The artwork world may be difficult to navigate for non-insiders, and much more so for a younger couple fully new to the world of gathering. But analysis means that people are instinctively pushed to gather objects, photographs and different aesthetic traces that come to mirror a life, its actions and its reminiscences. Carl Gambino and Sara Ivory’s gathering journey started organically, as they introduced again artworks from their travels—souvenirs not solely of locations, but in addition of human encounters, as they typically sought out native artists. That early, unformed method to gathering finally developed into one thing extra deliberate and finally grew to become intertwined with their skilled lives and their rising household.
Observer met Gambino, who’s in actual property, and Ivory, who’s in inside design, of their two-floor riverfront dwelling in Brooklyn Heights. Each are of their late thirties, and so they moved into the property with their two youngsters only a yr in the past. Even so, all the pieces about their dwelling feels not solely extremely curated when it comes to the dialogue between artwork and furnishings but in addition rigorously calibrated and seamlessly built-in into the lived rhythm of a household dwelling.
“We already had an present assortment to position, however I have a tendency to maneuver very quick on the subject of design on the whole,” Ivory, who curated the inside, mentioned. “I additionally know that the artwork we usher in is sort of at all times very colourful, so I attempt to preserve the encompassing palette pretty impartial. That method, the colour can actually come from the work itself.”
Vibrant palettes and energetic compositions dominate lots of the works on view, punctuating the clear, minimal inside with vivid notes. The structure favors impartial tones and heat supplies, permitting the artwork to take middle stage. “Sara at all times beloved extremely colourful artwork. I used to be on a really colorful-art kick for a few years, too, although recently I’ve discovered myself drawn to darker work,” Gambino mirrored.
A lot of this chromatic vitality emanates from contemplative landscapes, lush forests and harmonious floral compositions—typically figurative, typically summary—that have interaction in a quiet dialogue with the park’s greenery exterior, coming alive as they’re bathed in pure gentle.
A lyrical work by Tianyue Zhong, characterised by harmonious layers of nature-inspired summary brushstrokes, is elegantly encased inside a custom-made library. The construction additionally accommodates smaller artworks and design objects. “I needed to create one thing particular for Carl’s favourite piece,” Ivory explains, noting how the setup additionally facilitates frequent rotation, since smaller works can merely relaxation inside the construction with out the necessity for drilling. Nonetheless, works have already rotated a number of occasions all through the home, as they attempt to show all that they’ve collected over time at one level or one other.
Carl Gambino grew up in New Jersey in an Italian American household, whereas Ivory was raised in Miami by Colombian dad and mom—each environments providing restricted publicity to wild, expansive nature past the tropical coastlines. That untamed pure world is one thing they’ve each longed for. “I believe we each love Europe, and we love being there. And I believe we’re drawn to that feeling of nature within the work,” Ivory notes.
If contemplation of nature recurs throughout the gathering, one other equally current thread is present in intimate moments and fragments of day by day life, typically centered round home settings—a tablecloth, a nook of a room, an unguarded gesture. One of many artists the Gambinos have collected extensively is Claudia Kleep, whose painterly apply—typically centered on small codecs—reveals the quiet complexity of quotidian moments.
Their gathering course of is essentially shared, although acquisitions typically arrive with a way of urgency—notably on Gambino’s facet—as he always scans for brand new expertise and takes steps to safe works earlier than an artist’s trajectory takes off. That stress typically clashes with the tempo of on a regular basis life, but it surely’s a dynamic embedded out there—and one which, for Gambino, makes discovery not solely thrilling but in addition well timed.
Since he started gathering, Gambino has demonstrated not solely a eager eye but in addition the tenacity to pursue his instinct relentlessly, activating each potential channel to safe works he believes in. He recollects calling, texting, and emailing repeatedly to acquire a chunk by Alejandro Pinero Belo from the artist’s first gallery, KDR, simply as his profession was starting to take off.
This, regardless of having really found him a lot earlier—throughout a visit to Cuba that coincided with the Havana Biennial. “We had been gathering very instinctively. If we went to Colombia, Cuba or different locations, we might merely observe, attempt to meet some native artists and buy a wide range of works,” Gambino recollects. “In 2014, we went to Cuba throughout the Havana Biennial and visited what was once a rustic membership that had been transformed into an enormous artwork college, the place Alejandro and plenty of different Cuban artists studied. We ended up shopping for a number of items straight from college students there.”
Recalling that point, the couple admits they knew little or no concerning the system—the broader equipment of the artwork world. Ivory’s father was an artist, however not a commercially profitable one. He understood the artwork world, but by no means actually tried to take part in it as a market. “I grew up round artists, however not the glamorous facet of artwork,” Ivory recollects, describing a childhood formed by precarity—by the stress between her father’s inventive conviction and the requirements of on a regular basis survival. Gambino’s expertise was even additional eliminated. “I used to be born within the metropolis however grew up in New Jersey, in an Italian American household with completely no artwork schooling. The artwork in our home was extra like dwelling décor—issues that actually mentioned, ‘Your home is a house,’” he shares. “However for so long as I can keep in mind, I’ve been drawn to artwork. I nonetheless really feel that it makes life higher, that it provides one thing important.”
Their entry level was by way of key relationships that helped them discover their footing within the artwork world. Early on, Gambino met Kim Hastreiter, co-founder of Paper journal, who describes herself as an “obsessive collector.” She opened her assortment to him and performed a pivotal function in shaping his journey as a collector. Via her, he was launched to Marsea Goldberg, founding father of New Picture in Los Angeles, a small gallery with an outsized impression, recognized for nurturing artists early whereas guiding new collectors. For Gambino, as for a lot of younger collectors, these early relationships proved foundational. “They taught me to purchase solely what I like,” he says.
Drawing on the comfortable abilities developed by way of his actual property profession, Gambino shortly discovered that relationship-building was simply as important within the artwork world—not just for entry, but in addition for timing, perception and, finally, negotiation.
From New Picture, Gambino acquired one among their earliest up to date works: a portray by Jeffrey Cheung. Although Cheung’s market by no means spiked dramatically, his colourful, playful and absurdist compositions—with figures multiplying as if to recommend the various dimensions of the self—proceed to fascinate the couple. Over time, they acquired a number of works by him, as they did with different artists they deeply imagine in, together with Claudia Kleep and Alejandro Pinero Belo.
For the couple, gathering multiples is each a option to help an artist’s trajectory and to assemble a significant group of works that actually displays a apply. “Over time, and from different collectors, we picked up this concept that if you actually imagine in an artist, you attempt to dwell with multiple work. Two or three, if potential,” Gambino mentioned. “That’s one thing we’ve carried by way of the gathering—we personal multiples of just about everybody we love.”
In simply ten years, the pair’s assortment has grown to over 100 works. What started as spontaneous ardour progressively become one thing nearer to obsession—notably for Gambino. New works arrive nearly each month, though they’ve tried to ascertain a month-to-month price range, and Ivory diligently tries to archive all the pieces digitally, protecting tempo with Gambino’s rhythm proves difficult, as his acquisitions stay guided primarily by intuition, eye and emotion earlier than any ratio. “There have been durations this yr when issues simply stored arriving—typically not small issues in any respect. Like that massive picket crate,” Ivory mentioned. “I beloved it. It nearly become an obsession,” Gambino added.
But, the reference to each the work and its creator stays an important a part of the couple’s assortment, which is why the main focus stays firmly on rising artists moderately than celeb names. That path, Gambino explains, is way extra thrilling and significant: it permits for gathering with intention, typically with tangible impression on an artist’s profession and, continuously, the formation of real relationships.
“I like the concept of supporting what’s new,” Gambino defined, noting how a few of his collector mates—these extra financially pushed—query why he doesn’t think about buying single works by established names. “I’d moderately purchase many works that I genuinely love and help the artists making them,” he mentioned. “Artwork isn’t how I generate profits. I generate profits in actual property. If I desire a secure return, I can put 300 thousand right into a property and realize it’ll carry out. With artwork, it’s completely different. It’s concerning the pleasure of dwelling with it—wanting the work round you, each day, as a part of your life.”
The only blue-chip work within the assortment is a David Hockney iPad portray. However Gambino likes to be actively concerned, supporting artists early and witnessing their ascent to blue-chip standing, as has already occurred with artists like Pinero Belo and Marco Pariani. Then there’s British artist Rex Southwick, whom Gambino linked with by way of Instagram, and that connection grew to become an ongoing change: Gambino would ship Southwick pictures of the villas he bought, Southwick would reinterpret them in his signature kaleidoscopically vibrant palette, and Gambino would reward the work to the properties’ new house owners. Consequently, Southwick’s work has since entered the collections of main celebrities and outstanding households on each coasts.
On a number of events, Gambino has taken an energetic function in supporting artists past gathering—serving to to position works, encouraging mates to purchase and providing monetary help when artists attain institutional milestones, equivalent to LaKela Brown’s current exhibition on the Museum of Modern Artwork Detroit.
However on the subject of introducing others to the artwork world, Gambino acknowledged that boundaries stay. Pals with restricted budgets typically really feel excluded, prompting him to encourage small beginnings—college exhibits, rising artists, direct purchases. Pals with vital means face completely different dangers—primarily being taken benefit of. “In each circumstances, I attempt to carry them with me, introduce trusted folks, assist them perceive the way it works,” he mentioned. “The artwork world is a enterprise, whether or not you prefer it or not. I don’t deal with it like a enterprise—it’s a ardour—however relationships matter. That’s true in each business. I simply occurred to spend years constructing them right here, and fortuitously, it intersects naturally with my work.”
A lot has modified—each positively and negatively—inside the ultra-contemporary section the place Gambino focuses. There may be extra work circulating now and better accessibility, but in addition extra filtering and elevated problem in figuring out who will endure. What feels genuinely encouraging, Gambino notes, is the rising recognition by main galleries of the significance of rising areas, and the shift towards collaboration moderately than competitors. “You see partnerships now—like Tempo working with KDR—and I believe that’s really fantastic. That didn’t actually occur earlier than.”
They agree the ecosystem feels extra approachable at present than once they first began. “Galleries are faster to point out work, extra open to entry and fewer guarded. A few of the previous video games nonetheless exist—the stress, the implied expectations—however we see far much less of it now, particularly as extra work turns into obtainable digitally,” Gambino mirrored.
Many purchases now happen remotely, typically with out the chance to see the work in individual. “For sure works, when you don’t purchase on-line, you merely received’t get them except you’re keen to fly around the globe always,” he mentioned. “Typically I’ve seen different works by the artist earlier than, typically it’s instinct and typically it’s belief within the gallery. That’s why relationships nonetheless matter.” He acknowledges that this can be a generational facet. Rising up digitally means being comfy experiencing the world by way of screens, making youthful consumers extra comfy with this explicit structural actuality of up to date gathering.
Nonetheless, artwork festivals stay a central a part of Gambino’s ardour—and one thing he actually enjoys. Regardless of changing into extra selective about journey on account of time and work constraints, the joy hasn’t light. “If I might, I’d go to each truthful on the planet. Basel, Armory Week—that’s my favourite time of yr,” he mentioned. “I like actual property, I like my job, I’m grateful for it, but when I might spend most of my time simply taking a look at artwork, I might.”
Gambino and Ivory’s relationship to gathering differs, but it’s clear they complement each other. For him, the eagerness borders on obsession—returning to festivals day after day, rewalking aisles endlessly. For Ivory, one go is sufficient. “We’re very completely different that method. He’ll return to a good each single day. I’ll stroll by way of as soon as, see what I like, and that’s it. I hit saturation sooner,” Ivory acknowledged. However the stability works. One researches; the opposite responds instinctively. The ultimate choice is at all times made collectively, and most frequently comes all the way down to a easy query: can we need to dwell with this?
If Gambino and Ivory’s gathering started as an instinctive extension of journey and curiosity, lengthy earlier than they understood the artwork world’s complicated machinations, a decade later, their Brooklyn Heights dwelling tells the story of a group formed by relationships, instinct and a need to dwell intently with artwork moderately than speculate on it.
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