The Dealer: Almine Rech

There aren’t many big-time dealers willing to take a hack’s call out of the blue without first sending them through their press team, but Almine Rech is one such character. Despite running seven international galleries, with spaces in New York, Paris and Shanghai, the Parisian is always willing to talk shop. Her lack of pretence is refreshing in an industry that often runs on hype, perception and, occasionally, bullshit.

Rech has been in the game since 1989, setting up her first gallery in Paris’s Marais that year, initially with an associate, before going it alone in 1997. As a female dealer who carved out her place in an artworld that was even more male-dominated back then, she knows the game better than most.

Her roster has never fitted neatly into one movement or generation. She kicked off with James Turrell, John McCracken and Joseph Kosuth, artists associated with minimalism, perceptual and conceptual art, before representing Jeff Koons, Richard Prince and DeWain Valentine. Today her programme stretches from estates such as Pablo Picasso and Tom Wesselmann to younger artists including Claire Tabouret, Ewa Juszkiewicz and Ali Cherri.

When I called her, I cut to the chase and asked whether she felt nostalgic for the past, given the gallery industry’s recent struggles. Her reply was characteristically straightforward. The flippers, she told me, have mostly disappeared, “but we avoided them anyway”. Rech said she’s only ever been interested in serious collectors.

Almine Rech's Artists

Running a gallery, let alone seven across six countries, isn’t getting any cheaper. Shipping, customs, insurance and fairs have all become more expensive. Despite this, she has been encouraged by younger collectors showing a growing interest in artists with established careers. Kim Tschang-Yeul and Leonora Carrington are two examples. “Historical and recognised artists are in high demand,” she said.

But Rech is also interested in what happens before an artist hits the big time. This is why she isn’t writing off the younger end of the market, even as collectors gravitate towards more familiar names. Several of the artists she represents, like Tabouret and Nathaniel Mary Quinn, are already tipped for serious institutional careers.

“We have very faithful collectors acquiring younger artists from our roster, especially those who have already had some museum shows and acquisitions, as this is the base to a strong career,” she said.

Rech is equally interested in artists whose reputations have yet to catch up with their importance. She pointed to women artists of the twentieth century, particularly those associated with Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism, as a group that remains undervalued. Vivian Springford, Emily Mason and Leonora Carrington are three examples. “This has been corrected in the last ten years, but I believe we are still far from where we should be,” she said.

The timing is apt, because in Paris Carrington is currently the subject of her first solo exhibition with the gallery, bringing together paintings, drawings, sculpture, tapestry and writing.

Are Art Fairs Still Relevant

When it comes to fairs, Rech’s approach is becoming more selective. She’s returning to Art Basel Paris this month, but has opted out of Frieze London, despite having exhibited there in previous years. The decision seems to reflect the reality of running a gallery at this scale. Fairs remain essential for meeting collectors, but the finances have become harder to justify across the board.

“The costs have become high, and we select the major fairs or some that are really local to our spaces, like in Brussels,” she said.

She considers their importance to be still largely human. “Fairs are still where we meet new collectors and reconnect with people we don’t see much otherwise, in Seoul, in Miami, in Basel, in Paris,” she said. The pandemic proved that plenty of the business could be done remotely, but it also made clear what couldn’t. “A lot was done digitally during COVID; the artworld had to. And we see now that meeting in person is essential: part can be done remotely, but only after we know one another, and most of the time the works need to be seen in person.”

The emphasis on being there in person also explains Rech’s approach to international expansion. The gallery’s development has been driven, she said, by “the growing number of collectors on the planet”, but proximity matters too. New spaces bring the gallery closer to local collectors and institutions, while giving artists new places and audiences for their work.

Market Movements

During our call, Rech told me she’s less interested in predicting the next market boom than in recognising the forces that keep bringing the cycles back around: “I think it's always because of the same causes; politics, wars, or economic factors.”

What she does believe is that the market for established artists will become increasingly tight. “Modern art works will become rarer and rarer, and probably those of the great artists of the second half of the twentieth century too,” she said. That, she believes, will keep the market strong. At the other end, curiosity will keep collectors looking for something new.

Rech has experienced the market’s movements enough times not to get too excited by either. What she does believe in is artists continuing to make work.

“I have seen the market go up and down many times, but I have never seen artists working and creating less. That makes me optimistic.”