I am an artist. I need a gallerist

I AM AN ARTIST. I NEED A GALLERIST/ SOY UNA ARTISTA. NECESITO GALERISTA

Performance

Wednesday, March 5, 2025, ARCO Contemporary Art Fair, 44th edition. Madrid, Spain.
Artist: Violeta Andreu

Wednesday, March 6, 2024, ARCO Contemporary Art Fair, 43rd edition. Madrid, Spain.
Artists: Violeta Andreu and Soniya Amritlal Patel

Thursday, February 23, 2023, ARCO Contemporary Art Fair, 42nd edition. Madrid, Spain.
Artists: Violeta Andreu and Soniya Amritlal Patel

—Duration: Opening day of the fair.

Violeta Andreu: I AM AN ARTIST. I AM LOOKIN FOR A GALLERIST (photograph of the performance, 2025) (Source: Ángeles Saura)

I AM AN ARTIST. I NEED A GALLERIST is a performance piece in which Violeta Andreu and Soniya Amritlal Patel address the lack of opportunities faced by most professional female artists. Not having a gallery owner means not selling, not being recognized, not growing. Exhibiting and selling is difficult. And being a woman, it's even more so. It's practically impossible to make a living from this profession. This performance is a protest to bring visibility to the vast majority of women artists who don't have galleries and can't live off their work.

Violeta Andreu: I AM AN ARTIST. I AM LOOKIN FOR A GALLERIST (photograph of the performance, 2025) (Source: Ángeles Saura)
*Violeta Andreu: I AM AN ARTIST. I AM LOOKIN FOR A GALLERIST (photograph of the performance, 2025) (Source: Ángeles Saura)

In 2023, the performance was carried out with two cardboard signs carried on the back during a day visit to ARCO. Violeta Andreu identified the cardboard with the minimal house and extended it to the concept of domesticity, which included the artist's studio as a domestic space.

In 2024, Violeta Andreu and Soniya Amritlal Patel replaced the cardboard with a commemorative banner [a tribute to suffragettes] that read:

I AM AN ARTIST. I AM LOOKING FOR A GALLERIST in purple, as feminist artists.

You can't depend so much on a gallery; you're an artist above all else. But being part of this social system, where, as an older, female artist without extensive museum experience—because you've had children or simply because you have to pay rent and buy food—you don't have a place in the art market's economic system.

We work all day. And yet: WE CAN'T LIVE FROM ART.

If you are not one of the few privileged, chosen people, you can't. Is this normal? What kind of society that gets rich from the art market does not support its artists?

Soniya Amritlal Patel and Violeta Andreu: I AM AN ARTIST. I AM LOOKIN FOR A GALLERIST (photo of the performance, 2024) (Source: Ángeles Saura)
Soniya Amritlal Patel, Semíramis González and Violeta Andreu (photo of the performance, 2024) (Source: Ángeles Saura)
Marina Vargas, Soniya Amritlal Patel and Violeta Andreu (performance photography, 2024) (source: Ángeles Saura)
Violeta Andreu and Jana Leo (photograph of the performance, 2024) (Source: Ángeles Saura)
Soniya Amritlal Patel, Estíbaliz Sádaba Murguía and Violeta Andreu (photo of the performance, 2024) (Source: Ángeles Saura)
Carlota Álvarez Basso, Soniya Amritlal Patel and Violeta Andreu (photograph of the performance, 2024) (Source: Ángeles Saura)
Violeta Andreu and Ángeles Saura (photo of

the performance, 2024) (Source: Soniya Amritlal Patel)

Soniya Amritlal Patel, Fernando Sáez Lara and Violeta Andreu (photograph of the performance, 2024) (Source: Ángeles Saura)
Violeta Andreu (performance photograph, 2024) (Source: Soniya Amritlal Patel)
I AM AN ARTIST. I AM LOOKING FOR A GALLERIST (video of the performance,2024). (Source: Soniya Amritlal Patel)
Violeta Andreu: I AM AN ARTIST. I NEED A GALLERIST (video of the performance,2023) (Source: Soniya Amritlal Patel)

Violeta Andreu: I AM AN ARTIST. I NEED A GALLERIST (photograph of the protest cardboard, 2023) (Source: Violeta Andreu)

Soniya Patel: I AM AN ARTIST. I NEED A GALLERIST (performance photography, 2023) (Source: Soniya Patel)

I AM AN ARTIST. I NEED A GALLERIST (performance photography, 2023) (Source: Marti Cormand)

If any of the people who appear in these photos prefer not to appear, please contact Violeta Andreu at andreu.violeta@gmail.com