Artist Clara Hastrup in her studio at the Royal Academy of Arts in London

Danish artist Clara Hastrup graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in 2020, and is one of the selected artists in this year’s New Contemporaries exhibition. Here, she speaks to Millie Walton about experimenting in the studio, the symbolism of blue and finding beauty in everyday objects 

1. Where does your creative process typically begin?

I have to look backwards to see how things begin. I have a lot of things lying around in the studio that I find and buy –  everyday objects -, and I like to continually experiment with these objects and make small models. Through this chaos, ideas come about. I also read and research things I am interested in, and play is an important part of my practice. I play around with functions of the objects, and see how they can lead from one thing to another. I usually have multiple things going on at the same time, and I try and connect these ideas.

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2. What draws you to the objects that you collect or buy?

I look at colours and visual qualities. For example, with Lapdog Tabernum, I found the colour of Doritos interesting, and the fact that you can transform them into a material similar to sand that has a lot of new associations and meanings. At other times, I’m drawn to a pattern of some sort. So much design and thought that has gone into these low value, everyday objects, and I try to look for the beauty even if it seems like it has little meaning or value. It’s a combination of allowing intuition and logic to come together. Everything, to me, is a potential material.

Here and above: Lapdog Tabernam, 2019, Clara Hastrup, installation view at URBANEK Gallery, South Dulwich, London

3. The colour blue seems to recur in your work quite frequently. Does it have particular significance for you?

I have always been very drawn to blue. It is a colour that represents a lot of emotions. It kept popping up for me particularly in relation to the Lapdog Tabernum installation, and I allowed it to tie the materials together. It’s a very vibrant colour, but a sad colour as well, and I like that contrast with the humorous gestures. At the same time, it’s a colour which is often used as a backdrop as it is associated with the sky and ocean.

Read more: Anne-Pierre d’Albis-Ganem on championing artists

4. How did your Instant Sculpture series come about?

It started because I had these travel magazines which I took from my bedroom and brought into the studio. I started cutting them out and making these small gestures, but I didn’t know what to do with them as they only existed in the moment. I wasn’t sure if they were sculptures or images, but then I started photographing them, and repeating the process. Sometimes, these kinds of experiments don’t lead to anything, but perhaps they will become bigger sculptures. That’s often what happens with my work, I start by doing a lot of small things and occasionally, it makes sense to transform its meaning which excites me.

A work from Hastrup’s ongoing Instant Sculpture series

5. Where do you go for inspiration?

Museums like the Tate or galleries in Mayfair, but inspiration, for me, could come from anywhere – botanical gardens, nightclubs, music, reading.

6. What do you have planned for 2021?

I am part of the New Contemporaries exhibition which opens on 13 January at South London Gallery. Also my degree show, which was postponed from last year, is taking place in June this summer.

View Clara Hastrup’s portfolio of work: clarahastrup.com
For more information on URBANEK Gallery, visit: urbanekgallery.co.uk

The Power Of Black And White, Dennis Osakue, Acrylic & Collage on Canvas, 150cm x 150cm, 2020

Signature African Art, one of Nigeria’s leading contemporary art galleries, opened its first European location in Mayfair, London in March this year and is now hosting a group exhibition entitled Say My Name in collaboration with award-winning writer and film director Ava DuVernay. Ahead of the show’s public opening tomorrow, we speak to the gallery’s director and curator Khalil Akar about the Black Lives Matter movement and power of visual art 

Khalil Akar, Photo © Zaki Charles

1. What influenced the gallery’s decision to expand internationally, and why London in particular?

We have been supporting the work of African artists for the past 30 years, since opening the gallery in Lagos. We have been waiting for the right opportunity and the right time to open a space outside of the continent. Over the past few years, African art has become increasingly popular and having assessed the global art market, we felt this was the best time to open in London. We chose London as it is one of the art hubs of the world. We wanted to give our artists a platform to showcase their talent to the European market and we felt the UK was the best place in which to do so.

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2. How have global attitudes towards African art changed in recent years?

The global art market has finally started to recognise the contemporary talent that exists within the continent, outside of traditional art forms. We have seen increased sales of African art at auction houses, and fairs like 1-54 Contemporary African Art have helped to encourage a greater interest in art from Africa. The next step for the market would be to have a larger presence of African galleries in household fairs such as Art Basel.

George Floyd, Oluwole Omofemi, Acrylic on Canvas, 50cm x 50cm each, 2020

3. The timing of the gallery opening was rather unfortunate, how has the pandemic impacted business?

We opened a solo show by Nigerian artist Oluwole Omofemi just before lockdown, which was very popular by collectors and sold out. We have worked hard to adapt to the current circumstances and challenges, increasing our digital networking and outreach to collectors and providing virtual tours of our exhibitions to our audiences. The additional digital approach has allowed us to reach more collectors and increase sales.

Installation view of Say My Name, presented by Ava DuVernay at Signature African Art, London, Photo © Mora Ltd

4. What was your curation process for the upcoming group show Say My Name and how did the collaboration with Ava DuVernay come about?

The curatorial process was rooted in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The vision was to shine a light on things that need to change in society including how Black people are perceived and treated in the global community. Ava and I discussed this theme at length for Say My Name, which also aligned with the topics raised in her 13th documentary for Netflix. The collaboration also focused on raising awareness of police brutality following Ava’s announcement of her LEAP (Law Enforcement Accountability Project) initiative, which aims to hold police in the US accountable through artistic storytelling. We’re planning to donate 40% of proceeds from the sales of both the London and LA shows to the fund. In terms of the artists selected, we have worked with them in the past and knew that they would feel strongly about paying tribute to these figures and histories in the UK and US. We wanted to connect the continent with the deep experiences of the diaspora.

Read more: Sculptor Helaine Blumenfeld on the power of public art

Breonna Taylor, Moufouli Bello, Acrylic on Canvas, 150cm x 120cm, 2020

Boshielo, Giggs Kgole, Anaglyph, Oil, Acrylic fabric & mixed media on Canvas, 230cm x 150cm, 2020

5. Many of the works celebrate key figures and moments in Black history, is it important that viewers recognise and understand these specific references?

It is hugely important that everyone knows the correct history and understands the references in the show. We hope that visitors to Say My Name will learn more about Black history in the US and UK and leave the gallery with food for thought on what part they can play in improving the current world system.

In Remembrance of Bruce’s Beach, Dandelion Eghosa, photography, analogue collage and embellishments with acrylic paints on canvas, 190 x 127cm, 2020

6. In a more general sense, how do you see visual art participating in wider contemporary discourse?

Visual art plays a key role in wider contemporary discourse and has the power to influence the status quo. As Say My Name opens in London, Americans continue to protest on the streets every day since the murder of George Floyd in May. On the continent, young Nigerians are now protesting and advocating for the #EndSARS movement. As an art gallery, we feel it is our responsibility to use our voice to continue and support these conversations to help the creation of a better world.

‘Say My Name’ runs until 28 November 2020 at Signature Art London, and will open in in Los Angeles in February 2021. For more information visit: signatureafricanart.com

M+ will transform the West Kowloon skyline

LUX Contributing Editor and Hong Kong art and design doyen Alan Lo in conversation with Suhanya Raffel, the director of M+ – a museum set to change the conversation about Asia’s place in the art world

It may just be the most important contemporary cultural development in the world. Hong Kong’s M+ museum of visual culture is, finally, scheduled to open in early 2021 after years of anticipation (and a few delays). The Herzog & De Meuron-designed building will not just be a stunning addition to the skyline, it will be the cornerstone of the new West Kowloon Cultural District – an area which, along with Adrian Cheng’s K11 development in Victoria Dockside, will transform Hong Kong. The city has always been known for its commerce and cuisine, but with M+ – the most sophisticated and extensive showcase of its type in the world – it is set to make the leap towards becoming a major player culturally, too.

The figures are staggering: M+ has nearly twice the floor area of London’s gargantuan Tate Modern. It has already purchased all the existing and future work of funky digital collective Young Hae Chang Heavy Industries. Expect plenty more fireworks to come.

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Alan Lo: You joined M+ from the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2016. Why Hong Kong at this juncture in your career? What do you hope to achieve as executive director?
Suhanya Raffel: The M+ project has always been on my radar. I’ve been visiting Hong Kong since the early 1990s and was keenly aware of the major cultural infrastructure programme on West Kowloon when it was being formulated. To deliver M+ as the museum director is an opportunity I couldn’t resist. Bringing a major cultural institution into Asia and seeing how it will transform Hong Kong is a key achievement. M+ will be the place to come and see Asian visual culture, as we naturally take a preeminent place among international museums.

Alan Lo: All eyes are on what will be the most important art institution in Asia. What can we expect at the opening?
Suhanya Raffel: We have spent the past six years assembling an outstanding collection of visual culture from the mid-20th century onwards. It is unique in scope and brings a necessary perspective to the understanding of design, architecture, visual art and moving image as it has developed in this part of the world. Our opening will be dedicated to profiling our collections and I know that it will bring entirely new points of view on the various histories of our region.

LUX Contributing Editor Alan Lo and M+ director Suhanya Raffel

Alan Lo: Critics have pointed to the M+ curatorial team’s lack of local/Hong Kong knowledge. What do you have to stay to that?
Suhanya Raffel: At M+ we embrace diversity, which is an important characteristic of Hong Kong, a global city with a proud history of being cosmopolitan and outward-looking. We have specialist curators of Hong Kong visual culture who have a deep knowledge of the work of artists, architects, designers and filmmakers from here. Our curators work together across disciplines and that brings a strength of vision and voice, both to the Hong Kong cultural community and beyond. We must add to the Hong Kong cultural ecology, embracing the strengths and contributions of Hong Kong makers and showing them together with their international peers. What has been missing here in Hong Kong is a major global institution developed from its local positioning, and this has now been redressed with the development of M+.

Alan Lo: How do you see the Hong Kong/Greater Bay Area art ecosystem evolving?
Suhanya Raffel: Hong Kong will grow even further as a major international centre for the arts. We have seen this growth already, and it will only amplify as collecting institutions, both public and private, establish themselves, with global best practice as a governing principle.

Read more: Designer Philipp Plein on mixing business with pleasure

Alan Lo: M+ will rely on support from art patrons locally and globally. Are you seeing healthy growth in art patronage in the region?
Suhanya Raffel: Yes, absolutely I can see a healthy growth of art patronage. The relationship between patrons, collectors, philanthropists, members and foundations in relation to M+ is already developing from strength to strength. It is only together with our various audiences and communities that a museum of M+’s scale can begin to be successful. When we open, it will be just the beginning of our museum’s journey, and ensuring our various stakeholders understand this is clearly one of the challenges.

Alan Lo: M+ began to co-commission the Hong Kong exhibition at Venice Biennale in 2013, which resulted in Hong Kong-based artists seeing a surge in prominence. Why do you think it’s important for M+ to play a role?
Suhanya Raffel: As a global museum, we see profiling Hong Kong artists, designers, architects and makers as an intrinsic part of our work. In this regard, M+ co-commissioning the Hong Kong in Venice Pavilion at the Venice Biennale has brought greater prominence to these artists, and by association, the Hong Kong art world.

The vast interior of M+ will have twice the floor area of London’s Tate Modern

Alan Lo: Many private museums have popped up in Asia. Would you like to see more private museum projects in Hong Kong?
Suhanya Raffel: A healthy mixture of private and public institutions is something to encourage. Hong Kong’s aspiration to become a cultural capital means we need to see more institutions of various scales across the private and public sphere take hold and grow. We are already seeing this take root, ensuring Hong Kong’s place as a great global cultural city.

Alan Lo: M+ is a major project focusing on contemporary visual culture. What about the audience in our region? Are the people of HK and southern China ready for M+?
Suhanya Raffel: Without question, the audiences are here. It is a young audience with a strong appetite for contemporary culture.

Read more: How wealthy philanthropists are supporting conservation

Alan Lo: Do you think the shift in the global art market toward the top end is helping or hurting the ecosystem? How are museums changing to reflect the increasing concentration of art in private hands?
Suhanya Raffel: Public institutions cannot compete with the private market. That is why philanthropy is an important part of museum work. As we develop M+, to communicate our mission with passion and clarity is essential, and this helps us to develop our audiences. In Asia, the art world ecology is still in its early days, and this brings with it both challenges and opportunities. The establishment of a great public institution that is M+ will bring a much clearer understanding of how a museum adds enormous value to conversations around cultural and regional histories, and how they intersect with and add to essential global dialogues.

Alan Lo: In 20 years’ time, will the world’s major art institutions be split more evenly between west and east? How do you intend to position M+ in the context of this potential shift?
Suhanya Raffel: The M+ vision of bringing an Asian museum voice of substance with a deep multidisciplinary collection to support this position will inevitably change international discourse. The known Euro/American canon will shift, and I hope, with the establishment of M+, many other institutions across Asia will follow. This is healthy, important and vital.

Alan Lo: The influence of collectors has changed so much with social media – how would you like to see them play a role in the future of M+?
Suhanya Raffel: The role of social media and digital is the one revolution that defines our century. It is the new media and medium of exchange, operating at speed. Museums are traditionally slow-release platforms, but we must build agility and responsiveness. Working together with those who are already alert to these streams is essential and at M+ we are already embracing this parallel world!

Find out more: mplus.org.hk

This article was originally published in the Autumn 19 Issue.

Instagram: @nelis_vansia

Has Instagram been taken over by fake follower fever, banal mirror selfies and blatant product promotion? Not if you’re one of the new wave of creatives, eschewing follower numbers and influencer labels and doing it their own way, says Bryony Stone

A LUX x ROSEWOOD COLLABORATION

Instagram is in danger of eating itself. More than eight years after it was founded, what started as a photo-sharing app morphed first into a badge of cool among first movers and later into the biggest photographic movement in history. People’s self-worth, and tragically sometimes their lives, can hinge on followers and likes, and a generation of self-declared influencers (if you think about it, that can’t really be a job) are creaming fortunes, large or small, from their commercial posts. Kim Kardashian West and Kylie Jenner, two members of the Kardashian clan, boast a collective total of 236 million followers, which, while there’s almost certainly overlap, still constitutes just over three percent of the world’s population.

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It’s unsurprising that scrolling through Instagram is starting to feel like falling head-first down a rabbit hole into a wonderland where everything is #sponsored. Wasn’t that new influencer in Fendi wearing Prada yesterday and Gucci the day before? Does he really have 871,000 human followers? And who actually looks perfect all day, every day anyway?

Yet, under the radar, a new wave of Instagram stars is emerging. Forget fake followers and paid-for posts: these creatives are more interested in contributing to the real culture in the cities around them, and in the aesthetic of what they can create on what is still a remarkable visual medium. From Paris to New York, Hong Kong to London, meet four individuals who are redefining the Insta scene from the inside out.

Instagram: @de3ng

@de3ng, New York

Sudan-born, New York-based Deng Duot Deng describes himself as a “muse, model, creative director and casting director”. He has his own clothing line called Dengwear and posts crafted images with a casual feel that combine his passions: design, football and streetwear.

Describe your Instagram style: “Grounded in the nuances of street style and culture.”

How has the platform changed your life? “It’s a way to interact and connect the dots. I can see my common interests [with other users] as well our different tastes in art, fashion and culture. Through Instagram I’ve been featured in a campaign for Apple and a lookbook for Yeezy x Adidas.”

Instagram: @de3ng

Do you consider yourself an influencer or something else? “I’m a brand and a trendsetter.”

Why do you think people follow you? “I’m pretty authentic on my profile; I genuinely

express how I feel, but with a creative touch. Being natural makes a good image and keeps my followers engaged.”

What’s your favourite recent Instagram image? “A picture of my niece and I after her baptism. It was a beautiful moment.”

What are your New York hangouts? “Different creative spaces… I like to explore.”

What do you love most about New York? “The abundance of creativity – and the opportunities that can come from something as simple as walking into a bodega.”

Read more: Canary Wharf Group’s MD Camille Waxer on urban transformation

Instagram: @nelis_vansia

@nelis_vansia, Hong Kong

Instagram: @nelis_vansia

A former woodworker turned videographer, Hong Kong-based Nelis Vansia works at fashion-focused digital-media company Hypebeast. In his free time, he shoots intriguing, moodily lit films and stills that showcase the spirit of the city.

Describe your Instagram style: “Go with the flow. I like to capture everyday life.”

What’s Hong Kong’s creative scene like? “It’s a really tough place to survive creatively because the city is mostly focused on making money. You have to be tough here to do your own thing. But thanks to the internet, Hong Kongers are becoming more exposed to art and creation.”

Why do you use Instagram? “At the beginning, it was personal. Now, I’m posting videos and photos to build my own brand.”

Instagram: @nelis_vansia

Do you ever meet your followers in real life? “Half are my friends, and the rest are interested in the things I do. When I meet followers at events it can sometimes be awkward.”

Where do you go for downtime? “Hong Kong is so dense, but outside the Central Business District there are undeveloped areas such as Sham Shui Po where the pace isn’t as fast. Here, I can slow down and see everything clearly.”

What’s your favourite recent Instagram shot? “It’s a picture of Ydizzy, a rapper from Japan. I randomly bumped into him on the street chilling by the road and smoking and I asked if I could take a snap of him.”

Instagram: @Neptunes2000

@Neptunes2000, Paris

Instagram: @Neptunes2000

Jean-Yves Diallo is a Parisian street-style star, creative director and model with a penchant for whiplash-inducing outfits and creating conversation-starter, tongue-in-cheek images.

Describe your Instagram style: “Hybrid and colourful. I’m always adding new colours and patterns.”

Why do you post on Instagram? “To show people that you don’t necessary need big brands to break the regular codes and that only you make the image. I take pictures in the subway, in the streets, in ghetto apartments… you just need to be yourself.”

Instagram: @Neptunes2000

How has it opened doors? “I’ve extended my fashion network, but I’m careful with what I post. You can get lost by posting too much. People follow me because I have my own wave; I mix and match and don’t wear mainstream brands.”

Do you feel that you’re an influencer? “I consider myself more of an icon. I don’t want to influence people and all my life doesn’t turn around the app.”

What’s the creative scene like in Paris? “It’s heavy here, but people are too inspired by other countries and too conformist. They need to let their imagination speak out.”

What makes a great image? “I style and direct my own shoots so it’s all about the angle and light. Then I add my vibe to make it unique.”

Read more: Why creatives need to understand tech

Instagram: @edozollo

@edozollo, London

Instagram: @edozollo

Italian photographer Edo Zollo has been living in London for close to two decades. His low-lit and occasionally ominous images – which are always taken after dark and capture quiet moments and corners – showcase a side to the city that’s not often noticed.

Why do you post on Instagram? “Instagram feels like a small community because followers interact and share my passion for photography, but at the same time, it allows my images to reach a wider audience. My followers motivate me to go out in the dark and take pictures.”

Why do you think people follow you? “I’d like to think that my shots are mysterious; a bit [like] Hitchcock’s Rear Window.”

Where do you go in London to take a good image? “I don’t have a specific location. I’m mostly out at night. Once I’ve found the spot, I wait until someone with just the right amount of mystery comes along.”

Do you consider yourself an influencer? “I’m more someone that offers an alternative view of London.”

Instagram: @edozollo

What do you love most about London? “That it constantly changes! There’s always something new, something that changes your way of thinking. Also, it’s nearly impossible to be bored. Everything is here: entertainment, food and people from nearly every culture, and so your imagination is free to flow.”

Where do you like to hang out in the city? “House parties are my thing right now, but when I want to be alone, the streets of London at night become my secret spot.”

HÔTEL DE CRILLON, A ROSEWOOD HOTEL

Hôtel de Crillon in Paris is a grand microcosm of the City of Lights: a historic palace that is one of the city’s landmarks, and also a contemporary home for guests. As Paris develops its thrilling contemporary art, food and culture scene, atop the cultural riches and business powerhouses that sit the city atop the world’s fashion ladder, Hôtel de Crillon is, literally and metaphorically, at the heart of it all.

Book your room at: rosewoodhotels.com

This article was originally published in the Winter 2019 issue.

‘Dark Waves’ by teamLab, the Japanese interdisciplinary group that brings art, technology and nature together, at their 2017 Pace London exhibition Transcending Boundaries

Pace Gallery, under the leadership of owner Marc Glimcher, is one of the leading forces on the global contemporary art scene. With his visionary plans for spectacular multi-media shows, he is taking art into the future. But he is also stepping in to curate art in public areas in parts of America where local government funds are low, a role where the private sector’s responsibility will only expand, he tells Darius Sanai in an exclusive interview

LUX: With current developments in public art, it is felt that private initiatives and galleries, such as yours, are taking on the role of public services.
Marc Glimcher: Absolutely. There is a level of ambition that people have and this is true I think in all sectors. For example, when comparing the art and tech world: academic ambitions have grown so large that they have become private, corporate ambitions. That is quite a well-documented thing now. We see Silicon Valley companies and so forth taking on this role of being consumers of social good as well as entrepreneurs.

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In the art world I think we are seeing the same thing where developers see that a public mission has melded with their commercial vision and purpose. And without that public good the commercial success is not enough, it’s not guaranteed and it’s not balanced, so we find ourselves taking on that role.

Marc Glimcher (right) with the artist Kevin Francis Gray at the opening of his show at Pace New York in 2017

LUX: Is there a danger that these become one man or one group’s vision of what public art should be? And is that good or bad?
MG: Well, it always has been. This isn’t purely true but great individual visions have guided great cultural achievements. Committees are not famous for having inspired or patronised or enabled great cultural moments to happen. It is something done with passion by someone who kind of parallels the artists. When a municipal committee get together to decide what the art is going to be on some public site, you don’t get the best result. When someone in that group has a real vision, pushing it as if it were their private vision, that is when amazing things happen. I don’t think there is any history of somebody’s private vision hurting the quality of cultural intervention.

LUX: Can you tell us more about your initiatives. What’s forthcoming, how will it work and how will communities be involved?
MG: It’s very complex. The gallery system was set up to represent an artist and the artist makes their work and the gallery shows it and sells it. The process for these public commissions is much more akin to an architectural process. What do we have coming up? We’ve got 10 projects around the world right now where we are making proposals, the first one being ‘The Illuminated River’. And we have projects in New York and Massachusetts, Australia, London, and China where there are new cities being built every day. I will say that London seems to be at the centre; it’s a fertile place to have those conservations about this idea. That’s where we found Mark Davy, founder of Futurecity, who we are in collaboration with for Future\Pace. We’ve set up a group who can function using the economic model of the architectural world to address an arts project; it’s a very different approach. We are going out to developers and municipals. We are helping to draft a cultural agenda and will be working with our artists and others who are not necessarily gallery artists but who work on a public scale and acting as the planning group to get this job done.

‘Impermanent Life’ by teamLab in Transcending Boundaries at Pace Gallery

LUX: And is this driven by your desire that more people should be able to see and experience art?
MG: Yes. Our natural driver is the artist and we see among the artists a desire to bring the message out into the world. We take our cue from them so it’s a natural evolution for us to feel excited when we get a chance to have Leo Villareal light all the bridges crossing the River Thames. It’s the same with artist estates. We recently took on the estate of the American sculptor Tony Smith. He is one of the greatest artists of the 20th century and one of the most important sculptors aware of public engagement and their experience of space. My father drilled it into my head that this is our family’s contribution to help these artists get their message out and extend human perception. When we got 200,000 people to our teamLab exhibition in Menlo Park, California, it was pretty thrilling.

LUX: What’s it like to take over your father’s business. Is it just a job or something else?
MG: It’s a unique challenge. You have to survive the first 20 years without killing your father and struggling with self-definition. People may deny it but every second-generation person with any kind of ambition has to come to peace with the fact their father created something from scratch, and you’re never going to be that person. So who are you going to be? And what are you going to do? You know you’ve made it when you won’t let your father leave instead of trying to kick him out.

LUX: And I guess your relationships with artists are at the heart of what you do and how you define your relationship with the business?
MG: Absolutely. That’s what we experienced growing up, being surrounded by the artists. It’s a very complex business. There are many different agencies involved – there are the museums, the collectors and the writers. You need to remember what your core is in a complex business and ours is the representation of the artists. If you maintain that there is a way to cross from one generation to the next and to create a real institution.

LUX: What thrills you, what makes you come alive?
MG: For me it’s walking into the artist’s studio and seeing their breakthrough, that spectacular invention that they have created, and knowing you can transmit that out into the world. I will get a call from Tara Donovan, who will have been struggling on a new body of work for a year, and she will say “I’ve got it”. And you can hear in her voice that something has happened. Some transformation took place. And as an art dealer you get in the car and you’re the second person to connect to that creative moment. Or you can get on a plane because Adrian Ghenie called and you arrive in Berlin, go into his really dirty, really dark studio, go around the corner and there is this work that has just been dredged out of the great history of painting. Then everything you do is about bringing it out of the gallery and into the world, to the museums, to the lectures and so on. If that makes you come alive then you are an art dealer.

Read next: Moroccan artist Ghizlan El Glaoui’s unique visions of beauty

LUX: You studied sciences. Does that bring you a different perspective to others in your business?
MG: It might. I definitely think that it has worked well for me. The art gallery is very concerned with historical process, not just the individual process of one individual artist. The rigorous training and analysis that one gets in immunology or biochemistry translates well into trying to understand how the broad sweep of culture works and how artists work.

A London showing of works by Italian artist Mario Merz, organised by Pace Gallery in collaboration with the late artist’s foundation

LUX: And in terms of artists, there must be more competition than ever to find and represent the best artists? Or is that irrelevant because more people are becoming artists?
MG: No. It is very relevant. There is more competition and it is shaping the art world. The galleries are growing. In a market place when the demand is going up at the same time as the competition, you tend to create more consolidated, larger companies to deal with all the various competitive issues. It becomes very expensive to be an art gallery so it’s harder for mid-level galleries. Although, the population of artists is so diverse that there are still artists for every kind of gallery. It’s hard to imagine big galleries replacing the smaller galleries because small galleries are absolutely essential for emerging artists. And there are a lot of artists who don’t want anything to do with the big galleries. In 1975, when you had an artist popular in New York City it meant that if you wanted to keep working with them you had to do a full colour catalogue instead of black and white. Now that same artist, or a comparable artist, is popular in New York, Korea, Europe, China, South America and there are multiple museums competing for shows. There are awards and biannuals and art fairs. It requires an enormous amount. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not about flying artists around in private jets and having expensive parties. It’s about funding the production of work, shipping it all over the world, organising exhibitions, lectures and symposiums and about supporting the museums who have commissioned your artist. We have 17 registrars in charge of handling and moving the art and making sure it gets where it’s supposed to be in perfect condition. That is twice the size of our PR staff, which is big, too.

LUX: Would collectors of these popular artists in 1970s New York have been in the artistic, cultural, media community themselves? And how has that demographic changed since then?
MG: No, that’s a myth. Art patrons haven’t been other artists or writers, although they have always collected artists when they were starting out because they were the ones who knew about them but they always get priced out. In the 70s the collectors were the real estate developers because they were the most entrepreneurial, upwardly mobile group of wealthy people in America, Japan and around the world. They were priced out by an emerging financial class of hedge-fund people who were collecting more aggressively, and they in turn might be displaced by technology people.

teamLab’s digital work ‘Impermanent Life’ (2017) visualises the cycle of life constantly changing

LUX: How do you view the debate about the fragmentation of art, that there are no movements in art and no significant artists anymore?
MG: I view it as something that people always say about their time. People are very sceptical, very hard on their own moment in history. We’ve never heard anyone say now is a golden age of great art. Golden ages are always in the past. In the day when those southern California light and space artists were coming out, believe me, people said, “Oh god, this is so desperate, nobody knows how to make great art, they’ve forgotten”. Now we have special effects and digital artists. Great art is always made, it just takes a while to be recognised as such.

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LUX: What are the most interesting things going on at the moment at Pace?
MG: We have our art and technology and public art strategy that we have been working on for the last five years and it’s all bearing fruit at this point. More importantly than that, it seems like it is playing a significant role in the global cultural dialogue. That’s always the place we want to be – making significant dialogues. Both art and technology and the way that those groups making art in this way have a certain capacity to work in public spaces. But the nature of the art making also creates natural limits to what the artists can do. There were 20 requests for sky spaces from James Turrell for every one that could be done. New cities get built around the world with new large-scale developments and these groups want to engage in art, they don’t want to engage just with design. So it’s a call to the artists to find a way to work on a bigger scale. It’s driving the creation of art collectives along with the fact that this is a very collaborative age. We are seeing amazing possibilities arise.

LUX: Which artists are really exciting you now?
MG: We are very excited about Tony Smith because people haven’t recognised his greatness. There is a lot of great painting that is being done right now by the likes of Adrian Ghenie and Nigel Cooke. Tara Donovan, who is kind of a post-minimalist artist, her show sold out in a day! We are about to have a Robert Mangold show and Bob, who is 77, hasn’t had a show in five years. Recently we’ve had Richard Pousette-Dart, Kenneth Noland and Louise Nevelson, great artists from the 60s and 70s who are now being rediscovered. We are excited about a lot of different things.

LUX: Do you think art has replaced literature and music as the primary mode of cultural information?
MG: I wouldn’t count out music or literature. The most ancient art form is music; it pre-dates language. Historically, I think visual art sits somewhere between music and literature but it’s having its moment right now. We are in a visual society.

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Theaster Gates Photo: Sara Pooley Courtesy White Cube

Theaster Gates is a phenomenon — one of the world’s most influential artists, he features at number 56 on Art Review’s list of the most powerful people in art. Gates is also a plain-speaking social commentator and activist. Some of his most powerful work is on display this fall at simultaneous shows held at White Cube’s galleries in Hong Kong and Sao Paulo, Brazil. The shows are dominated by ‘salvaged materials’ — found objects, including junk, in layman’s terms— and speak of homelessness, forced migration, and religious and political persecution.

Gates comes from Chicago’s notorious South Side, where he still lives and works. His voice voice is a clear and powerful call connecting art, urban chaos and decay (he trained as an urban planner) and social issues that interweave the world. They are impossible to understand unless seen up close and personal — as anyone who saw his powerful ‘12 Ballads for Huguenot House’, created for last year’s dOCUMENTA (13) fair in Germany, can testify. Now you have a very good excuse for that visit to Hong Kong or Brazil.

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