5 young gallery owners who are moving the lines

They set out with gusto in the Art world ! Innovative, their galleries try to think outside the box; either by working to rediscover forgotten female artists, or by breaking down the boundaries between art and design, or by settling in a small town in Moselle.

Their profiles are varied: artists, art historians, ex-employees of major galleries. These young shoots tell the story of an art market in movement, which evolves with the times. Presentation of this new guardwho has nothing to envy of his elders!

The Prima gallery: when two friends set out to support young creation

Laetitia Ferrer (39 years old) and Sébastien Borderie (34 years old) met around ten years ago; colleagues in the gallery The girls of Calvary that they managed, they left the nest about a year ago to get some fresh air… So they decided to open their own gallery. Everything happened very quickly, they tell us: “In June, we met to talk about it, then we left the summer to research and we opened in October. »

The place? The former boutique of a brand streetwearin the heart of Notre-Dame de Nazareth Streeta “hub of rather young galleries”, they summarize. Their name, chosen “by sanding the Latin dictionary”, speaks of scoopof “first exhibition, first work purchased or even primacy over a series”. Anxious to best support (young) artists, they advise them, and want to offer them “more than walls: projects”. An engagement already successful, since the gallery will participate in the next editions of Art Paris and Art Brussels.

At the Pauline Pavec gallery, a commitment to the rediscovery of women artists

Pauline Pavec had only 22 years old when she opened her gallery, with her partner, the artist Quentin Derouet, as a collaborator. Together, they have worked for six years at the “rediscovery of historical artists” like Jacques Prévert, whose graphic work is currently celebrated at the Montmartre museum. With a preference, however, for women artists like Jacqueline Lamba or Juliette Roche: “a choice that was close to my heart as a young gallery owner,” says Pauline Pavec.

Meticulous, she explains that she only has graduates of the École du Louvre on her team, having created a research center within the gallery and worked very willingly with art historians, curators and even sociologists, with whom she multiplied her publications. Established for a year in a private mansion near the Place des Vosges, the gallery also creates dialogues with contemporary creation. Next meeting? A duo between the painter Marie Bracquemond and the visual artist Thu-Van Tran.

The Nathan Chiche gallery: the exceptional setting of a former school of Jean Prouvé

HAS 24 ansNathan Chiche couldn’t dream of better: he is the founding director of a 250 m2 gallery² of exhibition space, installed in a former primary school designed by architect Jean Prouvé. Cannon! But not illogical… Because his story is that of a child of the ball: “I immersed in art from my childhood since my mother had a gallery on Boulevard Saint-Germain, and my grandmother was an expert in ceramics. »

At the age of 14, he bought a small gouache for 40 euros at an auction. Nothing very valuable, until an expertise confirms that it is in reality a work by Sonia Delaunay. “I liked this rediscovery side ! Then, I separated from it to be able to open my gallery”, by responding to a call for tenders from the town hall of Vantoux (Moselle), wishing to occupy his old school. Since then, he exhibited Jean-Pierre Raynaud and Mircea Cantor“friends”, and is preparing to collaborate with the Lelong gallery to welcome Barthélémy Toguo. “It’s an advantage to be young because we hand you the stick, we want to help you, to trust you. »

The Sainte Anne Gallery: dialogues between art, design and nature

If we told you that, not far from the Opéra Garnier, a gallery exhibits ceramic pieces in which birds live, chairs decorated with mushrooms or even marble sculptures where flowers grow, would you believe it? Eager to do dialogue between art and lifethe Sainte Anne Galery has also been working since its opening in 2021 to break down borders between design, applied arts and fine artsand to highlight female creators. She was founded by two artistsMasha Novoselova and Bianca Lee Vasquez, “without any commercial experience”, the latter tells us, but driven by the desire to open a place of art and life.

“We wanted visitors to feel welcomed in a warm waynot with too strong white lights like we see in traditional galleries, not with this rather masculine energy that we often find. » They opened their gallery rue Sainte-Annein the middle of the Covid period, in a former architectural agency, with a “soap sculpture by Berta Blanca T. Ivanow, which people touched to wash their hands”… A first meeting revealing their aesthetic concerns, generous and sensual.

The Maât Gallery, a total international opening

For the opening of Maât Gallery, Paul William wanted to go quickly, very quickly. It must be said that the thirty-year-old was not quite at his first attempt. “Already during my studies in business law, I worked in a gallery on Saturdays in the Marais, a gallery which offered me the management of its new space when I was 21. » At 25, he took off and created the Nil Gallery with a friend : “We started with a very small office of seven or eight m² boulevard Richard-Lenoir… Because we only did salons! » Two years ago, he sold his shares, and immediately opened the Maât Gallery.

He thinks big and chooses to invest in an elegant and vast space of 180 m² in the heart of the Maraiswhile continuing to increase the number of fairsincluding in South Korea or Mexico. A major argument, he explains to us, to attract artists: “It’s a strength to go and find places where they have not yet been exhibited. » The majority of them come from elsewhere, notably from West Africa and Latin America. The common thread that unites them? “They are all colorists in their own waywho take a lot of risks with colors… But it pays off! » Ambitious, Paul William is also artist managerand works to establish collaborations between its collaborators and large companies (Apple, Balmain). Currently, he is also preparing the launch of a limited edition projectwhich intends to “democratize access to great artists”… Between international dealer and French entrepreneur, Paul William draws a path which says a lot about the changes in the gallerist profession.