Meet Sophocles Plokamakis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophocles Plokamakis.

Hi Sophocles, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started curating tabled art shows in Astoria, Queens, NY around 2012 at a Greek cultural center for the arts as Vice President of the Greek Artist Guild. After several more shows there I decided that it was time to take the curation of art shows to a more professional venue for art, a real gallery.

Totally by luck, I attended a Jack Kirby art exhibition at One Art Space gallery in 2018 in TriBeCa NYC and it was there where I met Diego the gallery curator at the time. I was impressed at the beauty of the space and I told him my goal of curating a gallery exhibition and he surprised me by saying that I could curate a show there!

It was at Septemberfest at One Art Space my first gallery exhibition in September of 2018 where I met my wife (Thais) who is a talented painter and who was a featured artist in the show.

We started dating shortly after and she helped me with several other shows at One Art Space before we created Our business Start Shows in September of 2019.

Our company helps artists have a great start in the NYC art world by exhibiting in NYC galleries while also teaching and nurturing the artists about selling, marketing and presenting their art with One art space being the main gallery we use for our platform.

Since then we’ve helped hundreds of artists exhibit and sell their art in galleries in NYC!

It’s been a beautiful journey and it’s something we love to do and we’re very proud of!

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?
It has not been a smooth road reaching the point we were at now. One of the struggles along the way was  making the business profitable.

When I first started curating shows at one art space before My wife (Thais) and I founded our company, I was just starting out, and I didn’t have as much experience as I do now.

I learned a lot about sales and marketing through trial and error and studying and it helped us make the business profitable after we founded our company.

Another obstacle was in 2020 the pandemic hit, and for several months we were unable to do what we loved and curate shows, we even had to cancel a show.

Those were dark times but like any hard time, they pass eventually. I’m glad we stuck with it!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Aside from being an artpreneur and art exhibition curator, I am also an artist myself.

I specialize in sequential storytelling, creating comics. I am known for my comic book Farm Boy that I created, wrote, drew and designed all by myself.

What sets it apart from others is that it is all hand drawn at the moment and the first couple of chapters are in different mediums, copic markers and color pencils. I plan on making the next chapter in acrylic paint and Posca-pens.

I am also working on producing our next art show, New You Art exhibition at One Art Space gallery. It is free admission and open to the public.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
When it comes to making art, have fun! Experiment with different mediums and styles and learn from the artists that inspire you.

When I was first starting out, I wish I experimented with color more, as in college at the School of Visual Arts I mostly made comics like Japanese manga in black and white.

After curating many shows at one art space, I was inspired by all the colorful pieces of art and decided to rewrite and redraw FarmBoy my college comic book project in full-color thanks to the artists in the shows.

The color in my opinion breathed life into the story and it’s been a blast working on it!

In terms of being an artpreneur and business owner and curator, for those starting out, I would say to follow your intuition and passion and to create a business that you believe in and around something you enjoy,

Also to be careful who you choose to do business with because it’s a reflection upon you and your company.

Contact Info:

• Website: Startshowsnyc.com
• Instagram:  @Startshows
• TikTok: Startshows
• Twitter: @startshowsnyc
• Other: Farmboy art ig: @farmboynft

Image Credits
Larry leventhal