Parallel Lines: Lorenzo Uggeri
Arthur Lambert, Untitled, 2019. Courtesy of Kooness.com
Federica Belli: The language of photography is still among the most contemporary ones, notwithstanding the diffusion of digital art and AR. Which factors make photography such a relevant medium in our time?
Lorenzo Uggeri: The first art piece I purchased was a photograph and I believe photography to be one of the most relevant media in the contemporary scene. Technological and new media such as AR, NFTs and video installations are growing fast, yet photography remains the most relevant medium after traditional art forms. Though photography is still somehow a new technology, which started with a different aim and only later became an art medium, the number of art fairs dedicated to photography is increasing and the most important art fairs in the world have a section dedicated to photography. Also, for many aspects it remains the medium most related to real life: portraits, landscapes and installations… it basically has no limitations in terms of subject. Artists can photograph our world and make it appreciable by almost everyone, even those who do not have a specific background in art. It attracts collectors and non-collectors alike in a way that is faster than any other medium.
F.B. That is also why photography has become the most popular medium of daily communication. At the same time, in the art world it has been considered as secondary to traditional art forms such as painting and sculpture for a long time. How is this perception evolving with young collectors?
L.U. While auction prices for photography and painting are still not comparable, photography is not considered secondary anymore. Many important collectors are shifting to photography and including it in their collection. An issue that remains relevant is the perception of photography: in common thinking, almost everyone can be a photographer nowadays. And that makes it difficult to value photographs and operate distinctions among them. Valuing and purchasing paintings is difficult at the beginning as well: it becomes more natural as one studies and deepens his knowledge in the field. Yet, in photography this problem is way more relevant. And it might be the reason why the medium has been undervalued for a long time.
F.B. And photography is quite a wide category, including documentary, experimental, conceptual and many more photography fields. Which branches of photography appear as most promising in the market today?
L.U. I cannot disclose our internal data regarding specific artists or galleries, but I will try to answer. Some major best-sellers – a term I personally don’t like – fall in the Portrait category, both in terms of visits to the website and in terms of sales. Landscapes and installations are very popular as well. I personally find installations highly stimulating: discovering how the installation is built and the reasoning behind its production is just too interesting.
Ryan Van Der Hout, Particles, 2019. Courtesy of Kooness.com
F.B. This is an unexpected insight. Observing a portrait hung on the wall I often hear sentences like “Yeah I see the value in this image, yet why would I want to hang a stranger’s face on my wall?”. And even being a photographer who consistently works with portraits, I can’t help but agree to a certain extent. Yet we are living in a period in which we most feel the need to be part of a community, and finding ourselves in the eyes of someone from far away in space or in time is inspiring and powerful. I am glad we talked about this.
L.U. That’s true. The point lies in looking at the person as someone that is telling a story. A portrait of someone from another continent tells the story of a country, of a life and much more. A stranger becomes the page in a book. How cool is photography?
F.B. Online platforms such as Kooness make artworks accessible to a much wider public, eliminating the invisible barrier of entering into a gallery, a barrier that prevented many from interacting with art. How has the awareness of dialoguing with a more diverse public influenced the selection of galleries and artists featured in Kooness?
L.U. This is one of the most discussed topics in our team. On the one hand, our personal taste and background have to be considered, on the other we are aware of the width of our public compared to the one of a physical gallery. The interests and requirements of almost every social group have to be met. We started the curatorial process by choosing to work with galleries only, excluding any unrepresented artist. Then we selected the galleries allowed to apply to Kooness through a series of fixed criteria, trying to balance the media that would be featured on the platform. With time it has become a routine, our curator selects the galleries on a daily basis. Our mantra is to turn simple customers into the collectors of tomorrow, which implies that we need a long term relationship with collectors, a relationship based on trust. To do so, it is fundamental to provide a good selection of works and attract young collectors to the art world, switching on the fire of collecting inside them.
Alix Delmas, Entre, 2019. Courtesy of Kooness.com
F.B. You mentioned trust, a central point in the circle of art collecting. The maintaining of trust relies on a transparent and aware production on the side of artists as well. Emerging photographers entering the market often realise only later that they could have avoided some mistakes when approaching the first sales, particularly relating to the edition and pricing of their work. How can these tactical choices influence the future growth of an artist?
L.U. There is a problem in the market in general, a lack of transparency that causes most mistakes and misunderstandings. A positive side to digital platforms is the increased transparency, which directly influences the market leading to the alignment of prices and requirements in terms of editions. While some artists are able to recover form their errors and become great artists, others destroy their career; however, mistakes are fundamental to the growth of an artist’s quality. It all depends on the reaction to these mistakes. Gallerists and curators are fundamental figures to rely on in order to reduce errors, yet as long as an artist reacts well I really don’t see them as problematic. Some collectors even appreciate the ups and downs of an artist, as long as there is transparency and honesty.
Lorenzo Uggeri is the founder of Kooness, an online marketplace for Art Galleries born in 2016 and based in Italy. It currently features more than 1000 galleries around the world, with the idea of connecting people passioned about art with galleries. Particularly aimed towards young collectors, it gives the opportunity to start collecting in a straightforward and comfortable way. Moreover, it increases the audience of galleries beyond traditional channels, through online sales and increased visibility.
