279 - The Greatest Journey of Kindness in the Art Community Superposition Gallery's with Storm Ascher

Welcome to Listening with Leaders. I'm Doug Noll, lawyer turned peacemaker. I teach executive leaders how to listen to emotions rather than words so that they can become the leaders everyone wants to follow. And I teach those same leaders how to be authentically present, available, and connected to their families despite being insanely busy. I have learned that we are 98% emotional and only 2% rational. Learning how to listen to emotions is, in my experience, the foundational skill of life. Stick around to the end of the show, and I'll reveal how you can be on our next guest in 15 to 20 minutes. So let's get started. Doram Asher, welcome to Listening with Leaders. You are the founder of a very interesting project called SuperpositionGallery.com. And you have a pretty interesting, pretty interesting background that got you to where you are. Your— the website can be found at SuperpositionGallery.com for the— SuperpositionGallery.com for those who are interested in finding out. Tell us a little bit about your backstory.

Yeah, thank you for having me, Doug. It's really nice to be on this podcast, and I got to listen to a few people before me, so I'm really honored to be on here. I guess how I really got my start, I was always into the arts. I was in performing arts growing up, so I danced, I acted, I sang. I was really into music and choreography, and I was actually going to school for dance, but then I had an injury, so I was trying to find another outlet, and I applied to art school. And then from there, I got into a photography program in Barcelona, in Spain, and that was where I really got a global view of the art world and not so much just what was going on where I was growing up. A lot of museums that I would go to, it was really local to what was going on with the artists in that town. So it was interesting to see like a global perspective of artists that travel and go and do different things and leave their mark in different places. And that really interested me.

Hmm. And tell us how you end up with a company, uh, this gallery, this nomadic gallery, you call it superpositiongallery.com. Describe, describe that to us for us.

Yeah, so Superposition Gallery, I founded this nomadic program. It's more so like a curatorial project and we have iterations in different places. So the idea actually came to me when I was in Spain because I took a class called Branding Barcelona and it was about how to brand a city. And a lot of points that they brought up during how they were getting attention from the rest of the world was through their artists and through like aesthetic communication. So it was interesting to see how they were actually displacing a lot of people that were in these areas because they wanted to put a big museum or a sculpture or something that was really eye-catching to prepare for being on the world stage. So that was like a macro version of what I saw was happening in smaller towns in like New York and different ways that galleries and museums will do some public commission and think that it's adding to the fabric of the community, but they're not really engaging with the community or the people that are doing this work. So my whole idea with the gallery was to have an in— an endpoint where I could still participate in these types of things, but not participate in the gentrification aspect of it, and also not displace people and really have them engage. The whole concept is really based on traveling together, engaging with the people that are already there, asking them what they want to see, and also revisiting places from diasporic communities. We recently went to the Dominican Republic because an artist of ours is based in Miami, but her family is from there, so she got to show work that had these ancestral ties to a place that she just revisited in her own timeline. Yeah, we're really interested in those types of site-specific projects.

All right, that's a pretty 30,000-foot view.

Let me see if I can—

Yeah, everything and nothing. Is this a project where You have, you'll, you have artists that you work with and you will go into a community that has an existing studio or artist space where you'll actually do a physical showing.

Yeah, correct. Example, we did a project in, in the Eastville Community Historical Society, which is a small church and heritage house in Sag Harbor in Long Island. This is like a very historical place. It was built in 1840 and we had a contemporary exhibition benefit. So we brought a bunch of artists on a retreat from New York City and also had them make work about that town or about that kind of the theme of where they were, which was like this idea of a Black beach town that had a lot of leisure. It was a place where people could buy a second home way before people would think now. So there's a lot of history of like Black elitism and leisure and relaxation. So that was the theme of one of those shows. And what we did was pair the exhibition with the history that was already existing in this space. So they have a lot of archives. They're really interested in different people that came to that town that were famous, like, back in the day. So some of the paintings might have been inspired by a poem or a song by Lena Horne, just trying to connect the dots of different historical references. And then with that is just the energy of being in that space and saying, "Oh, these artists also passed through here." So that's the goal that I always have is thinking something that has already happened and how can we do it differently and pass through without taking over, just adding to it.

So you get an idea in your head about some cool place that you want to do a show, or maybe somebody suggests something to you, right? And you reach out to the gallery owner or the space owner, whoever, and say, hey, how would you like to do a show? They say yes. And then you reach out to your artists that you work with and say, hey, we're doing a show. It's— this is the theme. This is where it's going to be. This is what's out. Do you want to participate? And then the artists say yay or nay. And if they say yes, then they create their art, which probably takes a while, 6 to 8 months to at least put together some pieces. And then they show up. A couple of days before the show, you get everything arranged and curated into the space. The artists, I'm sure, hang out and they make their money, hopefully by selling some of their pieces.

Yeah, that's exactly the model.

And you make a little money and probably on commission, right?

Yeah, correct. It's the same model as a gallery. If we had a brick and mortar permanent space, it's just that there's a lot of in-between stuff where I'm meeting a different landlord or a different organization, committee every time. So the backend is a little different, but the front-facing stuff is For a collector, an art enthusiast, you're just meeting us at a different address this time. So it's still all collectible. It's still all part of museum-worthy collections. We're participating in the same art fairs as these other galleries that have multiple locations. And art fairs we really rely on actually to keep that global perspective going because a lot of galleries are now interested in being nomadic because You can always do a pop-up in tandem with an art fair that's in a certain place. It's become like a collector's dream to be able to travel to all these different fairs. So we're meeting the collectors where they're at as well. And so I'm excited to see where it will align, where the places that my artists are interested in, maybe the collectors would also be interested in too.

Tell me what an art fair is. I know a little bit about art, but not a lot.

Yeah, so an art fair is basically where it's an organization that hosts like a big booth. So it's like a trade show in a convention center style type place. So Art Basel Miami, for example, is like one of the most famous in America, I'd say at the moment. And it's from the same company based out of Switzerland in Basel, Switzerland. So they basically have a selection committee. And they look over probably thousands of applications and each gallery spends about, I'd say, $500 to just apply to one of these to even be seen. And the, the actual art fair, I'd say, will show maybe 200 of those galleries. And it can take years and years to actually be accepted to something like this. So there's different tiers, there's different levels, there's different fairs. Yeah. So it's a huge bureaucratic game that I learned about once I finally established my LLC.

I understand what you do is you apply as a gallery, even though you're a nomadic gallery. And right, sounds like you've got accepted to a few of them.

Yeah, it took some time, but it was more so because I really pushed the narrative of nomadic and like being consistent with the programming and consistently placing my artists in different things. That's where they really saw, okay, this is a real program, even if we don't have an address. I'm still working on a few fairs and trying to convince them, but It's definitely been in the past year or so, I'd say, they've accepted the idea more and more.

You've been doing this for a while. What is it that gets you up in the morning and gets you excited to do this work?

Probably seeing the artists actually with all of their work hung up and they're standing in it. I always like to see who the first person is that walks in at the reception, like how the artist reacts. Like if they're gonna walk up to them and be like, "Here, look at my show," or if they run away because they want to like see how they react without any input. That moment is always really fun for me because I love to just see like the culmination of all this backend work to know it's actually about when the artist sees that they've put something into the world and somebody's looking at it for the first time. And I feel that right now because we're installing on Wednesday in Governors Island. Yeah.

Governors Island in New York City?

Yeah, so we're actually getting a bunch of ceramics and photographs on a ferry.

Oh, is that right?

Morning. Yeah. Yeah. So we're doing a little nomadic trip over to Governors Island. One of my artists, Patricia Encarnación, she's from Dominican Republic as well. And we met when I was there this past year and she is showing a bunch of photographs and sculptures and is really interested in diasporic connections as well and travel. So it was a really good pairing, I think.

Wow.

Yeah.

So when you look at all of this, you've been doing this successfully for a, a number of years now. What is it that you think is unique about you as an individual that you bring to the table that has made you be successful at this where maybe other people wouldn't be so successful?

I'd say probably that I'm kind.

That helps. Yeah.

I, yeah, I think a huge part of it, and I really give props to both of my grandmothers. They just never get mad. There's always a solution and they're the ones always smiling even when things are heated at the rest of the table. And I'm really glad that passed down to me because I get a lot of anxiety, no doubt. I'm— I freak out about stuff, but I'm never like angry or wishing ill on some— something like, yeah, like I want the situation to be resolved. I think that type of resilience isn't just about, oh, I'm tough or whatever. It's okay, but also chill, relax and be nice. And this isn't the end of the world. Like we are working in a luxury market. Yeah, that's definitely what's helped me.

So you are, you do work with the patrons, the people, the collectors who are generally have more money than most and they're, they have passion about art. I suspect that you've learned how to be a pretty good listener. Tell me how you develop your listening skills. Mm.

Yeah. One thing I will say is that names are really difficult for me, so I've made it like my passion to know artists' names because when you think about listening to a collector, if you just go to a dinner with them and they're just riffing off things that they know about, you take note of it so that you can bring it up to them later as, "Oh, I was paying attention that you care about this artist." So that is something that I had to rewire my brain to learn because that's something that isn't good for me. But I think also paying attention to just what makes them actually react. I go to a lot of studio visits with collectors and a lot of different events. So if we see a performance or if they have a reference to something, I'm always interested in like how they're connecting their own personal art world to like how I could see how my artists fit into that.

So you're listening to learn. Yeah, and what you're interested in is learning what are your— what are the collectors interested in? What's their current passion? What gets them excited?

Absolutely.

And then think of— and then you're constantly thinking about how can I help them? How can I fuel that passion and feeling of satisfaction and pride through the work of the people that I know, my artists? That I represent.

Yeah, and it's also listening for similarities in what the artists are saying and what the collectors are saying, because they're not really talking to each other that much ever, and it's a completely different system right now with Instagram. But I think a big part of being this type of liaison is like, the way an artist would speak about their work may not be the same language that a collector would speak about it, but there's points that are there that would make them really click and would make the person really love the work and would make the artist really love that their work is hung there. But maybe they just don't have the same type of vibe.

So how do you bridge that gap? It sounds a lot like what I do as a peacemaker and a mediator.

There's no real peacemaking. It's more so just, he wouldn't have said it like that. And he would cringe if he knew that's how you describe his work. But I know that you love it.

The point, the point being that you've got people with, have different perspectives on art, the creator and the consumer.

Yeah.

Different ways of experiencing it and different ways of expressing what their experience is. And somehow you're able to bridge, somehow create a bridge between the artist and the collector so that they can have a shared experience. That's what I'm hearing from you.

Yeah. And hearing you say that out loud, it makes sense because I paint myself and I collect my artist's work too. And it's just like code switching even for myself. I live from my studio, like I live in my studio, I work in it and I paint in it, but I also sell other works from here. So it's, I constantly have to put on different hats. Sorry, the construction. I don't know if you can hear or not.

I can't hear a word. You're perfect.

You're perfect. But yeah, just putting on these different hats has me able to also do that for the collector, for the artist too. If an artist is like, "How would I word this contract?" I'm like, "Oh, okay, don't worry. This isn't that serious. This is how this goes. This isn't that scary of language." Or for a collector, if they're like, "What is this art speak? This isn't official," or something like that, I'm like, "No, this is part of," like the archival history. This is what you— the information you need to know. This is also what the artist cares about. Like, it's help. It's like being a therapist, really.

That's what it sounds like.

Yeah, yeah.

But it also sounds like you're working both sides of the deal, right? You're working with the artist, you can speak the artist language. You work with collectors, you can speak collector language, and you help them listen to and understand each other, even though they may or may not speak to each other. But Through your intermediation, there is a relationship that's created.

Yeah. And it's nice because at the end of the day, they're all like vetted by my vibe check as well. So it's okay. Like I wouldn't sell a piece to someone that isn't looking for those reasons or isn't willing to have a listening conversation or isn't worried about the legacy of that work. So that all just falls away on its own. It does the work on itself, which is nice, which goes back to that kindness conversation.

What do you— what have you encountered situations where your kindness has not worked so well?

I think sometimes it takes longer, but I don't really mind because I'm not here for a quick in and out. I'm not looking to sell my company or, you know, yeah. I'm here to enjoy it and to actually build these relationships with both the client side and the artist side. We're all growing together. So if anything gets that heated, I'll just wait 2 weeks to hit them up again. Yeah, we're all in it for the long haul. It would have to be like really bad for someone to never hear from me again.

Yeah. And that, I doubt that's happened very often.

Yeah. And we're talking about art here. This is supposed to make us happy. Yes, exactly.

It's an emotional experience. I gotta ask you, you've talked about kindness multiple times now. How the heck did you end up with a name like Storm and kindness permeates your life?

Yeah, my dad likes comic books and my mom said that she wanted me to have a unisex name because she wanted me to be able to get job interviews so they wouldn't know if I was a girl or a guy before I got there. Um, but she also said it was very powerful Everybody else just thinks that it was raining when I was born because it was in the middle of summer. I was a July Cancer baby, so it was like thunderstorming in Durham, North Carolina at the time, probably. But yeah, it's funny because most people are like, oh, your name is Storm, but you're so like not crazy.

It's an interesting contradiction that—

yeah, no, it's been fun to have the name because it presents a certain, I'm here.

So what do you do for fun when you're not engaged in artwork?

Hmm. I can't really think of much. I've been asked this question the other day by one of my family members, and I was like, I think it's really just when I'm visiting family, going home and just seeing what their lives are like, because my life is so embedded in it. If I go on vacation, I also make sure I see some things that have to do with art. But I did start dancing again, which is nice. I was a little worried about getting back in the studio, but dance studio because of my shoulder injury a few years back, but everything's been good so far.

Good for you. I know what that's like. I'm a jazz violinist myself.

Oh, okay. Cool.

So getting work, doing the work.

Oh, that's awesome.

You never stop. You never stop working at it.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. I'd love to hear some stuff if you have.

I'm not a performer yet. I've been studying for a long time, but I don't, I'm not, I doubt that I'll ever perform. I might, who knows. I have to find the right—

let me know, we love jazz.

All right, one more question before I let you go, Storm. What's one thing about yourself that we would never know about unless you revealed it to us?

Hmm, that's hard because I'm quite an open book usually. I guess that I like ranch on my pizza.

You like ranch on your pizza? That is unusual.

Specifically pepperoni pizza.

Ranch-style dressing on the pizza. Okay, that's a culinary— that's a culinary oddity I've never heard of before, so good for you. That's all I could think of. All right, there you go. It's good enough. Storm, I've really enjoyed our conversation today. Thank you so much. For taking time.

Yeah, it's so nice to meet you, and I'm excited to see how this goes.

All right, good for you. Doug Noll here. Thank you so much for listening to Listening with Leaders. If you are a successful executive leader who would like to be on this program, please visit podcast.dougnoell.com podcast. If you got something out of this interview, would you please share this episode on social media? Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend or post it on the socials. If you know someone that would be a great guest, tag them on the social media to let them know about the show and include the hashtag #ListeningWithLeaders. I love seeing your posts and guest suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content. To make sure you don't miss any episodes, go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show and mean a lot to me and my team. Want to know more? Go to my website, DougNoll.com, or follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. That's @DouglasEnoll. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next show.