Reflecting on 24 Years at ArtLink
I have often wondered how I ended up making art my calling. I think that like many of the fundamental undertakings in life, action came first, and understanding followed. When ArtLink first formed in my imagination it felt right, the sort of feeling one has when everything suddenly falls into place. And then, one day, I realized I spent almost half my life doing it.
When I woke up from a morning dream on April 23, 1996, a dream from which the idea of ArtLink sprouted, I had no idea this is the beginning of a lifetime journey. I did not ponder on finding explanations to my dream. I felt it sent me the right direction. I started ArtLink that same day, and 24 years passed by.
There is one major lesson I have learned and re-learned over the years: to concentrate on the process, not the outcome. I learned to believe in a dream, translate it to vision and follow it despite all the hardships and failures that came with it. A process is a lifetime practice. I remind myself this lesson daily.
I also do not forget that ArtLink is where it is today because of very good people and hard work. It made it through hardships by focusing on core values and being flexible in the face of changes. The backbone of our DNA says: “we make art available, accessible and affordable to the world”. It is clear and precise enough to keep the needle of our compass from quivering. The people who worked at ArtLink over the years, the people who we encountered that trusted us and opened their hearts to pioneering ideas and practices, the artists who put their trust in us with their most precious works and our clients who believed in us and appreciated our work, all pushed us forward.
We try to curate art that anchors a project to its respective culture and are privileged to be working with clients who appreciate the deeper contribution art may offer, beyond its aesthetic qualities. I want to keep working with clients who engage us to tell stories, whether their own or stories we develop based on their vision and projects. I would like to continue working in a market segment that encourages creativity, appreciates it and sees value incorporating art and craft in its interaction with others.
When I started ArtLink, the art market neither exhibited nor sold works by young artists. That market segment known as young and emerging art, which ArtLink and Sotheby’s worked hard to establish, now stands for 90% of all transactions in the global art market by number of works sold and participants involved. In the last decade alone, ArtLink placed over 350,000 works of art in projects around the world. I wish for us to deepen the impact by bringing together markets, artists and artisans and promoting art we value to the world.
A Word of Thanks
No such reflection is complete without gratitude. I thank all my teachers, the early supporters and the many hands that contributed to lifting this vision up and making ArtLink what it is today. It is now common to say that the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the world into uncertainty, but all it really did is highlight the constant state of our lives. We create certainties because we need them mentally, but we know how fragile they are even when we base our predictions and life-decisions on them. Maybe this historical, global pause for reflection will serve to help us gain more comfort with the state of life and more appreciation to its preciousness. At ArtLink, we are thankful for what we have and pledge to continue celebrating our passion for art, culture and creativity boldly and audaciously, as we have always done.