Conversations with Carine Fabius

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carine Fabius

Hi Carine, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am Haitian-American, my husband Pascal Giacomini is a French American artist/sculptor/filmmaker/luthier. Back in the late eighties, after we got married, we decided to take a trip to Haiti to visit my family. We came back with lots of Haitian paintings, which we hung throughout our house. (Most people don’t know this about Haiti, but if you go there, even if you hate art, you will bring back at least five pieces because art is everywhere there.) Literally, everyone who came through our doors noticed our paintings and asked if we would bring them back some art on our next trip. Finally, one day I looked at my husband and said, “Maybe we should turn this house into a Haitian art gallery,” to which he responded, “I was just thinking about that yesterday!”

So off we went on our first buying trip. When we came back, we realized we had no lighting system, everything had to be framed, there was no mailing list, and we had no clue about how to operate an art gallery! So, we got to work figuring it all out, and within a couple of years, we had been written about in the Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair magazine, Bon Appetit magazine, and featured in various television outlets. The gallery really took off. Today, although we are known for specializing in Haitian art, I think of us as a contemporary ethnic art gallery, which features works by artists of color from around the world. Our home has doubled as a private art gallery for 35 years (we’re open by appointment). It operates out of our Craftsman style house with two sculpture gardens. There is art everywhere.

Alright, 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?
I wouldn’t call them struggles, but it’s been a lot of hard work. Over the years, we could always be found loading our truck with 50 paintings to do shows wherever we could to meet potential new clients and to get the word out about the gallery–at restaurants and all kinds of public spaces with lobbies that could accommodate art, from the Directors Guild of America to Creative Artists Agency to municipal spaces connected to the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. I also curated museum exhibitions of Haitian art in various Southern California venues. Additionally, we did every art fair we could find, from street fairs to prestigious trade shows in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Most recently, in November 2024 I curated an exhibition titled “Day of the Dead in Haiti” at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery at the occasion of their annual Day of the Dead event. Whoever thinks being an art dealer means sitting around waiting for clients to walk in the door to purchase art, guess again!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Before getting into the art business, I worked in the public relations field for 5 years, which really helped me learn about the marketing and promotion of our gallery. In addition to that work, I have always been a writer, with six published fiction and non-fiction books, and a 7th on the way. My writing skills have been a huge boon to all that we do to create opportunities for our gallery as well as my husband’s various artistic projects, like writing proposals to various entities to fund public exhibitions, such as the art exhibits I organized at LAX.

What are your plans for the future?
We don’t have any big changes planned for the future, just doing more of what we love: scouting for new, exciting artists, installing exhibitions both in the gallery and in more public spaces, and taking our art on the road to venues that allow us to expose the art of Haiti and ethnic art to people everywhere.

Pricing:

• $300-$15,000

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.galerielakaye.com
• Instagram: @galerielakaye

 

Image Credits
Photographs by Pascal Giacomini