Editor’s Be aware: This story is a part of Newsmakers, an ARTnews collection the place we interview the movers and shakers who’re making change within the artwork world.
When artwork director Valentina Akerman and her husband, artist Joe Bradley, opened a gallery out of a weathered Amagansett rental final summer time, it wasn’t with a five-year plan or an investor pitch deck in hand. It started extra as a lovingly improvised experiment, fueled by impulse, intuition, and a small military of artist pals who had been sport to hitch in.
Akerman named the gallery Sardine, partly for its beachy connotation, partly as a result of she preferred the concept it might be packed up and moved wherever—“like a can of sardines,” as she advised Vogue earlier this yr. (Final fall, the gallery did, actually, pack up and head to Paris for a pop-up coinciding with Artwork Basel Paris. It’s also presently organizing a gaggle present at Le Consortium Museum’s summer time area in Burgundy, France.)
Now in its second season, the self-funded summer time venture area has improbably grown into one thing of a Hamptons success story. The Summer season 2025 program contains a movie collection, jewellery and artist residencies, dinners with cooks Mina Stone and Elijah Tarlow, and 4 exhibitions that pair painters with sculptors.
The lineup kicked off in late Might with a present that includes painter Julian Kent and ceramicist Isabel Rower. A present of self-portraits by Dutch painter Joline Kwakkenbos, accompanied by luminous sculptural furnishings by Stefan White, adopted in late June. Nonetheless to come back: Tenki Hiramatsu’s dreamlike, Zen-inflected canvases in dialog with Nate Lowman’s gentle sculptures on July 18; and a closing present on August 9 pairing Ida Ekblad’s exuberant impasto work with ceramics by Erin and Sam Falls and minimalist furnishings by Brazilian designer Pali Cornelsen.
Galerie Sardine. Courtesy Galerie Sardine.
It’s an formidable slate for what remains to be a pop-up in a 1700s farmhouse that Akerman—skilled as each an architect and a thinker—and Bradley additionally dwell in. The road between residing area and exhibition, between design and wonderful artwork, is definitively blurred. As Akerman advised ARTnews, the purpose isn’t simply to point out work; it’s to construct an area the place folks need to keep.
ARTnews caught up with Akerman to speak about constructing an experimental gallery within the Hamptons, what makes artists say sure, and the sort of exhibits that may solely occur when the espresso desk is a part of the set up.
ARTnews: If you first began Sardine, did you may have hassle convincing folks to get on board?
Akerman: I feel if I’ve one expertise in life, it’s that I’m a really heart-forward particular person and a very good communicator. I’ve at all times saved folks engaged—folks I do know and other people I’ve simply met. I feel they trusted my curiosity in them. Even artists I didn’t know personally, like Janice Nowinski, I reached out to chilly as a result of I’d seen her work and cherished it. Identical with Hadi Falapishi—I used to be so blown away by his ceramics and sculpture and portray. I simply mentioned, “I don’t actually know what that is but, however let me present a few of these work.” And folks mentioned sure.
Joe—your husband—is listed as a co-founder. How did the 2 of you break up the unique imaginative and prescient?
He didn’t actually anticipate it to turn into what it turned. He thought we had been simply going to name a few folks we preferred, do a small factor. However when he noticed what I had in thoughts, he was like, “Oh… okay.” [laughs] And I mentioned, “Do you know me?”
A few of your early exhibits included work that blurred the road between artwork and design—painted furnishings, ceramics, issues that don’t essentially match the white-cube mannequin. Was that at all times the purpose?
Sure, fully. I don’t come from an artwork historical past background—I studied philosophy and structure, and I’m South American. If you happen to’re a South American coming of age within the ’90s, all you speak about is modernism. And in South America, the road between object and artwork is admittedly blurred—it’s in regards to the setting, about area as a continuation of aesthetic life. The whole lot performs a job. I’ve at all times been fascinated by the objects artists make for themselves, for his or her households. They’re so unregulated, so stuffed with the artist’s spirit. That’s what I wished to point out.
Galerie Sardine. Courtesy Galerie Sardine.
That spirit got here via in Sophie von Hellerman’s present final yr, which I hear was painted on-site?
Sure! I’ve recognized Sophie for a very long time. I’d been to her residence, seen the murals, the painted furnishings. Years in the past, I joked, “If I ever open a gallery, I need to do a present of your work on furnishings.” When the time got here, she and her entire household got here and lived upstairs with us for six weeks whereas she painted the present. No person knew. It was sort of a secret. I wished to maintain issues skilled—however yeah, that cat’s out of the bag now. [laughs]
So you reside upstairs, the gallery’s downstairs, and visiting artists generally stick with you?
Sure. It’s a bit uncommon, however that’s the purpose. Sophie stayed. Hadi stayed. Individuals come and sit and keep and discuss. We make tea. It’s heat, and other people linger. It’s not a sterile area. It’s a spot you need to be in.
There’s a strategic angle to the placement too, proper?
Undoubtedly. I’ve had a connection to Amagansett for years—it’s the place Joe and I went on one in all our first weekends collectively, and we owned a home right here for over a decade. So I knew who was out right here. Artists, after all, but additionally collectors, curators, advisors. Individuals I’d met at events, folks I knew socially. I assumed: if I open a gallery right here, in the summertime, I’ll get all of them. Far more than if I opened the identical area on the Decrease East Facet on a random Tuesday.
And the home itself? How did you discover it?
My good friend Jane Wenner—who’s simply probably the most inspirational ladies I do know—tipped me off. She mentioned, “There’s this home, it’s very under-market, they’ll solely lease it to you for a few years.” It was excellent. Not industrial, however workable. We dwell upstairs, we present downstairs. We rented it in Might, and by late June, we had been open. That turned Gallery Sardine. Sardine was the larger umbrella.
You talked about that Sardine was meant to be momentary. Is it staying in Amagansett?
We’re right here this summer time, however I don’t learn about subsequent. From the start, the concept was that it might transfer—pop up elsewhere, do site-specific initiatives. That’s why it’s referred to as Sardine. You may take it with you. It’s meant to be gentle and transportable and playful.
Has the industrial facet been laborious to handle?
After all. This isn’t an affordable venture. However I’m attempting to show that there are different methods to do that. That we will be beneficiant and collaborative and nonetheless run a enterprise. For instance, after I confirmed Julian Kent, I labored along with his gallery, Kerry Schuss, to co-organize the present. Kerry was protecting—Julian’s younger, very gifted—however I mentioned, “Let’s do it collectively.” That made him really feel extra comfy, and the present occurred. It’s about respect, and making room.
Final query—had been there ever another names, or was it at all times going to be Sardine?
I haven’t advised anybody this, however naming the gallery was sort of like naming our youngsters. We don’t actually check out names—we simply wait, after which abruptly, one thing comes that’s simple. Sardine was like that. It felt excellent. We’re on the seaside, so there’s that. However I additionally wished one thing that felt small, unpretentious, and enjoyable. And one thing you might pack up and carry with you. Joe and I drew the emblem on the kitchen desk one night time. Individuals like it. It got here from a really intimate place.
