Meet the Art World's Most Surprising New Power Players
The art world has never been hostile to nepotism. Back in the 1500s, Tintoretto employed two of his sons and his daughter Marietta in his Venice studio; in the early 20th century, Frida Kahlo is said to have worked alongside her photographer father in his darkroom; today, it’s not uncommon to spot scions of industry dynasties stationed behind gallery desks, patiently awaiting their ascent. But while influence in this business has traditionally flowed from parent to child, some recent disruptors have put a new kind of power on display, and this time it’s all about the siblings.
Years before the NFT craze, in 2018, San Diego-born brothers John and Charles Crain, along with their cousin, Jonathan Perkins, founded SuperRare, an online marketplace for digital NFT art back when the format was a relatively obscure one. By the time the rest of the world caught up, SuperRare was already a go-to destination for connecting directly with artists, and the company has raised $9 million from investors like Marc Benioff and Guy Oseary.
“In a startup, the cofounders are the most important thing,” says John Crain. “It’s what can make or break your business. Having co-founders like these guys, who you can work together with through good and bad times, is the best.”
“We were all friends, but we hadn’t done anything this big together,” Perkins says. “We all remain super close. I don’t always recommend that people launch startups with close friends, but we’re always having a good time. I think that’s what’s enabled us to succeed.”
They aren’t the only ones. Recently, brother and sister duo Marlene and Lucas Zwirner (the offspring of gallerist David) spearheaded with Bettina Huang the online gallery Platform, which sells works by the likes of Aneta Bartos and Emma Kohlmann; in British Columbia, Indigenous artist siblings Alex and Michelle Stoney have been lauded for their massive land art pieces made from found materials; painter Henry Taylor has made work inspired by his brother, Johnie Ray; and documentary filmmaker Cosima Spender has been toiling alongside her sister Saskia on a catalogue raisonné of the work of their grandfather, Arshile Gorky.
One doesn’t even need to be living to be on-trend: Paris’s Fondation Louis Vuitton is currently showing the jaw-dropping collection of Muscovite textile tycoon brothers Ivan and Mikhail Morozov, in 2018 Ida O’Keeffe, Georgia’s sister, was the subject of an exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art, and earlier this year the art historian Willem-Jan Verlinden published The Van Gogh Sisters, a biography of the painter’s lesser known siblings.
Earlier this year, brothers Parker and Clayton Calvert launched their NYC Culture Club at the World Trade Center’s Oculus. Working with Silverstein Properties and Westfield, the duo took over an unused piece of retail real estate and used it to create a platform for talent like Anna Weyant and Jason Wallace to show in a gallery setting—but without taking a traditional commission. In the first month of the inaugural exhibition, more than 8,000 people visited the space—a feat that might not have been achieved without the founders’ brotherly connection.
“We couldn’t do it without the other—and probably wouldn’t,” says Clayton. Parker adds, “We have a great working relationship because he’s someone I trust implicitly. We expect and get honest feedback from each other and trust the decisions that the other one makes.”
For all the work that each brother puts into the project though, the fact that they’re doing it together is what pays the biggest dividend. “At the end of the day, we’re doing it together,” says Clayton, “which is my favorite part.”
You Might Also Like
