Nathalie Karg’s career as a gallerist started when she was twenty-three years old, curating exhibitions out of her SoHo loft with artists that would go on to be some of the most important voices of our time. Since then, she’s continued to nurture an ambitious stable of talented artists at her eponymous gallery in the Lower East Side.
How did you end up in the art world?
I have been in the art world since I was twenty-one years old. After studying Political Science and Art History, I came to New York at the age of twenty and started my own business at twenty-three. I was advising three major private collections and curating shows in my loft apartment on Greene Street, where the tight-knit art community was focused at the time. For my after-opening dinners, I would cook pasta and everyone would eat around the table — it was nice, innocent, and everyone was delighted.
How do you live with art yourself?
Since the age of seventeen, all of my savings have gone to purchasing art. My first piece was Studies for Hologram by Bruce Nauman. At that time, Nauman was my god. The piece was $2,500 and it took me a year to pay it off. It’s still hanging in my apartment. I try to buy works by the artists I represent — in the gallery there is a wall called “Nathalie’s wall” because I somehow always end up buying the piece hanging on that wall for myself.
Installation view, Playing House, Nathalie Karg Gallery, May 13–May 29, 1993
What would you like the gallery to be known for?
Nurturing a diverse and energetic group of talented artists and implementing a program with a vision. I show work that I think is going to have importance later on. I’m always more attracted to paintings that are difficult at the very beginning — paintings that stay with you and keep giving you new things to discover. I think a painting needs to keep giving to you.
“I’m always more attracted to paintings that are difficult at the very beginning — paintings that stay with you and keep giving you new things to discover. I think a painting needs to keep giving to you.”
How do you discover new artists?
I look at a ton of artwork all the time. I don’t stop looking. You look, you look, you look, you do a million studio visits. That’s my job as a gallery — to keep looking.
I start by looking at the work and then I have to meet the artist. For me, it’s important that my artists are my family. I’m going to have a long-term relationship with them — we need to have the same views on life, the same parameters in our relationship. I know that all of my artists are great people as well as good artists.
“I look at a ton of artwork all the time. That’s my job as a gallery — to keep looking.”
Dorian Gaudin, Foul the switch, 2019, aluminum, rivets, chrome, and paint, 43 x 32 inches
(109.3 x 81.3 cm)
What is the best and hardest part of running your gallery?
The best part is studio visits, mounting shows, the programming, and the discussions with my artists. Dealing with faithful collectors and being part of their lives, with my artists as part of their collection.
The hardest part is that some of my artists have an easier time selling than others. For me, it’s so unjust. I want to give all of my artists equal rewards, but I’m not the only one to make that decision — I need to have a collector on the other side.
How do you think collecting art will change in the next decade?
Everything will change after the pandemic and I do not yet have an answer for this.
How do you hope to engage with new collectors?
Through exhibitions at the gallery, fairs, and from reviews of my shows, museum exhibitions, and museum acquisitions. I love meeting new collectors and starting a relationship with them — learning more about their lives, other artists they collect, their interests in art, music, literature.
Gamaliel Rodriguez, Figure 1808, 2017, ballpoint pen, colored pencil, and acrylic on paper, 22 x 30 inches (55.9 x 76.2 cm)
Can you tell us about some of the pieces or artists currently featured in your Parlor collection?
Gamilial Rodrigruez works in ballpoint pen on paper to make gigantic drawings that are absolutely technically fabulous. He lives in Puerto Rico, and was badly affected by the hurricanes there. He spent four months with no electricity. His work is about nature overtaking the architecture and infrastructure of the island, which is unfortunately incredibly timely.
Rannva Kunoy’s paintings take a very long time to complete because she applies extremely thin layers of pigment. One painting might be 18–20 layers. She marks the back of the painting while the paint is drying on the front, which creates an illusion — as the viewer moves from one side to the other, the color changes dramatically. It goes from green to purple or maroon to blue. It’s a technique that I haven’t seen anywhere else and it’s very powerful. We will show all new work by her soon — she is working on new pigments and compositions. It’s going to be super beautiful.
Rannva Kunoy’s paintings take a very long time to complete because she applies extremely thin layers of pigment. One painting might be 18–20 layers. She marks the back of the painting while the paint is drying on the front, which creates an illusion — as the viewer moves from one side to the other, the color changes dramatically. It goes from green to purple or maroon to blue. It’s a technique that I haven’t seen anywhere else and it’s very powerful. We will show all new work by her soon — she is working on new pigments and compositions. It’s going to be super beautiful.
Rannva Kunoy, Cease and Desist, 2016, pigments and acrylic on cotton duck, 83 x 66 inches (210.9 x 167.7 cm)
