A conversation with Alexis Hubshman

Shepard Fairey. Duality of Humanity 1, 2008. Mixed media and collage on paper. 30” x 44”. Courtesy of Jonathan LeVine Gallery.

By Janet Batet

We met Alexis Hubshman, director and promoter of Scope Art Fair and founder of Art Asia -Miami’s first Asian contemporary art fair- during his November 18-20 visit to Miami, hours prior to his talk at the Miami Art Museum Art Fair Survival Party, on the occasion of the inauguration of the 7^th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. Here are some of the topics we shared that afternoon.

JB- Alexis, What is the final intention behind your work?  

AH- I’m an artist and my passion is promoting young artists. That is what I want to accomplish with our foundation and Museum Presents, which is a means of showing new markets and young artists. We support curators, artists and even writers, putting them together to create what I call a “resource.” The real intention behind all that is to create a place where people can network. In that spirit, the foundation has another project called the CMA (Collector Mentorship Auction) where seasoned collectors are in touch with young collectors.

I don’t want this to be just an art fair; I want the public to come to my fair and see museum-quality programming. So, what I get excited by is that all our programming is starting to create something more than just a market pile, shopping carts, and you know what I mean.

JB- After seven years of running Art Scope, what do you think is its outcome for emergent art?

AH- Our foundation is showing young emerging galleries and young emerging artists; we are reflecting museum-quality programming. I think this is a valuable thing to do. Today, the art market is very interesting, as never before in our lifetime, your mother’s lifetime, your grandma’s lifetime; nothing like this has ever happened. I’m very proud of one thing. I believe that people who go to Art Basel really love it. Do you know why that is? Because of young emerging artists.

JB- We identify with young emerging artists. It’s a contemporary sensibility.

AH- Exactly and what I like is putting people together. Do you know what I say to my collectors? If I can sell you a piece of art and when you go to the bathroom at 3 o’clock in the morning, you see it and you go back to bed and you dream of it …That’s great; I’m satisfied. 

JB- At this point, do you think Scope is still a satellite fair?

AH- No, not any more. We are a global fair; we  are planning fairs in Dubai and  Madrid. So, you can’t be a satellite fair, if you are in more market cities than the other fairs and you also, by square inches, have the greatest number of exhibitors. But, let me think. Is Scope a satellite fair? No, it is a “little brother” fair. I like the little brother concept. By the way, my gallery was in the first Art Basel Miami. For two years we were the only other fair; now there are 27 other fairs.

I think we have more gravity, and an orbit is being created with Scope and Art Asia together; it’s becoming a different thing. I definitely feel that.

JB- By the way, I would like to know a little bit more about Art Asia. How did this idea get started?

AH- As you know, in Scope, I do a section of Asian galleries. So, in the case of Art Asia, many galleries kept asking me when we would focus on it. This is one part of the puzzle. The other part of the puzzle is where the money is right now. In the world, two places: the Middle East and Asia. That’s where the money is. Think of that. I like to pretend that I’m not a businessman, but at the end of the day, somehow we are all trying to survive.

JB- In the past few years, we have seen a change in the correlation between Biennials, Art Fairs and Auction Houses. In your opinion, what are the fundamental differences between these three structures? 

AH- Auction Houses control the market, but they are very restrictive. Now, Biennials are supported by museums and are dominated by curatorial sensibility. What happens with Art Fairs is that they are a real-time, day-to-day gauge of market value.

But, a funny thing is happening with Art Fairs.  By accident, they took away a lot of the power that was in the Auction Houses. Auction Houses are controlled by a handful of men in their seventies. A whole different market is happening outside. Look at the playing field and see the new constituency of young collectors. Young collectors don’t need to be intimidated by Auction Houses.

Money generated at Art Fairs has started to exceed what is generated at Auction Houses. It is a very interesting dynamic: a flow shifting power from the Auction House to the Art Fair and the talent -and I don’t believe this is necessarily a good thing- but we slowly see a talent flow. People need to survive and make money. A show in a museum looks great on your résumé, but you go to an Art Fair and you sell your art so you can feed your kids. It’s a good and a bad thing. I do not pretend that Art Fairs are great; I just think they are a great opportunity.

JB- We could add maybe the fact that Art Fairs are, let us say, in a certain way, more democratic for the artists.

AH- Perfect. Well said.

JB- In his most recent book, The Art Fair Age, Paco Barragán states that we are definitely entering into the Art Fair Age: “…we are witnessing a kind of Boom Fair phenomenon…” he says. Do you see this phenomenon as a boom, or is this boom starting to turn into hypertrophy? 

AH- Look, this market is over!  It is a reality check.  You know, I remember looking across the street from me and seeing a guy making $50,000 a year with an $800,000 house and two cars -one of them a Hummer-, and I asked myself how, how, how?! So, yes, the boom is over in a big way, in a huge way.

JB- It’s a global contraction; the huge bubble is bursting.

AH- Yes, and we are lucky because I own my company and people know me and trust me. I’m a known quantity and I’m showing 145 galleries from almost 30 countries in a 100,000 square foot space. This does not attest to anything other than the fact that the new thing that should be taking place, is happening. And what I mean by that is that the people you trust are the people you may do business with. So, look at Art Miami. They lost 30% of their galleries, but they were headed by corporations. So, you have to look at it that way. The boom is over and not in a bad way; good work will be sold, always.

JB- In an interview with Kate Taylor at The New York Sun, you stated that the last thing you wanted to be is “the guy who comes in and make his money and leaves.” 

AH- It is not my style. That’s why we are a nonprofit foundation. You know, I have done so many projects from Town House Hotel, giving to all the young kids on the street. But it’s not just about giving money; it’s about buying uniforms, getting a school bus, bringing kids to the collection, making them build kites at the Townhouse with the artists, making ice cream together. You see. So, it is not about how much you donate, but about starting to build bridges.

JB- Thanks for bringing up this topic. I feel that one of the most important things institutions, organizers, and art lovers in general must do, is to work together to build a relationship between art and the community. Just look at what is happening here in the Wynwood District. On the one hand, there is a lot of interest in restoring the neighborhood and transforming it into an art center, which is wonderful, but there are no visible efforts to incorporate the people living in the city into this movement. 

AH- And that is so true. You must provide an opportunity to involve people. I’ll give you an example: Two years ago, when we exhibited at Roberto Clemente Park, located in the midst of the Wynwood District, I sent all my staff with VIP passes to every house in the neighborhood. On the one hand, I did it because my heart said it was the right thing to do; and on the other hand, because it was such a dangerous neighborhood, I wanted to be sure that everybody knew we were there and would respect that. A funny thing happened. We got so much love and so much respect that not a single step of my building was marred with graffiti.

So, how can you go into a neighborhood and just say, “Excuse me, but this is my place now.” That’s disgusting.  I’m not trying to be smart, but it’s just that you are in their house and you must be respectful.  What you do is build bridges of friendship. 

JB- And that brings us back to the initial idea about connecting people; art as a bridge, as a resource, a place for networking.

AH- Of course, that’s what it’s all about.

Janet Batet: Independent curator and art critic. BA in Art History (University of Havana, Cuba); MA in Multimedia (University of Quebec