COOL & COLLECTED
It can be confusing, and at times inhibiting, but at-home curating is starting to change. Meet the Brit pioneers demystifying the act of buying original art
In our quest to express individualism in our homes, art often feels like the missing piece of the puzzle. And it’s quite the puzzle. Factor in formidable galleries, the balancing act of budgets and alienating phrasing like ‘diversify your portfolio’ and it’s no wonder we’re baffled by what to hang on our walls. At the other end of the spectrum, vast online e-tailers have given the art world’s staid image a serious
The CONSULTANT
GEORGIA SPRAY
When friends furnishing their first properties came to Georgia Spray for advice on sourcing affordable contemporary art, it came as a surprise to all that she found herself stumped. She was, after all, a history of art graduate who had then spent six years honing her knowledge at a roll call of London’s most lauded institutions, from White Cube to Christie’s auction house. ‘At the time, I was working for an art dealer called Ivor Braka who deals in the likes of your Lucian Freuds and Francis Bacons. It was an amazing experience, but I was becoming ever more interested in emerging artists and realised that I didn’t really have a place that I could confidently refer people to.’
Launching Partnership Editions in 2017, Spray envisaged a curated and affordable platform that worked collaboratively with artists to produce limited-edition prints and original works. Now, many of the site’s rotating roster of names – bright young artists like Fee Greening and Emily Forgot – are flourishing, with sizable Instagram followings as testament to their talent and a shift in the way we access art. ‘Instagram is the most incredible tool,’ says Spray, quick to defend a platform often demonised as devaluing art. ‘It allows people to follow from a distance yet still feel connected. If someone purchases a piece, they can watch the trajectory of the artist and how they’re growing, which is such a rewarding experience.’
It’s this readiness to embrace an art world in flux that has seen swift success for Partnership Editions, which champions expressive, figurative works by a majority of female artists – ‘not a conscious decision, but an organic one’. But the rate at which the business is growing poses some tricky questions pertaining to the platform’s very ethos. ‘As the company develops, how do we retain that edited feel? The balance of expansion and curation is something I always question,’ says Spray.
An exhibition series in new London retail destination Islington Square at the end of last year was partly driven by a desire to reconnect with the customers beyond the screen, while life-drawing classes, led by artists such as the platform’s breakout star Alexandria Coe, are one of Partnership Editions’ most popular exports. ‘Classes grant our customers a much greater understanding of the way the artists think. It adds value to the artworks, too – people really appreciate how difficult it is!’ partnershipeditions.com shake-up, but their never-ending catalogues can be equally muddling for those without direction – or days to spend browsing. So what’s the middle way? A new generation of curated, personalised platforms, impeccably edited by insiders with a network of emerging artists (and the know-how to prowl the grad shows). Here, we’ve picked four figures at the forefront of the accessible art revolution...