The following Q&A appeared in Modern Painters’ August issue, which profiles the world’s top galleries of 2016. ARTINFO will be publishing the articles from this issue over the next few days. Click here to see related stories from the issue. To find all our coverage of the 500 Best Galleries Worldwide, as well as ARTINFO’s top picks for the best in visual arts, architecture and design, performing arts, lifestyle, and culture and travel, visit our Top Lists page.Best Galleries // EuropeNew Galerie | ParisPartners Marion Dana and Corentin Hamel opened New Galerie in 2008. In addition to spearheading several related projects, like a New York outpost and a collaboration with the Yves Klein Archives, they have maintained a strong international roster of up-and-coming artists, including Artie Vierkant, Darja Bajagić, and Dora Budor, with a multidisciplinary, media- oriented bent. We spoke to Hamel about running a “classical” gallery with cutting-edge artists.What’s the backstory of New Galerie? Did you
have any particular intentions or goals in starting this space?We opened six years ago. The idea from the beginning was to work as a “classical” gallery, following the artists and the clients long term. Being a gallerist gives you access to the whole spectrum of the art world, from the shippers to the museums, the artists and the collectors, the writers and the fabricators. This openness is something that has always interested us, both in how we make shows and the way we want
to see the world. Artists we work with have this same sensitivity. Marion and I have worked in many fields within the art world: galleries, writing, curating, managing private collections, teaching, auction houses.Tell us a bit about your roster. How would you characterize the artists you work with?We have an international roster, with a number of emerging artists. We think that they tell us something about the world as it is today—and maybe tomorrow. We love artists who have an in-depth way of thinking through the changes of society. This possible echo, and how you negotiate between your private situation and the world at large, is what fascinates us about the art world. It’s an old story, and the way artists deal with it is so resilient, from caverns to churches to airports to social media.For a period of time, you ran a New Galerie outpost in New York. What was the relationship between the two spaces?A good part of the gallery’s activity has always been linked to the U.S., be it through the artists, clients, or a cultural dialogue. We wanted to explore this link more, and live and work there part-time. Ultimately, rules and mind-sets in the U.S. and Europe are different, and that’s what interested us. We designed our space in New York as a project, to learn, meet, and create. We have since closed the space, but we are very happy to have done it; we met great people, and the gallery
is still imbued with the results of this experiment.You work with a younger-skewing group of artists, some of whom are engaged with new media
or are working in unprecedented zones between disciplines. How does this sort of programming fit into the larger Paris gallery scene?These artists are well received here, at least by a specific, but active, group of viewers. One of the nice traditions in Paris has been the interest in welcoming foreign cutting-edge culture. Classic movies from abroad are still shown in numerous movie theaters. The challenging part is that you have to convince people that the changes are relevant, and people can take some time to be convinced. The rewarding part is that when viewers are convinced, they get extremely enthusiastic.What are some of your favorite places or things to do—not necessarily art-related—in Paris?We have been living here for a long time—Marion was born here. Both of us like to walk in the city—you always get a new perspective on it. This is more obvious when you come back from a trip abroad. It is a very dense city, and walking 100 meters often puts you in a new world.Tell us about the work in your personal collections. What’s a dream acquisition?We have a few works from the gallery’s artists. We do not live with them; we keep them at the gallery. These works are part of the artists’ history, so we want to have them ready for showing. As for our dream acquisition, this may seem too gallery related, but we would love to be able to acquire more works by the artists we show. At the end of the day, we show the artists whose work we like best.What does New Galerie have coming up in September and beyond?In September we will have a show with Christopher Kulendran Thomas, a very exciting artist we recently started to represent. He also has a room in the Berlin Biennale that we are working on. He works on circulation of values—monetary, cultural, and geographic—which is a keen interest of ours.
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