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 Almine Rech, from a little family painter to a global gallerist... L'OFFICIEL explores her art journey guided by passion and flourished in the essence of contemporary art.
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 Almine Rech was, at a young age, a little &ldquo;family painter&rdquo; doing portraits for her siblings at home. Today, she is a gallerist with spaces operating in Europe, the US and Asia, and has a New York flagship gallery just opened in October 2023, providing an ever-bigger canvas for artists to showcase their works on a global scale. Her work in Fundaci&oacute;n Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso also introduces to the world some hidden facts about the great artist Pablo Picasso, and connects his artistry with contemporary artists.&nbsp; L&rsquo;Officiel discusses with Rech her three-decade-long journey in the art world and explores &ldquo;What is art today&rdquo;.
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L'OFFICIEL UK: You have been a gallerist for over 30 years. How did it all start? Almine Rech: In 1989, I opened a small gallery in Paris and staged the first solo gallery exhibition of American artist James Turrell in Europe. At that time, installation art was yet a usual subject amongst galleries. What I did was a bit risky, a bit groundbreaking, all driven by the fascination I have for the artist&rsquo;s works. I still remember one day, an American art advisor stepped into my gallery and expressed interest in buying Turrell&rsquo;s Blood Lust on behalf of a client in a Mexican museum. I was thrilled but couldn&rsquo;t help wondering why he wanted to buy in Paris whilst Turrell&rsquo;s works were also available in America. He answered, &ldquo;I like the aesthetics in this show in Paris better.&rdquo; It gave me satisfaction and assurance that I should continue to pursue what my intuition tells me, and fortify it with experience accumulated along my career.
LOUK: Galleries are important players in the creative ecosystem. In your opinion, what can gallerists do to catalyse the development of the art sector? AR: There is a central mission in my galleries to open a question to the world: &ldquo;What is art today?&rdquo;. The art world is constantly evolving. Every period in time projects a unique landscape, including the media and styles that artists employ. As a gallerist, I strive to empower artists with an individualistic voice to promote their ideas. Whilst I hold myself financially responsible for providing for my artists and my gallery employees, I do not regard my galleries as merely commercial operations. Passion for art is always at the core of my work.
LOUK: Today, you have a global gallery empire with presence in Paris, New York, London, Brussels, and Shanghai. How do you embrace the cultural diversity of the art world and present artworks in an intercultural context? AR: Art is a realm where we are blessed with freedom. In designing my gallery programmes, I am not bound by the considerations of the cultural background of artists nor the tastes of the local markets. Rather, I aspire to give visibility to artists as far as possible, across oceans and continents.

LOUK: You have worked with artists at different stages of their career &ndash; some established, some emerging. How would you describe your working relationships with them? AR: Artists and I are joined by the mutual fascination of art &ndash; our working relationships are organic and natural, and the bonding grows with time. I believe in transgenerational collaborations with both young and mature artists, and I appreciate creations free from stylistic categorisations. With many emerging artists, I am attached to a strong voice underpinning their creative concepts that forms a solid bedrock in their career, and I will be delighted to empower them and grow with them.
LOUK: Have you observed any changes in the circumstances for women participation in the art world over the years? AR: Traditionally, there was an expectation on women being a domestic figure comparing with men being the &ldquo;public face&rdquo; in various sectors in society, including the art world which remained relatively distant from women. However, we have proved our capabilities beyond such invisible confines. Today, we see an increasing number of women gallerists pushing ahead the development of art on various fronts. Similarly, women artists nowadays can brave the idea of establishing a career as an artist. Society has definitely changed and become more inclusive and diverse, providing a more fertile ground for grooming women artists and cultural leaders.

LOUK: In your career, you have seen artists employing varying concepts and practices in their creative process. What is your opinion on the trend of the incorporating new technologies in art making? AR: Over the course of history, artists have always innovated with technologies that are new in their time. They constitute a useful toolkit to help realise the artists&rsquo; concepts and visions in ways that we never imagined before. Some artworks, whether paintings or sculptures, are drafted with the aid of special software. For instance, we recently opened in London an exhibition by Emma Stern, who mixes traditional oil painting on canvas with the creation of her subject by technology, bringing to the forefront her interpretations of fantasy and feminism. Technology is ever-changing and introduces new perspectives to the concepts and vision of the artists.

LOUK: Space is a crucial element in the showcase of artists' works. What is your concept behind the new US Flagship gallery in Tribeca, New York City, which opened recently? AR: I am in frequent dialogues with a great many artists, and gathered that some of them have the ambitions of showcasing bigger artworks that the traditional gallery spaces cannot accommodate. After a few year&rsquo;s hunt for a suitable venue, we are proud to present in October 2023 our new flagship gallery housed in a 10,000 square metre historical building in Tribeca, with a solo exhibition of abstract paintings by the young American artist Vaughn Spann. Coincidentally, the building was constructed in 1881, the year that Pablo Picasso was born. The late artist would have loved the idea of remaining connected with contemporary artists in one way or another.&nbsp;

LOUK: Indeed, 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso, with museums and galleries around the world staging special exhibitions as a tribute. As the co-founder of Fundaci&oacute;n Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, can you give us some insights into the work of the great artist, and how does it connect with the contemporary art world? AR: The Foundation was set up in 2002 with the objective of studying and conserving the artworks of Pablo Picasso from a historical, scientific and technological point of view. Did you know that Picasso almost never named his portraits? His interest surrounded humanity as a whole. Giving titles to his paintings after individuals&rsquo; names is a &ldquo;post-Picasso&rdquo; thing. We are here to bring to contemporary audience new insights based on professional research.&nbsp;Connecting to the bigger art world, the Foundation also organises our own exhibitions, loans artworks to museum exhibitions, and arranges publications in collaboration with international institutions. Besides, we lend support to contemporary artists to invigorate the landscape of art in our time.

Gallerist Almine Rech Radiates in Her Passion for Art

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