Behind the cover of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Gallerists But Were Afraid To Ask you won’t find the tell-all the title suggests. There are no salacious anecdotes from the big-name gallerists that have attained rockstar status in today’s international art world. For the most part the 51 gallerists — from Europe, Asia, Australia and the U.S. — interviewed by editor Andrea Bellini are from newer and mid-tier galleries and their responses avoid any titillating scuttlebutt.
The lack of flash may be what gives the 300-page book its charm. Rather than a tourist guide to the famous sites of the art world, Bellini’s interviews provide a sort of slow tourism, taking time to look at the details and side attractions that make up a place as much as its more visible monuments.
Each interview, comprising about eight of the book’s small pages, is presented in the same manner: a black and white photo of the gallerist(s), followed by a series of questions and answers. At its worst this format leads to responses that are little better than press releases for the gallery; but when Bellini, a former U.S. Editor of Flash Art and current Director of the Artissima fair in Turin, uses her knowledge of the gallerists’ background to ask case-specific questions, the book can reveal intriguing projects and opinions. You’re best off treating the book like a box of chocolates, searching out those morsels that are likely to appeal to your taste, returning later if you have an appetite for more. In aggregate you’ll find the individual interviews become the pixels of a larger portrait – the international art world without its fancy clothes and flashing lights.
UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Categories: Book Reviews
