Conversation with Freya Simms
Chief Executive Officer at LAPADA
What advice would you give to women starting in the art world?
Plough your own furrow and learn to read why someone might behave in a particular way to get the best out of them. The art world has some impressive passionate and strident personalities. You can admire and respect someone without getting drawn into their own emotional reaction to a situation. It is all too easy to take things to heart but if you can stand back and understand the intention, you can often build a very strong and collaborative rapport going forward.
David Hockney once said, “It’s good advice to only believe what an artist does rather than what he says about his work.” Would you agree?
I certainly believe that looking at an artist’s work does more for you and developing your taste and eye than reading what an artist or critic might say about the work.
Who was the last artist to really catch your eye?
I think Bill Viola did a great PR job on why the likes of Michelangelo are still top of the canon with the recent show at the RA. That being said I loved the work of a young female artist called Marie Jacotey at the new works on paper show, Draw at the Saatchi Gallery – and am currently making a purchase!
What qualities motivate you to look at certain types of art/artists or visit a specific museum?
I honestly don’t know how to answer this – so many factors. I might follow the gallery or institution, it might be a personal recommendation or I might have read something. I have been lucky enough to be exposed to so many disciplines across thousands of years of artistic output that I can be as intrigued by works from antiquity as I am by something created yesterday.
Do you feel lucky to do what you do?
I feel immensely privileged to do what I do, it feeds into my passions and innate curiosity. I am surrounded by creative and knowledgeable people and never stop learning – quite a feat when the grey hairs start to creep in!
How did you find your own way?
Very traditionally, I started as a porter on work experience at Christie’s and whilst there I was offered a job in the bids office. I could not have asked for a better introduction to the art market – it puts you right at the coal face of the auctions, from looking after the auctioneers to taking commission bids etc. I worked there for a year, before moving into the press office which was really the launchpad for my career.