1 How did you get your start as a dealer?
Like many, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do when I started out, but I was lucky to land an internship at Christie’s with Cat Manson and Frederick Goetzen. This was a formative period that initially led me into a career of marketing in the art world, but the buzz of being in that environment of buying and selling incredible works of art left its mark.
I subsequently moved to the Middle East to go back to my art history roots and worked as a private curator for a collector/ artist. Working on exhibitions across the world was really exhilarating and it was working with international galleries that made me want to be customer-facing and have my own gallery.
2 What is your area of focus?
The key for me when I look at a prospective artist is ‘will I want to write about their work in 10 years?’. It is a simple thought, but I want to believe that they will have a place in art history. A big part of what we do at Crean & Company is not just selling art, but developing wider conversations and narratives around our artists through our viewing rooms and exhibitions. We want to create a lively, knowledgeable space that brings the stories behind their artworks to life.
3 What challenges are facing the trade in the coming months?
The past year has forced the art world into catching up with the digital age, and there has been a huge shift in selling works online. In a short space of time this has become a strong part of the market and confidence is growing; according to the recent Artsy Gallery Insight Report, in 2020 social media overtook art fairs as a sales channel for artworks. It is an unvetted market and I can see it becoming really important that gallerists and dealers become more invested in their knowledge base.
August Painting (2017) by Rupert Shrive, priced at £5800 in Soho to Montmartre: Observations on Life (until April 30), a solo show at Crean & Company, 3ft 9in x 2ft 7in (1.16m x 81cm).
4 What is one great discovery you’ve made?
Living and working in Bahrain introduced me to a whole range of incredible artists that I was lucky enough to meet: Dia Azzawi, Yousef Ahmed, Abdul Rahim Sharif. But if I had to choose one, I was really enamoured by the work of a young Bahraini called Jaffar Al Oraibi; I bought from him a beautiful painting of an egg and I love it as much today as I did 10 years ago.
5 What is one item you couldn’t do without?
I have two sculptures of a man and woman from South America which my father brought back with him after he spent some time there. From my student days and my first London flat, they’ve been everywhere with me – today, they sit on the desk where I work (and am writing this) and are a wonderful reminder of the adventures I’ve had through art.
If you would like to be featured in 5 Questions, please contact gabrielberner@antiquestradegazette.com
