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“Give us a snapshot of a day in your life - what is a typical day for you?”

Everyday is different, and it is a very hands on environment

A small gallery of about 10 people, Miguel primarily deals with mid career and emerging artists.

60% of my time is probably spent in the gallery

I'm across artist management, part sales and part exhibitions.

I spend my days doing walkthroughs and meetings with clients, with press people, previews. There's certainly some administrative work involved, emails and phone, trying to do more phone calls recently

In person, sales are primarily done through art fairs

Art is so personal, so boundaries are sometimes non existent with the hours I can work on some days

Instagram is a huge resource and place to see and connect with collectors and artists - I’m on this a lot

“How did you get started in the art world and have you always been at Miguel Abreu Gallery? How long did it take you to achieve your role as Director? Was this always a goal of yours?”

Found my first job at a gallery though NYFA, after some doing doing freelance writing which has really helped me in my career

Worked at Fergus McCaffrey Gallery. which is a more commercial gallery in Chelsea

Stayed for 4+ years, grew into director role organically from sticking with it, learning and opportunities that presented themselves

“How often are you traveling for work? Do you have a favorite work-travel experience? Any fun or cool stories you can share?”

Travel often for art fairs around the world

The art fairs become a community, everyone that works in the arts is in it together and is having a shared experience. So much time is spent at these fairs, setting up, breaking down, etc. It kind of feels like going to camp. Especially in smaller cities like Basel

One time at a fair in France I was feeling a bit delusional and someone was asking me about a piece of art in French, luckily we already sold the piece, but I actually tried to communicate back to him in French even though I didn’t know the language. He had no clue what I was saying and it was pretty embarrassing. (we laughed)

“What would your advice be to your younger self now that you’ve been around gallery organizations for a while now?”

Overall something that’s become really obvious to me over the years is the importance of experience rather than your education. Of course education is so important, but the experience is what really matters and helps you go far

What trends have you been seeing lately? Do you have any insights or predictions for the few years ahead?

* I think we're shifting away from figurative works


* Of course paintings are easier to sell than sculptures


* Landscapes in paintings are becoming more relevant, I’ve been hearing this from many people in my industry


* I believe over the next 6 months this will be more defined 


How does your gallery discover its artists to show and represent?

* We try and keep a pretty small roster, and not all galleries do that, but only because we create very personal relationships


* We don’t add in new artists often, but our most recent one we discovered at a fair 


* Galleries also share artists with one another, which is helpful to everyone involved


* We learn about artists via word of mouth


* We have about 20 artists in our roster


How far in advance does the gallery line up its shows?

* About 6-8 months, and we have two locations 


* In one of our spaces we can be a bit more experimental and we have something going on called Sequence where we have one work by one artist every 1-2 weeks - we can pull out works we haven’t seen in a while and highlight them 


What would your advice be to young and emerging artists?

* Bring as many people in to your studio as you can, invite everyone you can


* Develop at least one body of work 


* Go to fairs, get into group shows, apply to shows, get your work out there 


* Get in touch with the gallery director at a gallery via email or instagram, that’s your best bet - invite them to visit your studio and see your works in person 


What has been a positive experience with an artist that you’ve worked with and why?

* I’m fortunate enough to say most of my experiences have been very positive


* I’m helping a lot of artists to sustain their careers, so that drives me


What has been a challenging experience with an artist you’ve worked with and why?

* Sometimes it’s challenging being honest with an artist about their work, because it’s so personal 


Do you have a personal art practice? What medium do you gravitate toward?

* There are 5 paintings I’ve made that do still exist!