I remember sitting in my old gallery back in 2015, staring at a stack of invoices and wondering why the “digital revolution” hadn’t actually made life any easier for the artists I represented. Everyone promised that the internet would democratize the market, but all I saw was a new breed of middleman charging hefty fees […]
I remember a young watercolorist—lovely girl, incredibly sensitive work—who came to my gallery in 2004 with a series of breathtaking landscapes, only to watch them turn a sickly, bruised yellow within three years because she’d insisted on using cheap, acidic matting to save a few pounds. It was heartbreaking, not just because the art was […]
I remember standing in the back of a crowded studio in the late nineties, watching a young painter try to force a sense of “prestige” into a landscape by hacking at the canvas with a heavy metal blade. He thought he was being expressive, but he was really just being messy, and frankly, he was […]
I remember standing in my old gallery in the Cotswolds, staring at a beautiful, delicate charcoal sketch by a young man I’d championed for years. It looked like it was breathing—not in a poetic way, but in a literal, terrifying sense. The paper was undulating, developing these sickening, wavy cockles that made the entire composition […]
I spent twenty-six years watching young artists walk into my gallery with eyes full of wonder and pockets full of nothing, most of them convinced that if they didn’t have a degree from a prestigious academy, they were essentially invisible. They’ve been fed this expensive lie that the “Art World” is a walled garden accessible […]
I once watched a young landscape painter—a lovely girl with talent that practically hummed off the canvas—spend nearly three hundred pounds on a set of “professional grade” sable brushes that were, quite frankly, nothing more than clever marketing and expensive handles. She thought the tool would bridge the gap between her skill and her vision, […]
I remember standing in the back of a cavernous exhibition hall in Basel, nursing a lukewarm espresso and watching a young painter stare blankly at a crowd of collectors who were looking everywhere but at her canvas. Everyone tells you that art fairs are the ultimate shortcut to a career, but most of that advice […]
I remember sitting in my gallery during a rainy Tuesday in October, watching a young painter stare at a price tag she’d handwritten, looking as though she were deciding whether to sell her soul or her rent money. She had followed some online “expert” advice that suggested a complex formula involving square inches and emotional […]
I remember standing in a client’s sun-drenched drawing room in 2004, watching a beautifully saturated landscape by a local watercolorist turn a sickly, washed-out grey right before my eyes. The owner was convinced she needed a bespoke, museum-grade lighting installation that cost more than the painting itself, believing some high-tech gadget would solve everything. It’s […]
We need to stop pretending that an expensive degree is a golden ticket to a solo show at a Mayfair gallery. I spent twenty-six years watching bright-eyed graduates stumble into my gallery, clutching impressive portfolios but possessing absolutely no idea how to price a canvas or, more importantly, how to talk to a collector without […]