For the anniversary of Galerie Bigaignon, one of the rising stars of the Parisian photography scene, we propose an interview with its director, Thierry Bigaignon.
The gallery is celebrating its first year. How have these twelve first months been?
So many things happened in a year! It’s all too much to review, but I can share a few major moments from the gallery and give my feelings on this fabulous career of gallerist, which I’m learning day by day.
The first four exhibitions– Ralph Gibson, Catherine Balet, Alain Couru, and Harold Feinstein– were warmly welcomed, by the collectors who purchased their beautiful works, by the press who followed us from the beginning, and by the public who came in ever-increasing number. I think I can say for the moment that it has been a success, even though it’s still very fragile! I still have a lot to learn and obstacles to overcome.
Could you sum up your strategy?
My strategy is simple and was clearly established from the beginning. It’s based on the three pillars: onsite, offsite, and online!
Onsite, it’s about offering the best client experience at the gallery by, of course, presenting magnificent exhibitions, but also by creating uniting features in innovating everywhere when possible and in investing a lot into clients relations. Beginning with the (ongoing) Renato D’Agostin exhibition and establishing a “second part” meant to promote the work of an emerging artist similar to opening acts at a concert, is one of the innovations I’m talking about.
Offsite, is about initiating and/or creating major off-the-wall events and projects. For example, Catherine Balet and Ricardo Martinez Paz’s exhibition Looking for the Masters in Ricardo’s Golden Shoes was such a success and had such potential that I thought about bringing it further. The series has a real future outside the gallery, and we’re currently working on it. The same is happening for Harold Feinstein’s work, which has received an immense amount of interest. There is a retrospective at the gallery that I started and that I’ll continue these next two years, but there are especially large museum exhibitions to create. It’s time-consuming work.
Finally with online, I am very attached to the idea of developing a particularly innovative online offer. I’m working on it behind-the-scenes, so I hope that we can talk about it next time…!
How do you see 2017-2018?
Even more intense, that’s certain! I think the market will be better focused in the next few months, and the political situation becoming more stable should only be good. So, I am going to keep working hard with the same passion, same enthusiasm, and the same energy!
Galerie Thierry Bigaignon
9 Rue Charlot,
75003 Paris
France
