Let us, each week, discover this new generation of players who seize images in their daily lives; gallery owners but also editors, art advisors, directors of institutions or fairs, collectors … they anticipate market changes and redesign the contours of their scope. Who are these native digitals and how do they decipher the future? Today, meet here Séverine de Volkovitch, co-founder of Backslash.
“Relating to the image in a way that makes sense”
When did you first get into art?
I remember my first confrontation with contemporary art when I arrived in Paris, at the age of 18, with a rather academic education from a provincial high school. To catch up, the first thing I did was go to the Centre Pompidou where I fell in love with what I discovered there, namely Viallat, Hantaï, etc. I have grown since then, especially when it comes to minimal and conceptual art of which I am a huge fan. The Backslash Gallery is evidently a two-headed beast: the two of us have very different but complementary visions of art.
We were just about to get to the creation of Backslash, to the early days of rue Notre Dame de Nazareth, when you joined forces with Delphine Guillaud.
Delphine and I go way back. We worked together for several years at Daniel Templon’s where we first met. To make a long story short, it was Delphine who wanted to establish a gallery and suggested, to my great surprise by the way, that I join her in this adventure. We visited the location straight away, just for the fun of it. Galerie Paris-Beijing was the only one in the street.
Our choice was decisive and faithful to what we wanted to do: have ample space to showcase artists, offer them enough freedom, have a showroom, a storeroom, and offices for the gallery to operate. Delphine and I knew that a showroom was a must, not only to make sales, but also to be able to show our artists throughout the year to collectors who know they can come to Backslash whenever they like and see the artists, and not just the current exhibits.
Is there a unifying thread or points of convergence among the artists you represent?
Yes and no. We are a two-headed gallery and have different subjectivities. But it must resonate as a whole. This is very rewarding because we spend a lot of time passing back and forth artist’s portfolios, information, etc… This is also the beauty of our profession, this continuing discussion about art. A gallery is often a reflection of the tastes of a gallery owner. What we’re interested in above all is working with people of our generation in order to develop such a dialog on daily basis, in the domain of contemporary art.
You have a strong presence in art fairs (Paris, Basel, and soon Seattle): is it a necessity or a choice?
It’s a choice because we’ve been very lucky: the activities of the gallery are our main source of income, which gives us the freedom to chose where we want to go at any given moment. Art fairs are a powerful vector of communications and sales. But at the same time, they’re often big money pits that benefit only the fairs themselves.
Who among your artists uses photography in the broad sense of the term?
I can mention Rero, who works with photography but also does installations, video, sculpture, etc. He’s a truly interdisciplinary artist. Since I’m immersed in the world of images, I have to admit that it is difficult for me to find work that is very original and at the same time interesting both at an aesthetic level and at the level of content, such as Sergen Şehitoğlu, who speaks of the photographic medium. He meets all the criteria because he uses the medium to talk about human relationships in contemporary society, and specifically in an age of the virtual.
Where do you see yourself five, ten years from now?
First, we are not planning to move because we have a wonderful space. Even though, when we first launched Backslash, we had grand projects of opening a branch in Brussels, then New York! Today, we think that the market is too tight for a young gallery such as ours (five years in existence) to cast our sights outside the Hexagon.
Insofar as we have no employees at Backslash, the first step will be to hire an administrator and assistants to support us at home and afford us the possibility of carrying out more projects outside.
If you had a dream…
As a gallery owner, it would be going to Art Basel, as any good, self-respecting gallery owner! The rest is not a question of dreams but of goals to be achieved.
As an individual, it would be to have the freedom to go explore other fabulous exhibitions around the world on the spur of the moment. This is the ultimate luxury!
INFORMATION
BACKSLASH
29 rue Notre-Dame de Nazareth
75003 Paris
France
T: 09 81 39 60 01
http://www.backslashgallery.com
Tuesday – Saturday ∖ 2pm-7pm
CURRENT EXHIBITION
Sergen Şehitoğlu
Kill Memories
From April 9th to May 28th, mai 2016
