The Morning After, 2024
Ariel Dannielle
Sheet Cake Gallery
Favor quality over quantity
Cookies, Crumbs & Cakes, 2024
Casey Gray
Hashimoto Contemporary
When confronted with an endless list of shows to see and artists to discover, selectiveness is key. “Do less, better,” said New York– and Istanbul-based curator Mari Spirito, who mounts site-specific shows with her nonprofit Protocinema. This can be particularly important when traveling to an art-stuffed city with a limited amount of time.
Instead of building an “over-committed” list of what to consume, Spirito picks a handful of projects to relish. “I anchor a few shows and pay attention to traveling less but staying longer,” she told Artsy. A focused sojourn, she believes, helps in understanding a local context more fruitfully.
Robert Dimin, founder of his eponymous Tribeca gallery, has a similar strategy for such excursions. “Give yourself an additional day at either the beginning or end of a trip to sleep, sightsee, or go to the beach,” he suggested. Art advisor Camila Yunes Guarita has crafted the perfect balance of exposure and repose by listening to her body. “I now understand where I need to be and stay there with full presence,” she said. Solo visits to museums and galleries provide a “quiet space for reflection and contemplation,” she added, emphasizing the benefit of reading about the history of a place before visits to “contextualize” her experience with “new perspectives.”
And how best to digest the art that you’ve consumed? Author Katy Hessel returns to her notepad to internalize her creative intake. “Keeping a journal helps me catch air,” she said. The author of the industry-favorite book The Story of Art Without Men trusts note-taking as a mental exercise to “train” her memory in a “three-dimensional way.”
Define your social media consumption
Time Capsule, 2023
Anushka Kempken
Axis Art Gallery
Hessel, who is behind the 440,000-follower Instagram account @thegreatwomenartists, owes a portion of her daily thinking about women artists to her handle. “I try to post every day, which is a great way to train my thoughts,” she said.
The Londoner recommends approaching social media as a community-building tool and being open to unexpected connections. After she posted an image of Alice Neel’s 1978 painting of a pregnant Margaret Evans (wife of artist John Evans), she received a DM from the subject’s daughter who is in the painting in her mother’s belly. The exchange led to an interview with the daughter for Hessel’s newsletter.
Elle Pennick, founder of London’s Guts Gallery, also highlights the discovery element of social media as a professional benefit when it comes to finding and following new tastemakers. “I discover new artists and stay informed about global trends,” she noted, yet warned about its overwhelming downside: “It is easy to get caught up in the pressure of staying updated.”
Craft your own way of digesting art
Dirty Birdie, 2021
Ricardo Partida
Selenas Mountain
There is often a divide, much like moviegoers, between those who prefer to see art alone or with a companion.
Pennick usually first opts for the former. “I let each piece slowly speak to me without distractions,” she said. It is not, however, uncommon for the dealer to revisit a favorite with a colleague to “deepen” her understanding. Hessel’s tip is to return to a show with a friend from a different background. “A curator is great to have next to me, but I like to bring a friend who is in film or advertising to see it through their eyes,” she added.
For Yunes Guarita, being born into a collector family, which includes her grandparents Ivani and Jorge of the Ivani and Jorge Yunes Collection, comes in handy. “I’ve learned that time alone is essential for me to digest the work and integrate it into my practice,” she said.
Crucial to maintaining a balanced art diet is to embrace the subjectivity of the experience. Carve your own strategy in front of a discovery or reconnection. If you have just come face-to-face with what might be a life-changing painting, try to gauge what memory or desire it sparks in you—and don’t be afraid to write the reason down. If snapping a picture of the work is a possibility, do so, because a visual reference might be useful when sharing with a peer in the future.
Have fun, but go home early
Three Martini Lunch, 2024
Katie Butler (American)
Unit
Art lovers may find themselves at art events, and the industry’s social aspects are more than just a decadent dollop of icing on top of the diet. While extending a long fair or biennial day into a soirée is almost non-negotiable for some, the consensus is on the awareness of when to call it a night.
Pennick, who has been sober for five years, notices the same tendency among her colleagues. “The art world can be very social and revolves around alcohol so I made the conscious decision to break the cycle,” she said. “I’m open about the boundaries I set with socializing, and above all, avoiding burnout is my top priority.”
But these events can also be crucial sources for meeting new, like-minded art lovers. Yunes Guarita doesn’t overlook the networking promise of a chat over a cocktail and prioritizes opening up conversations with new people. She recommends seeking out “genuine rather than transactional” exchanges. “It’s about building relationships over time, so I focus on fostering real connections while maintaining my personal ties,” she added.
Spirito’s two cents is to seek out a party with a promise to discuss the art she experienced earlier. “We all like to talk about what we have just seen, so I pay attention to sitting with people whose opinion I respect for fresh takes,” she said. Hessel cherishes biennials for ideal situations to meet new artists. “Less so with fairs, but artists do come to biennials, so there is a great opportunity to be introduced to names I admire,” said the Guardian columnist.
Set your resolutions, but embrace change
Cooking for myself, 2018
Kyoko Idetsu
Nonaka-Hill
Whether your new year art resolution is to see more Bauhaus or less Baroque, don’t feel limited by seeking out one type of thing over another: After all, the best show you see this year might be one you didn’t expect to go to.
Pennick believes in the power of listening to her direct peers as well as artists and curators. She thinks now is the time to “take chances on projects that might not be mainstream but offer something unique.”
Hessel savors the curiosity-inducing quality of art to venture out to new destinations. Victoria & Albert Museum’s ongoing show “The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence,” for example, has led her to book a ticket to India. “The reason I love what I do is that art is a visual understanding of the history of the world through its objects,” she said.
Artworks included in this article are from Artsy’s “Feast for the Eyes” collection.
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/AUF4lsd
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