Are you a collector?

Yes, and I carry out my work as a gallerist, partly, with the philosophy of a collector. In front of a work, I always ask myself: would I want this work to belong to me? Even though the transit of the works at the gallery is often temporary, the answer must always be “yes.” Exactly like a collector, I build an eclectic program, based as much on consistency as on diversity.

Do you remember your first visit to an art gallery?

My first contact with a gallery was in 1987, when I was working as an assistant to the artist Emilio Isgrò, who was mounting a solo show at Galleria Fonte d’Abisso in Modena. That visit was followed by one of my first work experiences in the Milanese space of Galleria Fonte d’Abisso and my study of the Futurist avant-garde.

The first exhibition in your gallery? Would you do it the same way today? What would you change?

I would do it all the same. It was a minimal show, designed together with the artist, Franco Vimercati, who presented a thoughtful selection of photographs, arranged with unbreakable balance. This year, 25 years later, Franco is no longer here and I am presenting, once again, his work in the three spaces. It makes me think of the engraving by Francesco Arena, in which he makes the words of T.S. Eliot his own: “In my beginning is my end”: the end is the new beginning, a continuous present that regenerates itself.

Something important you learned from an artist – and from a collector?

From artists I have learned to distinguish genius, rare and refined intelligence. From collectors, instead, I love learning over and over again the intimate and extraordinary joy that comes from falling in love with – and then acquiring – a work. It is an overwhelming happiness that seems even more extraordinary to me at this moment, in which emotions are blunted by digital mediation.

The most complicated moment, and the happiest moment of your career up to now?

The beginning was hard: nobody knew me in this city. Remembering the first opening, I always think of myself as the protagonist of Aki Kaurismäki’s Drifting Clouds. At the opening of the restaurant, she waited for clients, who were slow in arriving, and stared at the clock in terror. My happiest moments have been at least thirty, one for each artist: my happiness is tied to theirs.