stella nova
visiting julie Silbermann
Trine: LOVELY TO SEE YOU AGAIN JULIE... I WONDERED IF YOU WANTED TO TELL ME A BIT ABOUT WHAT IT IS YOU ACTUALLY DO FOR A LIVING?
Julie: I am an art-consultant for COLLABORATIONS - a role, which is independent from the other in the art-scene. We are free in our actions, as we have neither artists to represent nor an inventory we have to sell. I work exclusively with a desire to guide and show you as the customer the way through the nuanced world of art - help you differentiate good from bad art - between decorative art, and art that is part of a larger context and anchored in the global art-market. From there on we find the right piece together, which fulfils your wishes.
The art-market is enormous, and as an adviser, it is all about keeping myself orientated and in-touch with the movements that are influencing the art-scene. So I can at all times can give informed advice to a customer.
Trine: YOU MENTIONED MOVEMENTS... WHAT EFFECTS AND WHAT WILL WE SEE MORE OF IN THE ART-MARKET?
Julie: Art has always had the power to highlight current topics on another level, than what the written word or a debate can. Focus on ethnicity, sexuality, gender has grown a lot within art over past years, and will definitely take-up more space in the time to come, but where it becomes more natural than before… We want to arrive at a place, where the artist’s gender is not the focus, but the individual expression, concept and intention with the piece. But one thing is the physical art, that we can touch and feel the structure of, the other is NFT-art; Non-Fungible Token. I have yet to completely understand this new digital art-form.
Trine: SO THE ART-PIECE CAN'T BE TOUCHED AND ONLY EXISTS DIGITALLY?
Julie: Exactly - a NFT piece is a digital construct, which only exists online. So you can not touch it, or hang it, the only way to admire the art-piece is to go online. Many international artists have started to create NFT’s, so this crypto-art-market will most likely grow to another level, that we haven’t yet seen.
Trine: IT IS ACTUALLY REALLY STRANGE... ALSO NOT SOMETHING I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND. IT IS LIKE HAVING REALLY BEAUTIFUL CLOTHES, BUT NOT BEING ABLE TO ACTUALLY WEAR THEM, BUT JUST HAVING THEM HIDDEN IN A DRAWER SOMEWHERE.
Julie: Exactly… Very spacey.
Trine: HOW DID YOU GET INTO THIS ABSTRACT CREATIVE WORLD?
Julie: In the past 15 years, I worked for some of the leading galleries here - but I have always had a curiosity and interest for the creative and artistic. A long time ago, I dreamt about becoming either a designer or a journalist, but sometimes dreams change and small coincidences can in the end become big life-changes. I quickly swapped my french-studies for art-history, and further to a MA in modern culture and culture-dissemination. So even though I didn’t become a journalist,
all art is about story-telling, and communication is still one of the most essential parts of my work.
Trine: FUNNY THAT YOU WANTED TO WORK WITH DESIGN... I WANTED TO WORK WITH ART - SO WE COULD JUST SWAP ;-)
Trine: HOW DO YOU DIFFERENTIATE THE JOB AS A GALLERIST FROM BEING AN ART-ADVISER?
Julie: When you work at a gallery, it is the artist represented by the gallery who’s work you facilitate, create exhibitions with, communicate and sell. But the option to help clients find other art-pieces not represented by any of the specific galleries, is not a possibility - so the role as an art-advisor has a much more open-hearted approach to the art, so it felt natural for me to change direction and use my knowledge from the business and my passionate interest for contemporary-art and work more from the wishes of the client, than from the gallery’s limited portfolio of artists. But I have always loved working directly with an artist - follow the journey of the art-work from idea-form to the execution in the artists studio, to the exhibition in the gallery and then be part of the larger storytelling, adding the perspective of the sale, and lastly see the art-work placed in a private or public collection.
Trine: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO START AN ART-COLLECTION?
Julie: A curiosity and interest - but more importantly, that you always buy from the heart. Therefore it is so important, that you go out and look around and see as much art as possible, to get an experience of which direction, you want to your collection to go in.
Trine: CAN YOU GIVE ANY ADVICE IN THAT REGARD?
Julie: One artist said to me once, that you should buy art, which feels like a rock in your shoe. Because if it is there is something that annoys you all the time, then you maintain your curiosity and the art-work will continue to grow on you. It is important to dare dive into feelings and into that type of art, that helps challenge you - because it is precisely that collision, where art seriously starts to open up to you, and you keep your curiosity about the art-piece. And so I would always recommend to seek advice, if you are totally new to the art-market - just like if you were decorating your home, you would ask a interior-architect.
Trine: WOW THAT MAKES SUCH GOOD SENSE... I AM DEFINITELY GONNA TAKE THAT WITH ME. IT IS A GOOD IMAGE OF LIKING A BIT OF A CHALLENGE, SO YOU DON'T JUST HAVE IT FOR THE SAKE OF DECORATION, BECAUSE THEN YOU MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BOUGHT IT IN IKEA.
Trine: BUT WHAT IS ART, AND WHAT DOES ART MEAN TO YOU?
Julie: To me, the art that I live with is an extension of my identity. At the end of the day, art can do all the things you want it to do. For me art inhibits endlessly many aspects - it gives space for immersion, pondering, curiosity, joy, wonder… And even though it sounds a bit cliché, then art can also take over where words no longer can reach. To be surrounded by art gives so much joys on countless of levels.
Trine: NOW I KNOW, THAT IS IT NOT ONLY ART THAT PLAYS A ROLE, BUT THAT YOU ALSO ARE VERY INTERESTED IN DESGIN - WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ART AND DESIGN?
Julie: I am very excited by the intersection between art and design - when a sculpture gets a function or a piece of furniture becomes a sculpture. But the art by nature doesn’t have that
practical function, and can work a lot more freely with the material. I am overall just very fascinated by when an artist dares to move towards that intersection, as they often have a much more free approach to creating. Take for example the Danish artist FOS - he creates design, objects, that all look like sculptures. He has always worked in that intersection and spoken about
design as a social tool.
Trine: CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT?
Julie: Yeah… When a design object defines and tells something about; who you are without using words, that you chose a specific furniture designer, regardless of it being a typically danish design or an artist who is moving into that intersection, or you have discovered a completely new talent at the ‘Design Miami Art Basel’, who you have brought with you home etc… But objects tells you something about what your style is, and who you are without using words - there is something pretty magical about it.
Trine: DO YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC PREFERENCE - PHOTO-ART, PAINTINGS, INSTALLATIONS ETC?
Julie: The photographic medium is definitely the genre I am most drawn to. I love to travel to ‘Paris Photo’ and discover vintage photos and I am especially fascinated by Francesca Woodman’s personal observations, and I am super drawn to the norwegian contemporary artist Torbjørn Rødland’s often grotesque and twisted visuals, and then I am crazy about Astrid Kruse Jensens both dreamy and melancholy universe. I just continue to get lost in her work. And isn’t it just that, which art can do, send us on a journey.
Trine: IT ALL SOUNDS TO EXCITING JULIE, AND IT NEVER STOPS... IN MY WORLD THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ART AND DESIGN, AS ART IS FOR THE SAKE OF THE ART ITSELF, WHERE DESIGN HAS A DEMAND TO BE FUNCTIONAL. BUT WITH THAT BEING SAID, THEN IT IS INCREDIBLY INTERESTING THAT THE BOUNDARIES ARE OVERLAPPING MORE AND MORE, AND IN THAT MAY ALMOST DISSOLVES.
THANK YOU JULIE FOR YOUR TIME - YOU HAVE INSPIRED ME A LOT AND WITHER WE ARE SWITCHING JOBS OR MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST LOOK FOR SOME ART TOGETHER, SO I CAN START COLLECTION.
Julie: Let’s start with the last one ;-)
