At the Show Off in Paris we had a look at the booth of the gallery Herrmann and Wagner. The director of the gallery, Cai Wagner, talks about the artists the gallery presents at Show Off art fair, especially the artists Miklos Gaál and Raí¯ssa Venables. The Herrmann & Wagner Gallery is based Berlin and is run by the partners Sven Herrmann, Dr. Paul Nunheim and Cai Wagner, and Operation-Manager Margret Uhrmeister. Show Off Paris, October 24, 2006. Show Off Paris, France, October 24, 2006.
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CreativityTranscript
00:00 Michel-Georges Gales is very much asked worldwide meanwhile.
00:04 So choosing him for a show of Paris was kind of, let's say, a gift to the Paris collectors
00:12 because you can find like five very rare works, last copies you can buy.
00:20 And he is that much asked for because his works, his photos are much closer to paintings, to drawings.
00:30 They are very artistic and they convince and they touch people.
00:36 And that is simply because he uses a simple technique.
00:43 He has this focus and out of focus parts in the pictures and people are coming to us all the time like,
00:51 "Is he using models?" or "Is he working with a computer?"
00:55 He is not and that's so striking because he is working in an old-fashioned way.
00:59 He has a middle format camera and the only thing that he does technically is he shifts the plate where the negative is on.
01:07 So when the photo is taken there are focus and unfocused parts and in the result when you see the large photo
01:15 you have this strange feeling that there is a model you are looking at.
01:20 Right, he has a fan club and recently we were driving together for an opening of Michel-Georges' work in Kunsthalle in Erfurt
01:34 and I told him about this and he was amused.
01:38 I was kind of happy that he was amused because when you click that website you can see that there is a lot of ambitious photographers
01:47 and what they are very proud of is that they create Michel-Georges Galle-like photos,
01:54 which is actually, to be honest, ridiculous and there is no use in that.
01:58 But it also shows on a different level that his work is not only convincing, it is also inspiring creative people
02:07 and that is a very good sign.
02:09 We have also Raisa Venables from New York City.
02:13 She is three years younger than Michel-Georges Galle, born in '77, and her works are also very much asked now.
02:22 She shows mainly rooms or interiors and those rooms or interiors she shows that go along with strong colors
02:33 and that attracts people a lot.
02:35 Mostly it is also women that come to us saying "Oh, I love this work"
02:41 and the color is kind of an anchor point to understand her photos.
02:45 The starting point is a middle format camera, just straight photography analogous
02:51 and then she has the different prints, like here it is consisting of 20 prints
02:55 and then she scans that and works it out in the computer so that you don't see it.
02:59 And she does a color too?
03:01 Yes, but the color is always as it is, but she exaggerates it.
03:06 So I know this staircase, it is in Berlin, myself, it is actually painted red, but she exaggerates it.
03:13 Same with this, this is the colors but the yellow is improved.
03:21 The gallery was found in late 2000 and we started our seventh year now and now it is really a pleasure.
03:31 The beginning was hard and as you know Berlin is very much the place to be with galleries.
03:38 I think we have about 400 galleries in the city right now and that is kind of challenging
03:45 because I think we did our homework so we are aware of the competition
03:50 and this is encouraging you in your everyday life in the gallery to find good artists,
03:57 to create great shows and to do good work.
04:01 What is your upcoming exhibition?
04:04 The next exhibition we will have follows on the road.
04:08 It is an exhibition with Italian artist Paolo Consorti and it is called "Between Hell and Heaven"
04:15 and it gives new mixed media works, it is photo and painting and even a video, his first one he created.
04:24 Of course there are always shows on and after the fair means before the fair
04:30 so when I finish the show in Paris we will meet in Cologne.
04:36 My assistant already sets up the booth and we directly continue with Art Cologne
04:41 and then there will be again Scope Miami, ARCO is following in February and Kiev in May
04:50 and there will be Art Brussels in between so the agenda is already crowded.
04:56 Do you still like traveling?
04:59 Traveling is a topic, being away from the family is a one side and we have two children,
05:05 that is not always so much a pleasure but traveling is very inspiring
05:10 and being in the art business means you meet people all over the world,
05:15 it feels like a family, you come to an art fair and you say hello,
05:18 oh I didn't see you for a while or you make appointments for the next art fair somewhere.
05:23 So it's like a group of people who work wherever they are located but they are networked together
05:33 and we meet all over the world and you even start to found habits,
05:39 like I have a fashion shop in Miami I like a lot so whenever I'm there I buy like seven shirts and two pants or so
05:48 and so you establish to find your own places in the world.