3rd Generation, From Rome to LES

“A curator’s role is to reveal new dialogues for the art community
and illuminate artists.”

3rd Generation, From Rome to LES

By Sandro Bosi

My family has been involved in dealing art and antiques since the early 1930’s. Initially located in Milan, Italy, my family moved to Rome in 1949 where I still have a gallery today. Representing the third generation of dealers, I am uniquely interested in modern and contemporary art.

In the 1990’s I opened my first gallery in the south of France that dealt in secondary market works of art. In the early 2000’s, I began researching the archives and authenticating Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti and Italian Giacomo Balla for private collectors. At the same time, I surrounded myself with contemporary artists in Italy and abroad and the shifting of my involvement into contemporary art was more a natural step than a sought after one.

New York was always a goal of mine and in September 2011 I felt as if it was the right time to venture into the New York art scene. I was drawn to it for various reasons: New York is a Mecca for contemporary artists and a city that supports a strong art market and calls for constant innovation. I felt as though I had the right “weapon” to shoot for it and make my roster of international artists more accessible.

So I chose the Lower East Side as a location for various reasons. The LES has history. When you are walking down the streets here, there is a sense of the past colliding with the present, an element that strongly appeals to my background. The Lower East Side will never be Chelsea because of this history. Galleries are amongst the shopkeepers and boutiques, not converted warehouses on the waterfronts.

Since the 70’s 80’s The Lower East Side has been a laboratory for experimentation, an incubator for creativity and political activism. A dark and edgy neighborhood by birth, the Lower East Side remains a place of resistance. While real estate has skyrocketed and many artists are now living in Brooklyn, galleries in this neighborhood are continuing to challenge the mainstream and support emerging artists.

As a new gallery that is exploring the New York scene we wish to stay open to these new trends and conceptual ideas, rather then to follow a specific thematic program. However, several of our artists touch on the ideological issue of identity. Marta Jovanovic is a performance and video artist who, often through lightness and wit, offers a strong critique of the effects of globalization on specific identity; Beatrice Scaccia uses a traditional drawing technique in a very contemporary manner, questioning sexual and gender identity throughout history and contemporary culture.

Overall, I think BOSI Contemporary is located in the right neighborhood for New York. The gallery acts as a platform for discussing new ideas and theories in art, but will also annually exhibit an artist of historic significance. In this sense, BOSI will offer to the LES community a program atypical to the neighborhood. I want to create exhibitions that are both relevant in the contemporary art discourse and aesthetically dynamic. A curator’s role is to reveal new dialogues for the art community and illuminate artists. I look for artists with a strong personal mark. I’m drawn to alternative media, yet open to traditional media used in an unusual manner. Artists that catch my eye include those with irony, conceptual thought and edge.