Art A Pleasure Not a Luxury

Young, intelligent and courageous: Victoria Aguiló is an exponent of a fresh new generation of Mallorcan gallery owners. In September she celebrates her fifth business anniversary.

Somewhere along the dusty road to Establiments in Palma´s suburb lies Secar de La Real. There is not really a good reason to stop there, though. The only attraction in town is a Cistercian monastery from 13th Century. And this place became popular recently only because Palma´s urban administration decided to build a modern hospital – to the annoyance of local residents, conservationists and the opposition, which fought unsuccessfully against the project. But there is also good news from Son Real reported. Victoria Aguiló is such a positive example. Five years ago, the 31-year-old Mallorcan, opened a gallery for contemporary art a few steps away from the monastery of La Real in a 700-year-old house. Thanks to many courageous exhibitions of young artists from home and abroad, and her smart, courageous appearance she`s today with Eva Shakouri (“La Caja Blanca”) and Mercedes Estarellas (“SKL”) member of a new and successful generation of Mallorcan art dealers. Their motto: fresh, bold, free – and unabashedly.

“I’m not one of these frustrated people who sell art, because they failed to have successs as an artist,” Aguiló describes how she ever got the idea with art shops. “I´m dealing with art, but I´m not producing it.” Her skills she obtained step by step. After studying Bellas Artes in Barcelona, the Mallorcan spent several years abroad, working in Istanbul and Florence, collaborating with the UNESCO Heritage Foundation amongst others. After her return, she underwent apprenticeship in Barcelona and became an official valuer and appraiser for works of art. Actually it was not her aim to come back to Palma. “I don´t have great home ties, but I feel at home where I feel good,” says Aguiló. Private reasons have led her to the doorsteps of her own childhood. “I inherited this house from my grandparents. The opportunity to start my own business here was alluring.”

Aguiló cultivates her familial bonds. Her brother and some business partners run an organic farm with associated health food store next to the gallery. “They do their business, I do mine,” she says. The economic crisis didn´t severely affect her business, but the economic downturn was evident. “When I saw the gallery opened in 2005, the art business was booming globally.” The downturn especially damaged the secondary market, where investors trade in art for speculation. Aguiló almost exclusively collaborates with young artists. The prices for works in the gallery range between 1000 and 6000 euros. This seems quite affordable. “Art is fun, not luxury.” However: Those who try to haggle with her, don´t gain easy victory. “I’m not a carpet dealer, but selling serious art. This is a very personal, intimate property, for which I feel responsible to my artists,” Aguiló strictly remarks. About a dozen exhibitions throughout the year are shown in her gallery. She works with six artists on a regular basis – not always an easy task, as she admits. “A lot of patience is necessary to keep an artist happy, to tolerate his quirks, to support and to motivate him in his creative work. The business doesn´t make her rich, though. “I work to be consistent with me, not to earn millions,” she says. Dealing with numbers is, however, fundamental for a gallery owner.

“A gallery is like a company. Without accounting, it does not work.”

How does she find the artists? “This is a give and take. I find them and they find me. It´s a question of contacts. Networking in our industry is therefore extremely important.” The final decision on whether Aguiló takes the risk to start the exhibition largely depends on the sympathy between gallery owner and artist. Victoria straightforwardly tells someone if she doesn´t like him or his art. “Hypocrisy would be the completely wrong way. If someone is not good as an artist, you have to tell him the truth. ”

And anyway, in the opinion of Aguiló talented artists are not mass products. “It is a profession like any other, which presupposes a corresponding serious and comprehensive training. Whoever lacks that, is out of the game”, the gallery owner clearly states. Furthermore, artists should always actively improve, deal with new techniques, experiment, gain more experience. This is reflected by the works of art. “A landscape portrait is not something special any more. One needs new approaches to the presentation and the viewing angle to be recognized. Who wants to be successful, must surprise and provoke the audience.”

And what about the customers? Do they easily manage to find the way to Secar de La Real? “Who knows me, also knows where to find me,” replies Victoria. Neither she has nor she needs walk-in customers like some galleries in Palma’s old town. “A gallery is not a fashion boutique, where bored people tend to rummage,” she says. Both local and international audiences are interested in contemporary art, Aguiló assures. Nevertheless: “You can´t make a business with local buyers only these days.” Therefore she travels to international art fairs two or three times a year, in order to give her artists a larger, international professional audience.

What does her daily schedule look like? “No day is like another. Networking provides the bulk of my working time. I only open the gallery in the late afternoon. There are no fixed opening hours”, Aguiló says. Her main companions in everyday life include her iPhone and her laptop, both important tools in an increasingly networked global society. Would she feel tempted to move to one of the great art capitals like New York, London or Berlin? “No”, Victoria quickly replies. “Where creativity is defined by the number of artists per square meter, art begins to copy itself.” And this simply means the end of art. “It’s not the summit, which interested me, but the road towards it,” she says.

In September, Victoria Aguiló celebrates the fifth anniversary of her gallery with a special exhibition. More information at “Centre d’Art la Real” gallery, Camí de La Real, 5.

Skype: victoria_aguilo.

Text by Andreas John