Text and photos: Elena Balina
We have already talked about interesting transformations that the fashionable multi-brand store Boutique 1 can offer its visitors in one of the issues of our magazine. Today I want to dwell in more detail on the art part of this commercial enterprise - the exhibition hall Art Gallery at Boutique 1. Why are such halls attractive? The fact that they exhibit the works of artists for a short time, so you can get aesthetic pleasure constantly by contemplating the canvases of more and more new masters.
A professional with great experience, a gallery owner with experience in the local market and simply beautiful Elena Shagova spoke about the nuances of her specialty before the opening of the exhibition of the French abstract artist Michel Pelloyle, whose paintings were replaced on the walls of the Art Gallery by the paintings of Bulgarian artist-florist George Andonov.
Hello, Elena. I am glad to meet the only Russian-speaking gallery owner in the Emirates. What is the specificity of your activity?
This is such a work, which sometimes seems ungrateful to me, because people who are somehow connected with art think differently, live with their own kind of mental images and ideas, and it seems to them that everyone should understand this. Oh no! Few understand. But on the other hand, it is a very interesting and creative work, even in some way the mission is to bring art to people. And you need to convey it very competently, any trifle is important here: external light, and spotlight, and the location of the picture. There is nothing permanent in Dubai, unfortunately. But at the moment I think this is my place, I found my niche.
By what principle do you select the themes of the expositions?
Everything happens intuitively. Fadi (curator of Art Gallery) has a lot of experience, and for me this person is an undoubted authority in the world of gallery business. Together we visit many different exhibitions and select works at the energy level, that is, those paintings that “catch on”. After all, there are such canvases that, it seems, are technically competent, and the colors are perfectly matched, but the look at them does not linger, it passes through a bright illustration. Fadi and I are working on the “same wavelength”, we select those artists whose works will not only decorate the interior, but also bring the mood and idea.
Have you been working with Fadi for a long time?
We had known each other six years ago. In absentia. At that time, I came to work in the newly opened Middle East Art Gallery in the Souq Madinat Jumeirah complex and got acquainted with the "flower" paintings of the Bulgarian painter Andonov, not knowing yet who brought this artist to the country. The works made a rather strong impression on me, I realized that this topic is close to me, the paintings are aesthetic, beautiful, not trivial and this is not "Arabic art". In principle, I love Arab art, but somehow I gravitate more towards European art. This is how I got acquainted with my future profession, with Fadi and Andonov’s canvases. A few years later, Fadi invited me to work for himself. It is this trust placed in me that I really appreciate. Fadi is the most famous gallery owner in the Emirates.
The calendar of exhibitions is scheduled for many months in advance, what is interesting and unusual for Art Gallery visitors in the near future?
As I said earlier, the selection of works is carried out, first of all, at the mental level. Motives and directions are very different, but all the pictures should "speak." That is, all paintings or graphics have an energy basis, which is very important, and then everything else goes on - texture, light, composition ... I already opened two exhibitions in the Art Gallery, this is the third, and I must say, I’m very pleased with the results and the idea.
As for further plans: I’m not afraid to say that my arrival in the gallery also played here, Fadi plans to see the works of young Russian artists. Firstly, because they have a completely different energy sector, secondly, the real prices, and thirdly, this is something new for Dubai.
Are galleries like yours only commercial or designed to carry "art to the masses"?
By and large, the goal is to convey the "sound" and "taste" of art, but since we are in the commercial structure of Boutique 1, of course, we sell paintings. The prices are set by the owners of the paintings, there are no “mark-ups” for rent and other expenses. We have already formed a list of regular customers who trust us. With us, they can be sure that in other collections or on the Internet there will be no information that the paintings they bought are, in fact, not worth the price that they paid.
Who is buying paintings now?
You know, galleries now grow like mushrooms after rain! In Dubai today a huge selection of works is presented - for every taste, for every budget! The calculation is simple - there is such a stereotype that the residents of Dubai have "money - the chickens are not pecking," so they are ready to buy everything in a row. But this is not so. Perhaps they are ready to acquire prestigious cars, real estate on the coast, to open their own business. But the objects of art are not in the first lines of this list of the “emirate’s dream”, this is the last thing people are willing to spend money on. I am fond of design, often people turn to me for advice, and I see that decorating a house with art is not a Dubai fashion, it is not prestigious to invest in culture here. Perhaps only recently have any shifts begun in this direction.
Probably, to start collecting genuine works of art, an emphasis on financial opportunities alone is not enough, a serious cultural base is needed?
Quite right, a certain school is needed so as not to touch the canvas, asking how many such copies were made. Can there really be copies of such paintings? Therefore, in the United Arab Emirates, the gallery business is more than a museum, people need to present the theory of world art culture, talk about painting techniques, about different areas in art. In addition to the sale itself, there is a general educational process. Gallery owners are urged to convey to visitors that in the world, in addition to some everyday values, there is something more interesting, deserving of attention and affecting the human inner perception of the world.
When the painting is sold, there is no feeling of emptiness in the soul?
There was once such a story. I once exhibited one artist who painted a rather strange picture - fish, fish on a black background. Seeing her, I felt some inexplicable attraction. As a result, I bought it myself, I could not sell it to other hands. Three feathers on a black background are absolutely scary, but surprisingly attractive.
Since I spend most of the day in the gallery, naturally, I’m sticking to some pictures, there are favorites that are probably not very good in our business, because every canvas needs to be sold sooner or later. In addition, every person who visits the gallery wants to be able to "talk" with the picture. And when you notice that not everyone is able to “see” a picture, then you enter into dialogue.
Well, it's time for me to chat with the paintings. Thank you, Elena, for the "secrets of excellence", I hope that we will meet more than once at the presentations of new exhibitions.
And I went to the gallery hall to get acquainted with the works of the French artist Michel Pelloyle. After the interview with Elena, I took a completely different approach to viewing the paintings, did not look for the plot, the central figure, the ratio of composition and color scheme, I looked at them and felt the mood. The mood of Michel, who wanted to add bright colors to the difficult everyday life of his friends, the mood of romantic Paris, the mood of travel. And maybe at that very moment I also had my own mood, the mood of rhyme ....
Cloths along the wall lay
And, in anticipation, reflected
That sky color is tired, pale,
That sun is a bright ray of victory
That waves of coastal blue,
That palm trees are green foliage.
The artist in the chair. With a glass.
Slightly drunk, not drunk at all,
Slightly unshaven, but not brutal,
Around the neck scarf. And the crystal shine
In the depths of warm brown eyes -
Paris shines in them sometimes!
And on the canvases - life is beyond the rules,
He directed it with a brush
To the bottom of the depths of the sea and to the sky
Where he was, or maybe he wasn’t,
Into the sands of deserts, faults of ice floes ...
The whole world is in a dozen paintings.
Here the hall is ready. On the white walls -
Look, Dubai, from the Seine Riviera
Jazz plays burlesque colors -
A little crazy and beautiful
A little unbridled ...
Meet Michelle Pelloyle here!
