Frieze<\/a> New York debut this year \u2014 wanted to work with artists, collectors, and curators her age. \u201cThere\u2019s such a strong generation in the arts in Mexico now and, at the time, I felt I needed that energy.\u201d She also wanted to be involved in the whole process, from beginning to end.<\/p>\nWhen did you finally decide to leave Kurimanzutto?<\/p>\n
In February 2020, weeks before lockdown. It was a great year of planning that gave me the opportunity to dive into what artists of my generation were doing through Instagram, through Zoom calls and studio visits. At that time, I decided that I did want to have a gallery. I really missed talking to people about art.<\/p>\n
About a year later, I started looking for a physical space and found it in one day. I collaborated with a very young architecture firm from Mexico City, and we did a really simple renovation. That sped up the whole process because I had to start paying rent. I was like, \u201cNow I have to put up a show.\u201d I started reaching out to artists I had met throughout that year and I opened with a show of all-women artists from Mexico City. It was a beautiful small group show. We had video, we had sculpture, we had drawings, we had paintings \u2014 and the rest is history. It has been a very organic process of meeting artists and slowly building a roster. We don\u2019t have a huge program. We don\u2019t have a huge space. We don\u2019t have a huge anything. It\u2019s quite an intimate scale in everything we do.<\/p>\n
How have you been able to develop your eye and learn to trust your own taste?<\/p>\n
That has been the biggest challenge. When I did that first show, I thought the most intimate part would come from the artists; you present yourself with a work of art. But I felt completely vulnerable. Why am I presenting what I\u2019m presenting? Why am I presenting these women and not those women? Will it make sense to people? A day before opening the exhibition, artist Berenice Olmedo, who worked with a cool gallery called Lodos, said that feeling never goes away. I learned to trust my instinct. You can\u2019t please everyone. I think, as a woman, it\u2019s even harder to trust your gut and say, \u201cThis is my voice.\u201d It gets easier, but the feeling never goes away. With time, everything makes sense. We\u2019re turning five this year, so now I look back and start seeing these threads between artists and conversations, and there\u2019s a common way of looking at the world.<\/p>\n
For someone who\u2019s new to this space, how do you find art you like?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think you find good art by looking at a lot of art. You have to look at bad things and look at good things. Looking at everything is what makes you comfortable with what you do like. I think it\u2019s a process of training the eye as much as you can, and then you start finding that taste in yourself.<\/p>\n
Does that mean walking into galleries, browsing on Instagram? Where do you look?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing like looking at art live. We are bombarded with digital images, which are a great tool, but it\u2019ll never translate to the experience of seeing a painting live, seeing the handiwork, recognizing the brushstrokes. Living in Mexico City for me is a source of constant inspiration, finding art in the most quotidian moments, on the street, in the market. Mexico in general, I think, is very magical and very stimulating in that way. But there\u2019s nothing like seeing art in a gallery or a museum. There will always be something incredible to learn.<\/p>\n
What are some rules for being a good art-fair visitor?<\/p>\n
A good rule is to ask questions and engage in conversation. As gallerists, we are always happy to talk about the work and what we\u2019re doing. I think sometimes there\u2019s this barrier of people not knowing the right question to ask at an art fair. That\u2019s what we are there for. There\u2019s nothing worse than an art fair where people don\u2019t come up to talk to you. Also, an art fair is a hard place to look at art because it\u2019s usually not contextualized. If you have a group presentation, you don\u2019t have a press release or other materials that you would have in an exhibition, so I think it\u2019s polite to ask every question that comes up.<\/p>\n
Any rules for dressing for an art fair?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s pretty generous. There are no straight guidelines, which makes it quite easy to navigate. Definitely comfortable shoes. The art world is pretty obsessed with sneakers, which is great. You can pair a nice suit with sneakers.<\/p>\n
What is a fashion rule that you live by?\u00a0<\/p>\n
My style is pretty classic and feminine: a crisp white shirt, black boots, and a blazer. A white shirt is my uniform. It\u2019s crazy because if you look at pictures from my mom in the \u201990s or the \u201980s, this is it. My mom is the most fashionable person.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your No. 1 rule for giving gifts?<\/p>\n
Buying it on the spot. I am not very good with dates and birthdays, but when you see something that makes you think of someone, buy it in that moment. For me, it\u2019s usually random trips. I don\u2019t plan gifts.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your No 1. rule for canceling plans?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The effort lately has been to not overbook myself and to not say \u201cyes\u201d to everything. And my No. 1 rule is to cancel with time, not last minute, and to be absolutely honest about why. \u201cI had a shitty week.\u201d \u201cWork sucks.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve been super-stressed.\u201d I had insomnia \u2026\u201d I think people take it better if you\u2019re completely honest.<\/p>\n
If you walk into a party and don\u2019t know anyone, what\u2019s your best rule for engaging with people?<\/p>\n
What I have learned \u2014 and I\u2019m not good at this \u2014 is to breathe and introduce yourself instead of waiting for people to come and talk to you, which can be the most awkward thing in the world. I love meeting new people. I\u2019m a very social person, but the introduction is hard for me, and it\u2019s something I\u2019ve learned to do now as a gallerist, owning my own business. Once I break that tiny barrier, I feel very comfortable around people.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your No. 1 rule for a successful dinner party?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I love cooking. I love hosting. I love throwing parties. I guess this also has to do with your space and where you host, but my No. 1 rule is for people to be able to mingle. I don\u2019t like hosting sit-down dinners where you can only talk to one person. I really enjoy having a buffet and putting a bar somewhere else in the space so that people have to walk around. I enjoy mixing people and mixing groups, and I think I do that very well.<\/p>\n
What should you bring as a guest?<\/p>\n
In Mexico, it\u2019s a very basic social rule that you always bring something for the host. It looks bad to show up empty-handed. You can always ask guests to bring a drink, but there will always be someone who brings you flowers or cookies. I love bringing flowers and I love receiving them. It\u2019s personal. It\u2019s a show of gratitude to the host. Put the cookies out, put the flowers out, open the wine they brought, even if you didn\u2019t ask for it.<\/p>\n
What do you think the art world needs more of these days?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a need for intimacy. In the art world, we\u2019re very used to these big dinners or big parties. I\u2019ve found that what I enjoy the most, and what many of my clients enjoy the most, is a one-on-one conversation. What we need is fewer parties, more one-on-one lunches. Having a young gallery, you have to be very strategic about where you put your money and how you host. I find it so much more effective to meet one-on-one with clients, artists, curators, colleagues. I think the era of huge dinner parties is over. People are tired of going to these massive events that all look like the one they went to the night before. In the art world and in life, we need more intimacy.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Lucas Vernon\/Courtesy of Campeche, Mexico City F\u00e1tima Gonz\u00e1lez was young, curious, and eager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2273,307,304,305,306,921,269,308,93,10041,195225,195224,61,60,4313,191373],"class_list":["post-449081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-celebrity","tag-culture","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-frieze","tag-frieze-new-york","tag-frieze-ny","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-qa","tag-rules-to-live-by"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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