A Conversation with GIACOMO GUIDI
Scholar of Contemporary Phenomena at CONTEMPORARY CLUSTER

I believe in time. In the matter we are made of. Humans are time: we live within time, within our finiteness, and are condemned to be what we are. But art — and this is its power — manages to go beyond time itself.

A Conversation with Francesco Ozzola
Founder · Director of Suburbia Contemporary

Growing up in Florence, art was just there—everywhere. It wasn’t some big revelation; it crept in slowly. Eventually, I realized art isn’t just to be admired. It demands something. It resists. It has consequences. What matters to me is how art reframes things—socially, emotionally, politically. It can shake what feels settled. With Suburbia Contemporary, I try to keep that alive. We work with artists who challenge forms and codes, who treat images as thresholds—open, not closed.

A Conversation with ANN PRIFTIS
CEO of Whistler Contemporary Gallery

It’s impossible to measure the importance of the arts on a global scale. Art is a fundamental way for humans to express themselves and share ideas. Art can often be a mechanism to have difficult conversations on important topics that would otherwise be too tricky to navigate. Artistic expression connects cultures, bridges ideological divides and expands viewpoints … artistic expression and democratic access to that expression is essential to human life.

A Conversation with Melanie Prapopulos
Founder · Director · Curator of The Contemporary Art Modern Project

I strongly feel that artists stand in the unique position of being - what the Romantics termed - our present day prophets. Not that they necessarily forge messages of doom - but more they reflect where we are. Some artists do consciously respond to their environment, others unconsciously - that is what interests me. I consciously look for art that floats in and out of the artist's awareness and that of the viewer. For me, and all the CAMPers, the interdisciplinary aspect of how we all curate is key. Art is so much more than matching in a home - it is the reinforcement of what we want. I will explain - if artists are responding to the world around them - regardless of their topic, for the collector, it is how that work resonates with them. I think our first reaction to art is how or what draws us in: the color, the medium, the shape - then it is the story or stories from both the artist and the curator that 'hits' a chord that then invites the viewer in. Once a viewer can find something in art that comforts or even alarms, that is what really matters. I do think it is important, though, to cater not to just one audience - art needs to be free to enter as many conversations as possible. That does not mean one focuses on neutral art, but more that there is not a limitation.

Owner · Director of Monya Rowe Gallery

I’ve always been into interesting, creative things in some way, but I can’t say it’s always been highbrow. There wasn’t a turning moment of realizing I like art; it all just came naturally. I think art connects people, inspires, challenges, and helps us to understand ourselves. Galleries, not beholden to the mainstream or their peers, are unafraid to voice an alternative view that might be rooted in politics or sexuality. They also identify the art they perceive as being important to the canon. Before it’s seen in a museum, it was in a gallery.

Conversation with OLIVIER ANTOINE
Founder of ART: CONCEPT

It wasn't a work of art that made me fall in love with it, but I was fascinated from an early age by the ability of human beings to invent forms and develop ideas through them. Art shows us the space that separates us, connects us, irritates us. It's a kind of accomplice in my life, art is really everywhere, it allows me to broaden what we call reality.

A Conversation with GRIFF WILLIAMS · Founder of GALLERY 16 · San Francisco · CA

A great thing about living in San Francisco is that, until very recently, it was an incredible city for artists because it was a vibrant community of artists living outside the pressures of the market. It has been home to an incredible list of contemporary artists. San Francisco was always an anomaly among American cities. It doesn’t want to be NY or LA. That’s exactly what made it great. I made an award-winning documentary film about the Bay Area art community titled Tell Them We Were Here. The film chronicles artists living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area and how they extend the historical legacy of Bay Area activism. In an age of hypercapitalism, these artists represent an empowering alternative worldview, one that emphasizes creativity and community over capital. 

A Conversation with JENNIFER SCHLESINGER · Owner | Director of OBSCURA GALLERY · Santa Fe

I love being a photography dealer and appraiser because I am very passionate about the medium, and I feel so lucky to be able to work in the passion I started out with 30 years ago. I fell in love with art when I was taking a gap year from college, where I was initially studying Political Science. In 1994, I moved to Atlanta and started working at a photography lab where we processed C-41 color film and black film and white gelatin silver prints. I would visit the High Museum and study art books. I then took a several-month trip to Europe, where I immersed myself in the arts and culture there – I was hooked. I then decided to go back to school for photography in Santa Fe, and moved here to do so in 1996.

A Conversation with MEGAN TOY
Manager of GRENNING GALLERY · Sag Harbor · NY

I like to start my day at the ocean or in the woods. Connecting with nature. On Long Island, we are lucky to be able to visit the sea in minutes, from any direction. Right now, we are exhibiting “Tight Lines,” which is a fisherman-themed exhibition of 5 artists, the first exhibition for a 26-year-old painter. There are some topics that are labeled taboo or inappropriate to discuss, and sometimes artists need to be the catalysts of these discussions. With that said, art should also serve as a respite from social chaos. A meditation of simpler pleasures, like a beautiful landscape.