Everybody’s been worried about the supposed threat of artist’s agents toward the gallery system. But Vito Schnabel’s new venture in St. Moritz show’s again that artists are freelancing more and more with gallerists around the world:
Increasingly, artists are willing to go outside their main galleries to work in smaller spaces with younger galleries, says New York-based art adviser Lisa Schiff. “I think galleries have to be a lot more flexible now,” she says.
It’s another way the current generation of rising-star artists and dealers like Mr. Schnabel are flexing their clout in an art market smitten with anything new.
Mr. Schnabel hopes to hold four to five shows a year at the St. Moritz space, and already has another exhibition in the works: a solo show featuring recent plate paintings by his father. Despite the permanent space, Mr. Schnabel says he plans to work in the much the same way he has before, eschewing a traditional stable of artists for a flexible, project-based approach.
“I work with artists who I think are the best at what they do,” he says. “I think exclusivity is a dated term when you’re talking about representing an artist.”
