo Callegari, Wyatt Kahn, Erik Lindman and Anton Zolotov. As Sven explained to me, one can say it is a result of an investigation into the transatlantic exchange of abstract painting. They are all current work showcasing a variety of approaches on abstraction.
The show came to a close on 27 May, but not to worry, because on June 4th there’ll be a new one called Together Afar. The gallery is really worth visiting if you’re in London. Ask for Sven.
And speaking of exhibitions opening on June 4th (!) - I’ll have some of my own work at the RELOCATION show at the BOV head office in Malta. Would love to see you there!
16-May-2010
Hannah Barry Gallery, Warehouse 9i, 133 Copeland Road London SE15 3SN www.hannahbarry.com
* * *
This interview was published on the May 2010 edition of MANIC
Magazine, for The
Malta Independent. The entire magazine can be downloaded as a
pdf from the file below. The Gallery Talks: Hannah Barry Gallery
interview is on page 27.
bookartbookshop features the publications of some of Britain’s
best-known artist presses and publishers of artists’ books, as well as
books from abroad. The shop is a centre and a service for individual
& institutional collectors, artists, publishers and the
aesthetically and bibliographically curious.
This interview was published on the February 2010 edition of MANIC Magazine, for The Malta Independent
Gallery talks with Michael Xuereb
Wolfram Schnelle, co-director of Mummery + Schnelle Gallery. Our meeting was at 1pm and I’m happy to say I was there on the dot! Don’t you just love it when you arrive exactly on time for something? It makes you avoid certain awkward situations such as, if you’re early, walking around the block like a lost tourist, or if late, you’d have to introduce yourself with a “sorry I’m late”, or the more formal “apologies for being late”, which is as good as meeting your in-laws with your pants down.
Mummery + Schnelle Gallery is in prime location - a five minute walk away from Oxford Street station, which means they are either robbing a bank every other week, or they are successful enough to afford the inconceivable rent cost I’m sure they have. Its run by a director duo: Andrew Mummery and Wolfram Schnelle, I met Wolfram.
Tell us a little about yourself and the gallery. We opened the gallery in September 2007. Andrew Mummery has had a gallery for ten years before we opened this one together and has developed the career of probably half the artists we represent now. I met Andrew when I was doing an internship with him. It’s a good match because he is from an art-history background and I am from a business background. Before coming here, I worked in marketing for a company that produces baby diapers. But I knew I wanted to work in Art, that’s where my passion was. So I came to London to do a Contemporary Art History course at Sotheby's and then during that time me and Andrew started working together to start this gallery.
What are the benefits of being a co-director / what are the drawbacks of being a co-director? To be honest I can only tell you advantages because in our case, having had a gallery, Andrew brings in contacts and very good artists. It would have been impossible to open a gallery and start from scratch at this time. When you have a co-director with you, there’s always a conversation with whatever happens, with discussions and confrontations which are always very constructive. I’m pleased I have a co-director and not running it on my own.
Why Contemporary Art? Why not antiques, modern art or Impressionists work? I am very interested in the old masters, Velázquez is one of my favorite, but there’s something in contemporary art that really fascinates me and interests me in terms of working in the field. What drew me to it is working with the artists, working with somebody that is alive, that you can have a direct relationship with, someone you can see develop. I like the here-and-now of it that forces you to get thinking yourself. If I deal with old masters I would be dealing with the people that represent their work. These artists are part of the art historical canon already, while in contemporary art you don’t have that, therefore we are forced to make our own judgment, which is what fascinates me.
What is it that goes through your mind just before an exhibition opening? Ohh! That’s interesting. It depends how you define it. Well the preparation starts six months before. Are you saying one hour before the opening? Yes, let’s say one hour - after six months of planning, just before the people start coming in - what are you thinking? When its all installed and all ready... Its a lot of wondering how the show will be received and hoping on practical things. You hope that the collectors you want to talk to don’t all arrive at the same time and you hope that you will have enough time to talk to all the people you are expecting. And you always want a good buzz at the opening, you don’t want just three people to be standing around. Are you subconsciously thinking about the reputation of the gallery or potential sales? You hope clients announce themselves, for sure. You want this to be a successful show financially for the gallery and for the artist. Ideally you want good reviews from art critics. Whenever we have an opening there’s always this slight anxiety and anticipation of what might happen and what might not happen. Its always rewarding when you have sales happening during an opening or before an opening.
Every year, art colleges and universities are pumping out hundreds of students who think that since they have a degree in Art they are now artists - ready to exhibit. These are usually between 21 and 25. I’m mentioning this because from looking at the list of artists from your website, the average age is 47. Is there any reason why you choose to represent work from older contemporary artists? Yes and no. This is partly because Andrew had his gallery for ten years before this one and a lot of the artists we represent are around his age so when he started he was looking at his peers. Its all tied together because when we were looking for a new space, the career of the artists represented by Andrew had reached a certain point that it made more sense for them to be located in the West End rather then the East End. This is because they were, in a way, established. And when we add artists, we keep this in mind. Not necessarily that we only choose artists of the same field, but its something we have in the back of our heads. At the same time, I go to many degree shows and we have started working with artists coming directly out of Art schools. For example, the next show we will have a project by Mariana Mauricio who finished art school last year.
Do you have any comments regarding the high volume of students studying art which many of them want to become established artists. I think it often takes time before an artist finds their own voice. Which is something necessary and needs time to develop. I think it can be very dangerous for an artist to be picked up too early. What makes this dangerous? I think the danger is that you start repeating yourself, and start doing what has been successful because of market pressure, which can push you in one direction instead of being free.
* * *
Wolfram Schnelle has to be one of the youngest gallery directors I ever met. He genuinely showed he was happy to have his position, instead of the more common gallery-director attitude that pretend they’re doing just some other job.
Our little conversation was terribly pleasant. When I got back home and listened over the recording I realised that for some reason we were speaking very softly. If I had to guess I’d say it was our subliminal reverence to the artworks that were around us in the gallery. The current exhibition at Mummery + Schnelle consists of technically inspiring, bitter sweet photography by Ori Gersht. Website to view.
This interview was published on the February 2010 edition of MANIC Magazine, for The Malta Independent. The entire magazine can be downloaded as a pdf from the file below. The Gallery Talks: Mummery + Schnelle interview is on pages 33-34.
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'A New Generation' at the Valletta MCA was the first show of 2010 that
included my work. The opening of the exhibition was last Thursday 14th
January and will remain open until the 7th of February 2010.
This is a group show of 10 emerging Maltese artists, curated by Mark Mangion.
At the show I have two recent pieces - two large canvases titled 'She had composure beyond her years' (1), (2).
The two pieces have a similar underlying theme. In each case the initial
motive was to extract aesthetic value from found diagrams and
representations that were primarily designed/drawn for functional
purposes.
For further information about the MCA and the exhibition, visit this link. Or visit the MCA facebook page here.
MCA (Malta Contemporary Art) St. James Cavalier
Castille Square
Valletta
VLT 1060
Malta
MurmurART is an online gallery based in London, UK. Rather than exhibiting and selling through traditional premises, murmurART operates through an online base supporting regular exhibitions and events in roaming creative spaces.
These photographs were selected for murmurART by the London curators Flora Fairbairn and Robert Dingle, and are exclusively for sale through murmurART.com,
in a limited edition of six for every image. They are photographic
prints mounted onto aluminium, sealed and supported by a wooden batten.
For further information and prices you may contact murmurART on 0207 221 4464 or e-mail at: info@murmurart.com. Alternatively you can contact Michael at contact@michaelxuereb.com.
ExhibitionsPosted by Michael Xuereb Jan 08, 2010 04:46PM 'A New Generation' at the MCA will be the first show of 2010 that will include my work. The opening of the exhibition will be 14th January, and come to a close on 7th February 2010.
This will be a group show of 10 emerging Maltese artists, curated by Mark Mangion.
At the show I will have three recent pieces. Two large canvases and a sculpture/object. The canvases are titled 'She had composure beyond her years' (1), (2), and the sculpture/object is titled 'Day, Night'.
All three pieces have a similar underlying theme. In each case the initial motive was to extract aesthetic value from found diagrams and representations that were primarily designed/drawn for functional purposes.
Below is a detail shot of the 'Day, Night' piece.
To download a copy of the e-invite, click on the thumbnail below.
For further information about the MCA and the exhibition you can visit this link.
projectsPosted by Michael Xuereb Nov 17, 2009 11:41PM On Friday 16th October I showed one of my art pieces at Frieze Art Fair. The booth was commissioned by Frieze Projects, and curated by the Lisbon-based curatorial team Filipa Oliveira and Miguel Amad. The project was titled IMPOSSIBLE EXCHANGE.
My work was a part of a project of the New York artist Brina Thurston.
Brina's project considers the ostensibly democratic process
by which art institutions invite artists to submit works to be
considered for exhibition, but in which many factors other than quality
and merit operate. The exhibited piece is titled: 'The land was drained and the boggy ground', 2009 (below)
'The land was drained and the boggy ground' was displayed at the fair throughout the day at the P1 booth, near the VIP room entrace of the fair.
As part of the event, I had a public dialogue with Michele Robecchi, who is art writer and editor at Phaidon Press.
Frieze Art Fair takes place every October in Regent’s Park, London. The
fair showcases new and established artists to an international
audience.
On Friday 16th October I will be showing one of my works for the Lisbon-based curatorial team Filipa Oliveira and Miguel Amad. The project is titled Arte Contempo and is commissioned for Frieze Projects.
My work will be part of a project of Brina Thurston, titled OpenCall. Brina's project considers the ostensibly democratic process
by which art institutions invite artists to submit works to be
considered for exhibition, but in which many factors other than quality
and merit operate. The piece I will be showing is titled: 'The land was drained and the boggy ground', 2009 (below)
'The land was drained and the boggy ground' will be displayed at the fair throughout the day. At 3.00pm I will be in a public dialogue with a critic/curator, so if you happen to be around do come and visit. Arte Contempo is located opposite gallery stand G1, near the VIP room entrance of the fair.
That's Jason Burley - the bookshop owner!
