Modern Luxury Modern Luxury | April 23, 2021 | Culture, People,
From fashion to fine arts and art consulting, the throughline for Gabé Hirschowitz has been that art should be accessible and deeply intertwined with daily life. The founder of UNICEF’s groundbreaking Next Generation Art Party and former Acquisitions Committees manager at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), she has a long history of supporting new and emerging artists, merging the same instincts into her art advising and philanthropic efforts.
Whether she’s discovering up-and-coming artists or volunteering with youth programs at her long-time supported non-profit organization, Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services in Los Angeles, one thing remains constant: she stands as a strong advocate for keeping the arts alive in everyday life. Among the many ways she donates her time and expertise, for instance, she especially enjoys organizing educational museum visits and art-focused activities for Los Angeles-area children.
Other stand-out endeavors for her include traveling to Indonesia with UNICEF Next Generation to assist in administering polio vaccinations to children and visiting women’s shelters in Morocco with Women’s Voices Now to document residents’ experiences. In addition to these trips and stateside volunteer work, she has curated numerous art exhibits benefitting worthy causes such as Stand Up To Cancer at Soho House West Hollywood and UNICEF’s Tap Project--a nationwide campaign that provides children in impoverished nations access to safe, clean water.
“This past decade has been incredibly eye-opening for me,” Gabé says. “I discovered my purpose through my passion.”
Now, in the same spirit, Gabé’s recently launched online platform, GaleriePerrie.com, is an extension of her lifelong love of art. With it, she is broadening her scope to make professionally curated décor available to the general public and longtime collectors alike with a simple click. The site features fresh, contemporary work from established and emerging artists around the globe, presenting it for direct sale online. “My goal with Galerie Perrie,” says Gabé, “is to provide a platform for art I believe in.”
According to Gabé, Galerie Perrie’s aim is to expand the world of art collecting in an exciting new way that gives everyone access to collecting some of the most cutting-edge work today. Fascinated by this idea, Modern Luxury sat down with Gabé recently to find out what inspires her and to learn more about her latest venture.
Tell us about how you curate a collection. When you find something that you love and want to include—can you describe that moment of meeting the artist, seeing the work?
It’s just an immediate feeling I get when I’m connected with people who have authentic talent and a strong work ethic. Their work is a representation of their culture, energy, values, and their way of being—the colors that are used, the materials, the patterns. In Peru, I traveled to a remote village where the Quechua people were dyeing cotton with food pigments—all natural pigments made out of chili peppers and herbs. It was really incredible.
Meeting creative people, visiting artist studios, and discovering what inspires their work; whether they’re driven by personal spiritual practices, political beliefs, religion etc., it’s all very connected. Despite our differences, all humans share a desire for creative expression--art, in other words, is a universal language. As a result, Galerie Perrie is committed to representing artists of different races, cultures, genders, religions, socio-economic backgrounds, and countries as much as possible.
How did the idea for Galerie Perrie begin?
I’m a firm believer that art breathes life into any space. It’s not only something we see but something we experience. Over the course of my career thus far, there’s been nothing quite like helping clients acquire art that speaks to them. One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that different clients and friends have repeatedly expressed how intimidating it can be to walk into a gallery and begin the process alone. So with Galerie Perrie I want to make this easier by providing an online platform that feels welcoming and accessible to everyone, to eliminate that intimidation factor and make art collecting enjoyable. That’s one reason why, unlike many traditional galleries, our prices are clearly noted on GaleriePerrie.com--and why one of the site’s main focuses is navigability. Plus, Galerie Perrie offers a wide range of services, from installment-payment options to professional curatorial services. The underlying philosophy in all this, put simply, is to help anyone invest in the art they love.
Tell us about the initial collection that you curated for the launch of GaleriePerrie.com.
Truthfully, everything available right now I’d hang in my own home. In fact, I’ve personally been involved in selecting each piece on the site, and I will continue doing so for each curation cycle. To begin with, we have a collection of photography I’m very excited about: after all, there’s something so timeless about a beautiful black-and-white photography collection. Likewise, we’re launching with a wide variety of unique ceramics and abstract and figurative art; mindful of differing tastes, our goal is to include a wide variety of works and mediums. We’re also offering consulting services in which we meet with clients and their interior designers and go from wall to wall helping them find art and design objects that will be a good fit for a given home or office space.
How is GaleriePerrie.com different from other online art sites?
Foremost, we value quality over quantity, so every object featured for purchase has undergone a rigorous certification of its provenance and value. Also, we present a rotating collection of exclusive works which is refreshed each month. Other sites are wonderfully diverse, but you need to know exactly what you’re looking for ahead of time or their surplus inventory can become quite overwhelming.
In other words, rather than taking a broad approach to art sales, GaleriePerrie.com’s focus is on our artists’ talent and long-term growth and development. As a result, we have genuine confidence in the works we feature, and our buyers can be assured that we aren’t simply putting every piece we come across online.
Are there any upcoming collaborations or special projects for Galerie Perrie?
One exciting development in the works is a special guest-curator program we’ll be launching later this year. This will allow our visitors to experience collections chosen by a variety of expert consultants with different ideas about what is most exciting in the art world today. We’re also planning to leverage a plethora of additional creative partnerships in the coming months, to launch virtual artist-studio visits, to begin in-person pop-up exhibits as soon as they make sense. We value a bold variety of creative perspectives and outlooks from our artists, and in keeping with this, we strive to provide numerous new approaches to presenting their work.
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