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Alaina Simone worked in several galleries, including the GR N’Namdi Gallery, before becoming a liaison with the artists, curator and member of the board of directors. She approaches her interdisciplinary career with reverence and respect for the artists she works with and the clients she sells to, and draws on her own artistic training. “I grew up taking drawing, painting, piano and dance lessons when I was a kid,†she said.
Today, Simone focuses on breaking down the barriers that have prevented new collectors from accessing art directly from artists and galleries, and speaks honestly about the lingering issues within the industry that are holding back change. . “At the end of the day, it’s not about Blackness. It’s about ‘greenness,’ she said.“ It’s a business. The market idealizes the way galleries treat consultants. art It is not about community, it is about commodities.
Too often, said Simone, black artists leave black-owned galleries to sign with larger, top-notch galleries. This creates a destructive cycle for black gallery owners who invest and encourage artists from the start only to see them go as their careers and markets take off. “It would be nice if more black designers and consultants could benefit from the art of black artists, as they sell our culture in the process,†she said. “Usually, once an artist reaches a certain level, consultants are either marginalized or excluded from conversations. “
For Simone, remaining attached to black gallery owners and other champions of their work is in the interest of black artists themselves systematically excluded from the art world and often erased from the pages of art history. “Artists hold more power than they think,†she explained.
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