COVER STORY

Representing the Underrepresented

UNREPD creates space for artists and collectors of color

Sarah Griffin and Tricia Beanum are the founders of UNREPD, a place where BIPOC, women and nonbinary artists can display their work and where visitors of color can start the journey toward being art collectors.

By Bridgette M. Redman

Sometimes a connection is so serendipitous that it simply must lead to also committed to seeing that underrepresented artists got a fairer shake in the art world. décor warehouse. They found their two businesses merged perfectly to create UNREPD. together in some capacity.” Despite being in the middle of a pandemic, they found the time their collection would be comfortable buying art,” Griffin said. greater collaborations. This was the case for Sarah Griffin and Tricia Beanum, and the reason that they opened an art sales enterprise that was a combination of both their works. Griffin, who recently moved to Venice, met Beanum through an artist they were both working with in 2019 and the similarities were striking. Both were passionate about art, both were business owners, both were from Puerto Rico, both had Ivy League educations, and they even had sons with the same name. Both were The result? UNREPD, a place where BIPOC, women and nonbinary artists can display their work and where visitors of color can start the journey toward being art collectors. Part gallery, part furniture warehouse and part consultancy, it makes art comfortable for those who don’t feel at ease in conventional galleries. Griffin was the founder of Art House Market, an art consultancy firm that helped people buy art, and Beanum was the owner of Pop Up Home, a vintage designer furniture and The business offered a safe space for artists and new and experienced collectors. Their meeting originally came about when Beanum was selling the work of a contemporary painter that Griffin was interested in for a couple of her clients. They talked a few times and then met in person. “The conversation flowed so effortlessly, and it was incredible,” Griffin said of their first meeting. “We were really on the same page about the challenges for people of color. We knew immediately we wanted to work was right to open UNREPD. Griffin pointed out that the pandemic was a crazy and interesting time for creative people because they were forced to go into their hole in a way that made people focus. One of the interesting things that came out of it was their art sales enterprise, a gallery that breaks the usual mold of what a gallery is. “The idea was that we wanted to create a platform for artists to be seen, a place where collectors of color and other collectors who might just be starting Both had the experience of going into traditional, white box galleries and being made to feel uncomfortable and unwanted. So, they started their version of a gallery in the same space as the pop-up home. Because the place is filled with furniture — one-of-a-kind furniture that is art in its own right — collectors are encouraged to sit and relax, to see art as it might look in their own home. “We realized quickly that here were interesting conversations we could make between the

Griffin, who recently moved to Venice, is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a PhD in English literature with a focus on African literature and the African diasporic.

furniture and the art in ways you couldn’t in a traditional gallery,” Griffin said. “You can bring your friend in to have a chat, sit on a sofa in front of the art and really appreciate it as you might in your own home.” Griffin said they play music and try to make sure that nothing — not even the way they talk about the art — is pretentious. She feels that people need to be able to spend time with art to give it a chance to speak for itself. “For us, art is joyful and fun and community based,” Griffin said. “We wanted to create a place that artists who might otherwise not be seen could be appreciated for how incredible they are.” While they have held a solo show for an artist, most of the time they rotate work in and out and sell on a retail model seven days a week. It’s been a model that has generated excitement among their customers. With 12,000 square feet, people can spread out and keep six feet apart from others. When they were first getting set up on Sycamore, before they were even open, they had hung up some work by one of their artists. Someone walked by and got so excited, she said she had to bring her friend back the next day to see it. Both she and her friend purchased works of art. “That was something that told us we were on the right track and opening something that was needed,” Griffin said. Their first foray into a single artist’s work was Corey Pemberton’s West Coast solo show that featured mixed media works on canvas. Pemberton is a Los Angeles resident who is the co-founder and director of Crafting the Future, a nonprofit that works to increase BIPOC access to art, craft and design. Griffin said they had a huge response to the show, which opened mid-September of 2021. They had more than 800 people RSVP and they had to cut it off because they didn’t want people to feel uncomfortable in these times of COVID-19. “The crowd that showed up was so inspiring in itself,” Griffin said. “It was a super diverse crowd in every sense of the word — a super diverse group of art collectors, art admirers and people who really wanted to be in community with other creative people. There was really an energy that night that people were hankering for, given the pandemic and how little chance we’ve had of being with like-minded people.” Beanum and Griffin curate all the art, always searching for new artists through such methods as art fairs, Instagram, word-of-mouth and other artists. They also have a submission system through which artists are able to find them. As they find new works they like, they rotate it into the space, creating an ever-changing, ongoing exhibition. Griffin said there are certain things that the two of them both like and they tend to find different versions of that to keep everything cohesive. One of the reasons they did a solo show for Pemberton, she said, was because they couldn’t keep his paintings in the gallery long enough for people to see them because they sold so quickly. The solo show was so successful that they plan to do more. What sort of art does the pair like? “The things that speak to me are things that feel really true to the artist who is making them,” Griffin said. “So, things that don’t feel derivative, things that feel fresh, new takes, new perspectives that I haven’t seen before.” She said there are many traditional things that appeal to her as well — an understanding of color and scale. She loves to see things beautifully executed while doing something a little different. Art has been a lifelong passion of Griffin’s though it was more of a hobby until after she had her children. “I knew I wanted to go back to work, and it became crystal clear that if I was going to do that, it needed to be doing the thing I was most passionate about and that was always art,” Griffin said. Griffin earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford University, majoring in American studies and minoring in art history. She then went on to a second Ivy League school—the University of Pennsylvania — where she earned a PhD in English literature with a focus on African literature and the African diasporic. It’s a background she uses when curating artists. “I think it gives me a little bit of a different perspective and a different way in,” Griffin said. “The way I think about and talk about art is a little different, but it is connected to my academic work. I have always been interested in histories and cultures and artifacts. It all comes together, but it may be that the way I talk about art is a little unexpected.” After being out of the work force for six years as a stay-athome mom, she decided to be an art consultant. She started with a few friends who knew she had an eye for art and could find certain things because of her connections with artists. The practice grew organically from there. Her focus was on how to help emerging collectors find emerging artists who could look great in their space but also be the foundation of a real collection. It’s work she continues to do with UNREPD. While people are doing more online than ever before after two years of enforced isolation, Griffin wants people to know that art really needs to be experienced in person. It’s fine to discover art online, but she advises against buying it until the buyer stands before it — something that can be done at UNREPD. “If you’re thinking about buying or starting a collection, the best thing is to go in person and stand in front of a painting or a sculpture or inside an installation,” Griffin said. “Really just feel the energy of it, see how you react to it. In person, everything is so much different and so much better.”

UNREPD

619 N. Western Avenue, Los Angeles 310-461-8364 unrepd.com