Sabrina Buell of Zlot Buell & Associates, on the “business of art”

by leslierankowfinearts

Sabrina Buell
Photograph by Justin Buell

SABRINA BUELL, PARTNER IN ZLOT BUELL + ASSOCIATES, A SAN FRANCISCO ART ADVISORY FIRM, BRINGS A SYNERGY OF NEW YORK EXPERTISE, AS FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE ESTEEMED MATTHEW MARKS GALLERY IN NEW YORK, AND WEST COAST VISION TO THE RELATIVELY NEW AND AVIDLY SOUGHT AFTER COLLECTORS IN THE TECH AND VENTURE CAPITAL  WORLD.

MARY ZLOT AND SABRINA BUELL FORMED A PARTNERSHIP IN 2012 PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL CURATORIAL ADVICE AND COLLECTION MANAGEMENT SERVICES TO CORPORATE AND PRIVATE COLLECTORS FOCUSING ON MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART.

SABRINA, AS A DEAR FRIEND AND A MUCH-ADMIRED COLLEAGUE, THE LRFA BLOG

IS DELIGHTED THAT YOU WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE LRFA BLOG. WELCOME!

Thank you Leslie! I have always admired the work you do and love that you are sharing your thoughts and expertise with a wider audience with this blog.

49 Geary Street

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP AND WHAT PROMPTED YOUR INITIAL INTEREST IN ART?

I grew up in San Francisco. In my first week of high school our Freshman English teacher gave us the assignment of going to a local gallery and selecting a work of art to write about. It was very open ended and I would up in the 49 Geary Building (still home to the great Fraenkel Gallery) and I wandered into Steven Wirtz Gallery. I selected a photograph by an artist named Michael Kenna, and Steven spent hours with me pulling prints out of flat files, showing me catalogues, talking to me about his background and the market for the work. I was only 14 years old, and obviously wasn’t going to spend any money. I never knew that a job existed where one could work with art and artists in a creative way, be an educator to the public, and also be a business person. It combined so many areas of interest to me and then and there I decided I wanted to work in the business side of the art world.

Michael Kenna

DID YOUR FAMILY COLLECT AND WERE YOU INTRODUCED TO THE MUSEUM AND GALLERY WORLD WHEN YOU WERE IN SCHOOL?

My parents weren’t collectors at all. But when we traveled we would go to museums, and starting in 1st grade my school would take us to SFMOMA on a field trip once a year. I remember an assignment when I was very young and at the museum, where we were given a picture of cakes and were told to draw the shadows around the cakes. We were drawing on the floor, in front of Wayne Thiebaud paintings, and were trying to do what he did in the works. An older gentleman leaned over my shoulder and said he admired my work. I told him it was really hard to get it right. He said, “I know! I made these paintings you’re looking at!” It was Wayne Thiebaud who happened to be walking around the museum and was overjoyed to see all the children in front of his works.

 

Wayne Thiebaud

WHAT ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL TRACK DID YOU PURSUE INITIALY TO FURTHER YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF ART AND THE ART MARKET?

The minute I got to college (Stanford) I knew exactly what I wanted to study in my pursuit to go into the business of art. I double majored in Economics and Art History, thinking if I studied both business and art simultaneously it would teach me “the business of art”. I couldn’t have been more wrong! The economics professors told me the art market was irrational and couldn’t be studied, and the art history professors thought it was irrelevant to try to talk about the market for the paintings they were showing us in class.

IN OUR NEXT LRFA POST, SABRINA WILL SHARE HER IMPECCABLE CREDENTIALS WITH US AS SHE BEGINS HER PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY.

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