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Almine Ruiz-Picasso is one of the leading gallerists of contemporary art in Paris. Here she shares her thoughts on the risky business of the art world.
The Parisian gallerist Almine Ruiz-Picasso is reputed for passionately supporting cutting-edge and conceptual art. Her gallery, called Galerie Almine Rech, celebrated its tenth anniversary last year and she is opening a second space in Brussels in October.
For Almine Ruiz-Picasso, art is the only place in society that offers real freedom. With this belief in mind, she seeks out artists who reveal true conviction, singularity and commitment in their work. Her stable includes pioneering artists such as James Turrell and Joseph Kosuth, mid-career stars such as Ugo Rondinone and Philip-Lorca diCorcia, and upcoming names, including Anselm Reyle and Katja Strunz.
After opening her first space on rue Louise Weiss in the burgeoning thirteenth arrondissement in Paris, she moved to the upmarket Marais in 2006. Now she is preparing an inaugural show by Reyle, a German artist, in her new gallery space in Brussels in October.
Alongside her gallery work, Ruiz-Picasso founded FABA (the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso Para El Arte) with her husband, Bernard Ruiz-Picasso – who is Picasso's grandson – in 2002. The foundation, which holds a collection of works by Picasso and contemporary artists, enables people to study the work of Picasso and methods for preserving artworks, and allows access to archives. The foundation also supports contemporary art and participates in exhibitions.
Here Almine Rech discusses how she discovers her artists, the risk of allowing them to take over the white walls of a gallery, and how today is a moment of reckoning in the art market.
When did you open your first gallery?
I opened my first space in November 1989 in partnership with Cyrille Putman, the son of Andrée and Jacques Putman. Our inaugural show was with James Turrell, who had never been presented in a gallery in Europe before. Then I opened my own gallery, alone, in April 1997. My first exhibition was a group show including Ugo Rondinone, Johannes Kahrs and Inez van Lamsweerde.
What was your vision, and what kinds of artists did you want to represent?
My aim has always been to find living artists who are very much engaged in their work, who really believe in what they do and in Art with a capital "A." I've always been very idealistic. I've never wanted to find people who do attractive or commercial work. If it becomes trendy, then why not, but that's not the focus. I believe art is the place in society where you have real freedom. It's the only place where you don't have to justify yourself. I love that because society has become so formatted with constraints.
How would you describe the philosophy in your gallery? Is there a common link between the artists?
The basis of my gallery was an artist like James Turrell, who works between contemporary and minimal art that is radical in its creation. Artists should dig deeply in a consistent way and stick to their ethics. When you feel their research is going strongly in the same direction, you realize that an artist is like a scientist or philosopher doing research in his field. They really discover things. That makes a big difference from artists that are light, moving from one thing to another.
How do you decide which artists you want to represent, and what do you look for?
First I need to meet them. Normally, I see someone's work by coincidence or in a group show or I hear about them while visiting studios in New York, Berlin or London. Sometimes artists I know give me names of other artists they think I should visit. But it's very rare that you meet someone who interests you because it's all based on feeling and intuition. When I meet an artist whose work I like, it's like a new relationship, and there's that good feeling that happens between two people.
If the artist is a painter or a sculptor, it's important to visit their studio. A studio is a very intimate space that tells you a lot about them. It's like you're looking into their brain. When you leave, you know whether or not you'll propose a collaboration.
Do many artists contact you directly?
Yes, but it's very rarely the good way [to meet artists that you'll represent], and I don't think that's ever happened to me. It's always been through another artist or a curator or a museum director. It's inside the art world.
What have your biggest risks been?
The risks happen all the time. For me, a gallery is an empty white box. The idea is to give this white box to an artist, and he will know what to do in it. Offering your space is a permanent risk, because you never know what will happen, and your white box doesn't remain the same. Working in art has been a risky decision for me since the beginning because it's not rational. But I don't ask myself these questions now. I'm looking for which artists can write the history of our time. Art is like history. The work of a gallery is all about them, just offering them this blank space.
When was the turning point regarding your success as a gallerist?
Just after I started out, there was the big financial crisis in 1991, and for the next few years everybody was very friendly toward each other. Then most of the galleries gradually started having better business, and this heralded the beginning of a new time. Collectors began buying again, and new collectors arrived. The big change for me was at the end of the 1990s during this revival of interest in contemporary art, and that's when I decided to open my gallery on my own.
What do you think about the state of the art market today? Do you think it will be affected by the downturn in the economy?
You know, since 2001 there has been a big change in the art world. The prices for modern art, like Abstract American or Pop Art, started to become really high in 2000. So people started looking at younger artists whose masterworks are more affordable. These collectors aren't going to diminish, because we're looking at living artists. This is the time when you'll realize that some artists' works have been priced too high and others too low. But it's always been the case. In the 19th century, someone suddenly became trendy, and then someone else. Now, though, we know who was important in the 19th and the first part of the 20th centuries.
What are your thoughts on the multi-million prices going in the auction houses?
An artwork is unique, so if a collector decides that he wants this piece and not another one, he is willing to pay a lot. I could imagine going crazy for an artwork and going very high if I could afford it. In the past, people would ruin themselves gambling in casinos or for a woman, so why not do that for an artwork? Excess of passion disappeared as society became so well organized. And yet people probably need a time when they can just go for something without counting money all the time.
Which artists around today do you think will make it into the art history books?
That's the most difficult question. It's easier to say something like that about an artist of 60 than a young artist. But if we discuss artists of 40 to 50, I can say that someone like Ugo Rondinone, if he continues to be so rich in his creation, will be really remembered. At 44, he has already done a great deal of work. But it's very difficult to say anything about artists under 40 as it depends on the rest of their career. I have great hopes for Anselm Reyle and Katja Strunz, along with other artists in my gallery.
In October you are opening a second exhibition space in Brussels. Do you think you will make more impact there than in a city like Berlin, for example, which has more galleries?
The fact that I live there is the first reason. I think the Belgian scene is important because Belgian people love contemporary art and give support to galleries that do a serious primary market work. Another interesting aspect is also the number of private spaces that some collectors have created and which are open to the public by appointment. Berlin is attracting a lot of galleries and is also an interesting scene. But right now, as I recently moved to Brussels, I'm not thinking of opening in Berlin.
Why have you chosen Anselm Reyle for your inaugural show?
He found that the very rough gallery space I have in Brussels is an interesting, unusual context for him, and it's a good occasion to present totally new works that he has been working on for two years. Later on, in early 2009, the space will be refurbished.
You've described Berlin as being like Montparnasse in the 1920s due to the development of its international art scene. How often do you visit the city?
I visit Berlin four or five times each year. I mostly go to visit artists that I work with but sometimes, when the opportunity arises, I visit some other studios, especially if an artist that I work with encourages me to do so.
How do you help collectors develop a collection?
I tell them what I like or what I buy for myself, which for me is the only real advice I can give, as it's personal. It can concern artists who are or aren't represented by my gallery and, of course, artists of an older generation. I think it's interesting to collect young artists, but youth is not a good rule in a collection. It's also important to follow an artist you have known early on and to continue supporting him to avoid creating an "early works" collection, which can be an idea but one I find frustrating.
What was the last good exhibition you saw?
I think the Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia exhibition at the Tate Modern was a very good show.
If you could represent any artists, who would you choose?
Malevitch and Brancusi, for instance.
If you could own any five artworks, what would they be?
If we're staying in the 20th century, it would be a Suprematist work by Malevitch of the "stomp arts," which resembles one of Warhol's "Shadows." Then "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" by Picasso; "La Muse endormie", 1910, by Brancusi in bronze; a "Cross" or a "Shadow" by Andy Warhol, and a work by Robert Ryman.
If you had an imaginary museum, what would you put inside? Which architect would design it and why?
Western modern and contemporary art. It would be designed by Mies Van der Rohe because his German Pavilion for the Universal Exhibition of 1929, which was reconstructed in 1983 in Barcelona, and the Seagram Building in New York are examples of masterworks.
What is your definition of luxury?
Peacefulness
If luxury were:
An object:
A flying carpet.
A person:
A great driver.
A place:
The Mediterranean sea.
A moment:
A peaceful one.
Galerie Almine Rech
19 rue Saintonge
75003 Paris
T.+33 (0)1 45 83 71 90
www.fabarte.org