UTA Hires Allese Thomson as Creative Director

I played model for a day for @barneysnyofficial and wore this Valentino dress, which is made of…. Felt ! #valentino

A photo posted by Allese Thomson (@allesethomson) on Sep 30, 2015 at 7:05pm PDT

The Art Newspaper reports on UTA’s latest hire, Allese Thomson, who will work with artists who want to take on projects that require resources or technology beyond the scope of their current galleries. In her role as Creative Director at UTA, Thomson will act as the liaison between artists and “engineers”:

She emphasized, however, that the agency’s expansion does not mean it will compete with galleries. UTA is better suited to negotiate “heavy, esoteric law”, such as the rights and financing of a sculpture for a new building. “Projects outside the gallery could generate substantial revenue right now, but they don’t because there’s nobody negotiating between major corporations and artists, there has to be someone in the middle to make that case,” Thomson said. “It’s indicative of a problem that Marina Abramović has to go to Kickstarter to fund a project.”

Thomson added that the agency hopes to be a resource to dealers by helping to produce projects outside of the gallery, which might stop artists from defecting to larger galleries when their careers and ambitions grow. […] With Thomson’s appointment, UTA hopes to fund actual works of art, or more substantive commercial projects. “Just because something operates within the realm of commerce doesn’t mean it has to be commercial,” Thomson’s said.

United Talent Agency expands fine arts division (The Art Newspaper)