Feedback Ltd.

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld's career began in the film industry but he quickly realized that he wanted to work with art and artists more directly. He envisioned himself as a pop-up art curator and formed the successful private art dealership Feedback Ltd. in 2008 — he finds the artist, creates a unique space for the event, and typically sells out the show to a packed crowd of glamorous people. What a concept! Feedback Ltd. takes its name from a French radio program and makes its offices in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, successfully representing burgeoning and desirable artists while shunning the classic business model of a permanent exhibit space.

In Vladimir's own words, here is how he arrived at this brilliant theory:

After I graduated, I got a job assisting a producer at Paramount. It didn’t take long for me to realize the business in Hollywood wasn’t for me. I worked at Paramount for six months, and I was restless the whole time. I wanted to start my own project and find a way to work with new talent, people of my own generation. I kept thinking about New York, where I had so many friends who were doing things like taking pictures or painting. I love New York. When you’re young and studying a business, it’s a city that inspires you to do a lot... So a year ago I moved here, and a little while after I moved, I met Marco Perego, an Italian painter and sculptor who lives in the city, and we decided, why not do a show? We opened in Paris in June. PC Valmorbida, one of the Collective Hardware photographers, he helped with the Perego show, and he was also taking really nice pictures. And my friends David and Salim make very nice pictures, too, so it seemed like the natural next thing to do a photo show.

I was going to different exhibitions and it always had this feeling of a closed circle, and it was something very hard to enter for many, so I thought if I just did it in a different way, I could capture the interest of a different crowd of people. I just decided to rent very large spaces and invite a huge crowd of people and present art that I believe to be amazing and just make it more fun and open-minded. My goal was never to follow any conventions or establishments, but to follow my vision and create new, alternative and innovative ways to promote and exhibit artists in the art world today. This model offers me pure freedom and flexibility, which in return allows me to be 110 percent dedicated to each one of my artists. I also believe that with the globalisation of the art world market and the growing interest for art around the world, you need to find ways for your artists and your businesses to be visible and exist in as many cities and countries as possible. It is a model of its time... In my vision, it is the best way to promote and exhibit artists today. I think this is the modern way of representing artists and dealing art. It’s not very interesting for an artist to be shown once a year by the same guy in one city. I wanted to find ways to best represent the work of the artist I work with, and give each of them a separate environment and a separate way to present their work.

You have to come up with ideas, look around your environment. I don’t think, especially when you start in the business, you need 20 artists, but two to three people you really believe in [where you can] have a relationship that will last for a little bit... [Opening my own gallery is] not something I would jump into, because I still have a lot to learn and a lot to prove... I wouldn’t want to be in one place, as the art market is becoming so global and nobody lives this way. I was in Buenos Aires last week and I am going to Miami for two weeks, then I’ll be in London. People want to be mobile all the time. I try to accept the fact that there are always going to be a few cynics who say, Oh, he’s only able to do such-and-such because of who he is, because of his mother’s connections, etc. I don’t dwell on it. I am who I am. At the end of day, like anyone else who’s trying to work creatively, I have to be confident enough to know what I love and do what I like.

Vladimir's art dealership, Feedback Ltd., works to promote emerging artistic talent and to present unique and memorable exhibits. Many of his events are produced in collaboration with his friend Andy Valmorbida and various sponsors including Giorgio Armani and Louis Vuitton. The artists that Vladimir has represented are Marco Perego, David Mushegain, PC Valmorbida, Salim Langatta, Richard Hambleton, Nicholas Pol, and RETNA, see the exhibition list below for more details and links to photos of several of the shows. I look forward to many more fine displays of talent by Vladimir and Feedback Ltd.

EXHIBITION HISTORY

Richard Hambleton

"Richard Hambleton’s brush stroke as an artist is genius and is in a league of its own. Most significantly, he is the most important and influential living street artist in the world today, with a story and career that is unparalleled."

“Richard Hambleton: A Retrospective,” Phillips de Pury, September 2011
“The Godfather of Street Art,” London, November 2010
"Richard Hambleton—New York," Moscow Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, September 2010
"Richard Hambleton—New York," AmfAR, Cannes, France, May 2010
"Richard Hambleton—New York," Milan, March 2010
"Richard Hambleton—New York," New York City, September 2009

David Mushegain, PC Valmorbida, and Salim Langatta

"I like that they’re so different. You know, this show, mainly I’m just giving these guys an opportunity to show in New York. I think David was part of a group thing here a while ago, but they’re all pretty underexposed. My only requirement was no fashion photography. I wanted the show to be more personal than that — moments out of each of their own lives. David is showing a lot of portraits, and what I love about his pictures is the way he can really document a person. That’s such a talent. If you know anyone he’s shot, you see his picture and you recognize a true image. Salim is the kind of photographer who spends a million hours in the lab. His sense of color is incredible. He shoots a lot when he travels, and I also feel like he’s got an amazing ability to tell a story in one shot. PC is younger, and he’s is still at the point where he’s experimenting, but his eye for form is quite impressive. You really see that in his architectural images. I love all of their work, and I trust them as artists and as friends, so I’ve given them a lot of leeway to choose what they show."

"The Works of Three Photographers," New York City, February 2009

Marco Perego

"I learned a lot about that when I did the show in Paris with Marco. It’s true, no matter how close you are, people come to a project with different ideas, and of course, you get into a few fights. I think if you keep reminding yourself that the fights are because you and your friend both want to make the show as good as possible, then it’s easy to get past the difficulties. And when the show opens, you can feel good about having gone through the experience with someone you love. I like working that way; I like the idea that you can be hanging out with your friends and say, hey, let’s do a show, and two months later, you have one. And everyone I’m working with on this Collective Hardware opening is part of the family, you know — the person who designed the invitation, the DJ, the guy hanging the pictures."

Paris, June 2008

Nicolas Pol

"My very good friend Stavros Niarchos, who I went to school with in Los Angeles and who came from a family that appreciated art, saw what I was doing and told me about a young artist that he knew from Paris. He sent me Nicolas' work and I thought they were incredible. I went to Paris and spent some time in his studio, and we talked about what we can do together.”

“Neverlodge,” New York City, March 2012
“Sick Atavus Of The New Blood,” New York City, May 2011
“Mother of Pouacrus,” London Frieze, October 2010
“The Martus Maw,” New York City, November 2009

RETNA

"I have a fascination with street art, but I haven't only been looking for street artists. We mostly try to follow our instincts and what we like when we see the works of different artists, so of course there is going to be some continuation between them, but I think street art is becoming very big right now, and [RETNA] is one of the most talented artists I've ever seen... I wanted to give art lovers in New York a chance to see his work, and I think this is going to make a lot of noise for him. [As for the title of the show] he's always kept [the meaning] very secret. He's never even told us about it."

“The Hallelujah World Tour,” London, June 2011
“The Hallelujah World Tour,” New York City, February 2011

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld photographs © 2010, 2011 Condé Nast and © 2010 Alberto Guglielmi Photograph and courtesy of models.com, larmoiredustyliste.tumblr.com, thecobrasnake.com, and life.com. All Rights Reserved.