bluebee meetups: Luca Temolo Dall’Igna

bluebee met with Luca Temolo Dall’Igna at ON House art gallery in Milan to talk about the shifted collector’s market and other opportunities for emerging artists.

Luca is a former museum art curator and currently runs a few art galleries in Milan. One of them is ON HOUSE – a “flat of the future” - which is for the established artists in his portfolio. His own art gallery is Almach Art and the other venues cater more for a cultural meaning and he just had a successful pop up art exhibition of emerging artists in Milan. The stereotype of an art collector is old and wealthy but it is starting to evolve a little. It starts to open up to the mainstream, not only the super-rich. People at a young age (18+), are starting to show interest in art and seeing the potential future monetary value of owning a piece of art. They may not purchase a €100,000 painting, but will look at investing up to €5,000. Their riskier nature in art collecting means that emerging artists with a lower price tag may have the chance to sell sooner than in the past. Especially the US and UK lead the market in supporting emerging artists with art investments.

Italians grew up with their masters, and 60% of the old artworks like Caravaggio, Michelangelo, etc. are in Italy. But even in Italy, around 50% of all art sales are contemporary. When asked about how he picks new artists for his gallery, he was very clear that he is not interested in hobby artists. His view point is that the artist needs to have a passion to do this full time. Someone who starts out and can’t live off their artwork. However, if they hadn’t produced 100 pieces of work so far, they aren’t even on the consideration list. Picasso sold his art for five years on the streets of Barcelona before he gained traction. Luca thinks that art degrees may hinder brilliant and extroverted artists to flourish and develop their own voice. However, this doesn’t mean that artists shouldn’t know the basics. Abstract artists shouldn’t hide behind their art style just because they don’t know how to paint a portrait or landscape.

Last word of advice from Luca, “Don’t see fellow artists as an enemy, but as an opportunity”. There used to be the Jamaica Bar in Milan, where established and emerging artists met. They would bounce off ideas of each other, which opened new horizons and enabled them to grow as artists. Nowadays, wannabe emerging artists rely too much on their close relatives and friends who obviously love their artwork. However, if it comes to the real artworld, they may not stand a chance – if they don’t have the money, for example, to buy themselves a spot at the Venice Biennale.