Today we’d like to introduce you to Selena Cerami.
Selena, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Art has been the single constant throughout my life, seems that it has always been there, I can’t remember the real first moment. As a child, I used to spend a lot of time with my aunt Carla, a successful businesswoman, a world traveller, and a great collector. Her house was a Wunderkammer, batik, masks, paintings and rarities from all over the world.
As a kid, I enjoyed art activities and doing an academic drawing to explore the technical avenues of art, art history. I started to travel to see exhibitions, art fairs and biennale around Europe and it developed from a hobby to a full-time passion. Fellow artists motivated me to open my own gallery and with a lot of reluctance at first, I have started building up connections and renting a very small space and dove right in with the first exhibition titled HOC EVA. I feel very lucky to be surrounded by artists and collectors, all of whom make my life better.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Any business has its challenges. When your passion becomes your profession, it becomes hard to manage the time in your day and life. The first years of a business are pretty intense, people around you also need to adjust to the idea of you working all the time. Art comes first. I have artists in LA and also in Europe and I like to always be reachable for them — which means I am on my phone and email 24/7. The gallery schedule is a bit different from a traditional Monday to Friday job. Exhibitions are pretty hectic too: from the concept idea of a show to the opening night, there are meetings, 1000 emails, 2000 phone calls, and it all becomes very physical too with installing, packing and shipping.
I have realised that the biggest obstacles that stand in the middle of things are my fears and insecurities, which you learn to overcome and control time to time creating a “success mindset.”
Every time a doubt or fear would surface, I would remind myself that everything I wanted to create was absolutely possible. I did this over and over again and just focused on doing everything I could to take a step forward. I am committed to personal and professional growth, to changing my life and changing the world at the same time. I absolutely know I want to have an impact on people’s lives through art. I want to help artists achieve their dreams and achieve mine at the same time. I aim to bring to the public exhibitions that reflect on history, myth, identity, sexuality, outer world, technology and human relationships.
Eve Leibe Gallery – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Eve Leibe Gallery is a nomadic gallery that decided to move from being a physical space to bring exhibitions around London and abroad with a focus on emerging artists. In this way, it constantly changes the type of community, artists and collectors it interacts with. Predominantly centred around painting. I have been attracted to the medium from the day I discovered contemporary art, and continuing to exhibit and surround myself with the great tradition of painting is a driving force. While painting is definitely at the forefront of my program, I also show other mediums such as sculpture and video installation. The great thing of being a new gallery you have the power to dare and be provocative as you can is exciting to define through exhibition g the character of the gallery, discovering artists that create art that corresponds to that.
The gallery’s most recent exhibitions are ‘Comic Tendencies’, a group show bringing together Samantha Rosenwald, Oda Iselin Sønderland and Maurizio Bongiovanni for the first time in London and in December the show ‘I Hope This Finds You Well’ a group exhibition exploring the relationship between technology and detachment. The show has been a feature in the ten exhibitions to see in London in December by the Royal Academy of Arts. I am looking forward to this year 2020. I will participate for the first time to “Draw Art Fair” at the Saatchi Gallery with the work by Oda Iselin Sønderland and will have a show in collaboration with Elephant Magazine in their art gallery called Elephant West. More exhibitions and workshops that are now crystallising. I will also come to Los Angeles for the Summer, which is so exciting!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I am glad to see that my work is taken into consideration by collectors that I very much respect, other gallerists. Be able to show the artworks by artists that I believe in makes me proud.
What role has luck (good luck or bad luck) played in your life and business? There is No Such Thing as Luck. There is no effortless way to win success. “Luck” is when preparation meets opportunities.
Contact Info:
- Address: 30 Elizabeth Belgravia, London SW1W 9RB
- Website: https://www.eveleibegallery.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eveleibegallery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eveleibegallery/
- Other: https://www.artsy.net/eve-leibe-gallery
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