A former punk, and aspiring artist, 30 years ago who managed an established London gallery. He had painted an abstracted red submarine which hung high in the corner amongst the genteel landscapes on linen. No one ever looked at it, and he never moved it from the corner. The work struck me as a symbol of the timidity artists feel navigating the art world ecosystem.

Throughout the course of the next 3 decades I worked in commercial galleries in London and Australia, to later establishing myself as an independent curator and advisor in Australia, before moving to Switzerland in 2007 where I established my practice Sascha Gianella Art Contemporain (SGAC) in 2008. Since its inception I have staged exhibitions in Switzerland, France, China and Australia. I have written a multitude of catalogue texts for galleries and books with artists in Switzerland, the UK and Korea, and advise regular collectors in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, France, Spain, Switzerland, Monaco, the UK and the USA.

I have also spent my entire career volunteering in not-for-profit arts organisations dedicated to fundraising artwork acquisitions and furthering the careers of artists including aparté. I have spent 30 years providing practical support to artists during the course of my work as an independent curator and art advisor. My projects have always demanded the fostering of each and every artist I work with, and as such, naturally a major part of my work is providing professional development advice and resources to select practicing visual artists, as we do on We, The Muse.

Importantly, the advice given is not my own. It comes from the voices of the hundreds of artists that I have worked with over the years; advice that has been collated as proven trajectories towards a successful and sustainable artistic practice. These same voices demand new approaches and challenge existing norms, offering new perspectives on professional development, and contribute to a new and equitable art world ecosystem. I advocate for the initiative of an ambitious new generation of visual artists.

And especially artists who paint red submarines.

Sascha Gianella,
February, 2024