Guest Curator: Lisa Galano

Lisa Galano studied art throughout the majority of her education, focusing around sculpture, clay, welding and oil painting. It’s this background that makes the art advising aspect of her design firm a special passion that lends its way to guiding new collectors and clients as they build upon their collection. With her team at Lisa Galano Design Consultancy, she works with the likes of Theory, Ritz Carlton and Spotify, and leads with a bold approach to her curations, focusing on works that bring people together and draw the viewer in. We asked her to curate a series of gallery walls that bring our emerging artists together to tell more than just a story of aesthetics.

Q.

Tell us a bit about your design work and team...

A.

I started the studio in August of 2016, planning to be a solo operation. However, as the challenges of starting a business became more predictable, and our projects more stable (and dare I say selective) it was evident I needed to build a team, and work to acquire projects that would allow my studio begin incorporating art in a more meaningful way. In the beginning and in former studios, art was often a line item that was value engineered out of projects. We did just that!

After striving for even more diversity in perspectives, I am honored to work with international companies, like Spotify, Ritz Carlton, and Theory. Similarly, RXR and Hungry Ghost Coffee are dream clients with how they always make room, literally and figuratively, for art. We are fortunate that all of our clients embody an openness to art and design, and think big picture about how people will live, work, eat, and reflect in these spaces.

Q.

What is your best advice for clients starting or adding to their collection?

A.

Don't focus on where it's going to go, or what it "matches" in your space. Art collecting is about what speaks to you both literally, figuratively, and financially. Try to first respond to artwork that you gravitate towards with a curiosity for trying to understand what the work means to you.

Q.

What drives the passion for making art curation a central point in your design philosophy?

A.

My background, and almost career, as a fine artist drives me. Since I was 14, I've been practicing fine art: drawing from a nude model, sculpting with clay, casting, welding metal, painting in oil. Evolving my love of art into the world of design has always presented its challenges. Not everyone is receptive to art as a medium of the mind. It confuses, it challenges, it pushes, it talks back, it intimidates, and my passion for art curation and "guidance", as I like to call it, stems from my belief that it is art which ultimately makes every space feel personal and special. Art draws people together, in many ways, and within interior design that is my number one objective.