AI: And the "propagandists", many agree, because the painting is difficult today than a no surprise. There are natural limits of its capabilities.

SP : Paintings buried more than once, and yet it is developing together with the world. Painting and sculpture continue to surprise their conservatism - that is, a format that is recognized and which exists for all of the new European time. And the need for painting will remain always. Just because a painting is a fixed three-dimensional projection of the material on two-dimensional plane. It is comfortable to the human eye. And nothing will change until it's pulled holographic glasses, as in "Surrogates" with Bruce Willis. By the way, look: the entire twentieth century, there is motion pictures, but the painting is not a movie plays.

AI: It is believed that the aggressive defense of painting and a certain rejection of all other types of fine art shows high conservatism it Russian buyers: say, Western collectors profess a broader view.

SP : Oh, come on, Such an argument not only Russian buyers. We travel around the auctions and galleries all over the planet and see that all over the world prefer painting. But what is happening in Russia, too, and that is worse than we perceive sculpture, objects - is a huge disadvantage, which must be overcome in the coming years. And my gallery is working on it.

AI: What will determine the competitiveness of the gallery in the future?

SP : Media openness, explanation of pricing and move toward the consumer. Gallery has very honestly report that its artists are a that occurs with this material over time. This information is not enough. And in the past decade, many opportunities were missed.

AI: What went wrong?

SP : The price increase was too harsh, it is celebrated by all collectors of the first generation - those who first began to take not of the sixties, and the most modern. At , AES , Dubossary prices have increased tenfold. And it was too harsh and very early jump. As a result, a number of names (I'm not talking about the three) "hung" with prices in the tens of thousands of dollars. And the reason is that in Russia six years ago appeared a pool of top customers and top ten collectors has played a huge role in driving the market, there are several people pushed the price several times and cut off a lot of other customers. The gap turned out huge. As a result, members of the pool were both in space with its top-end prices.

AI: What is the contemporary art was held hostage by the same number of wealthy buyers, the bank, depending on the three major contributors ?

SP : Absolutely so. Besides these major collectors basically stopped buying even before the crisis. To 2008. We remember the ART MOSCOW even in 2007, when, surprisingly, those who would have to buy, went and looked like a simple interested parties. Thus they are very little attention (with rare exceptions) pay and pay for the young. It would seem that you have given the opportunity to find their place the previous generation, so help me and the next. And the next generation as a result of "hung". Included with some hopes, but they have not said "yes." So many good artists of 25-35 are without their galleries. And if you do not have operators, on which collectors can talk? In general, this situation entailed bias of the market. Because of the uncertainty in the market stopped growing middle segment, which must be at least 10 times larger than the masthead.

AI: What is clear: people feel uncomfortable, as in too expensive for them to the restaurant.

SP : I think the film has brought tremendous parable Markin phrase "Contemporary art can afford to only millionaires. " Actually, she drew a line under the previous decade. For our environment, it sounded like textbook phrase Polonsky, "Who does not have a billion, could go to well ...!". Unfortunately, we have to state exactly the opposite. If Igor [Markin] continued to have those talents, which are now worth 1-2 thousand dollars, then it would have been much better.

AI: I think he's in a time as a disillusioned and lost motivation.

SP : He is not one, but he expressed the mood. And I had to say on the contrary, that the art extremely accessible, because you can buy any artist for a few hundred euros. Even Picasso. Simply, it will be, for example, graphics and insane edition signed not by him but the fund. But in the West just live this feeling that there is a Picasso for $ 100 million and a Picasso for $ 500. And we have a gap is huge, and do not feel that people today can spend little money for themselves, who suddenly returned to him hundredfold.

AI: Why? Interest in investing in art is growing every year.

SP : I think we should put an end to the term "investment in an art. " Let it sound paradoxical it on your site. But the logic is that it is collecting in the calculation of the growth, which was zero. Then ask all collectors, and how this artist will be worth tomorrow? Compared to how much it cost yesterday. And from this position to make decisions. But there is a whole national markets (eg, Scandinavian) where this issue is not, and they feel pretty. Yes, there is no market in the Nordic artists who grabbed the sky with the stars, there are no prices in millions of dollars. But they will not fall, though not particularly growing, but still feel very quietly. They have a secondary market. And you can always bring your work to the gallery, which will sell it to your committee about 25-30 percent, and quietly put the money into something else. But in fact, when we talk about investing in art, we question the very position of the collectibles, which still involves some sacrifice. You're not collecting in order to get money at the end. Another thing is that all the correct collection must be converted into money. If you kollektsioniruesh not some crap from the Izmailovo opening day, and think about what you buy, then surely it can be converted into money, and possibly more. Another thing is that if you set yourself the task of collecting art for investment, this problem can be solved too. But if you are buying for resale, you can not be called a collector.

AI: Artists themselves often cut off a large mass of potential buyers: lift up the price, believe that time is cheap, it is merchandise. And the number of customers is shrinking. Two-way process.

SP : For the well-known artist in 1000 dollars - the price of the lottery graphs.

AI: Which he, too, in this case does not. In my opinion, the real market for buyers operating budget of $ 1,000, practically no.

SP : Already started. For example, in the gallery appear Raperworks such proposals. In general, many galleries (though not first-line) that have attended. And I tried. I have artists whose works are worth 3-4 thousand dollars for a small painting or 1-2 thousand per original schedule. But if you lower the bar to take the young artists, and they have to cost a thousand dollars for a canvas, it is normal.

For a person who needs to decorate an apartment for 10 thousand dollars, there are options. Not so long ago, the project Openprice Salakhova offering prints Konstantin Latyshev . The "Regina" in the summer hanging stunning graphics Ragimov at a price of 3,000 euros - a very realistic price. A Rahimov - is the name of contemporary Russian art.

AI: So nobody Well this does not prevent. So, in order to learn about these options, it is necessary to carry out investigative journalism?

SP : So we'll deal with this ugliness.

AI: How would you explain to visitors questions of pricing under the new strategy?

SP : As part of the answer I give lectures in ARTPLAY. There was a lecture at the gallery Photographer.ru. In our gallery we will conduct individual consultations, and will answer questions in Facebook, where we open community for this topic. It does not know how, but it's interesting.

from strategic innovation we want to revive the lease - the surrender of works out, you have tried in the early 2000s to move Gelman and NCCA. I myself participated in this project NCCA, but then, apparently, the time has not come yet. This option is renting with an option to purchase modern, people ripe to hang something decent on the wall, but on the other hand, think about what would happen to them and those walls tomorrow. Who does not want to communicate with the property, and many offices to rent.

Another idea for which I will certainly scold the gallery community. But from my point of view, this is the right approach to our busy and tired stoppers customers - a service "art place." Within its framework, we can bring the product to which people wish to, at least for Rublyovka, a visiting expert. When buying things that will be free.

AI: It sounds right, because the galleries are empty. People are reluctant physically move in space.

SP : Recently, the field of art has changed forever, because people no longer perceive the visual information only in the original. Connoisseurs of direct perception remained in the twentieth century. I'm not saying that people are not on the principle of gustatory selected. Previously, it was - come, see and buy myself a house. And over the past five years, people simply had forgotten to come. They look at themselves in the iPhone, and the initial impression must already meet expectations. "I like - not like" it defines a small phone screen. And then he has to be determined. And we just tried to bridge the gap between the impulse to buy something and watch the thing live. Now after all is very fast: do not answer the call to the client, the second time did not call back. Today is the time to "go to the mountain", once it became clear that the mountain does not move. And the possibility that a couple of hours you work brought home to see is to evaluate

AI: I can not say that this was not before. A status collectors dealers have long brought home everything.

SP : Of course, I just do. But such services to money could require the gallery to bring any work on my memory was not.

AI: For example, how much will it cost to bring the work Osmolovsky ?

SP : This is independent of the author. It depends only on the distance and dimensions of work. If an ordinary machine for small jobs, it will be less than two thousand. Also, come consultant who will tell all about these works. The site will soon have prices.

AI: The crisis continues?

SP < /strong>: Definitely. Still waiting for the second wave, for which there are economic opportunities. But this is not a reason to give up. Life goes on. And while difficult to imagine a scenario where in Russia they all left with enough money only for food. I would not like to see it.