When I first heard about Tacit, an online art gallery and consultancy dedicated to showcasing female artists, I was immediately intrigued because I love art and things that try to make the world more equal, you know? So I was super excited when I got a chance to actually chat with Tacit’s founder and principal, Nuria Madrenas. Read on for our conversation about the very real gender disparity in the art world, her attempts to make art more accessible for everyone and what an art consultant actually does.

In addition to founding Tacit, you’re an artist yourself. What first drew you to art?

I've always been immersed in the art world through my parents. Both of them were born and raised in Barcelona and I always say that, while most kids on March Break were going to Disneyland, my parents were taking my siblings and me to different artists’ studios and museums. So that was always ingrained in me from a young age.

When I graduated university, I started working in fashion, beauty and hospitality PR. When it came time to conceptualize campaigns, I would always recommend partnering with artists to illustrate campaigns or do live illustration at events. And, I was also working as a freelance artist on the side, and realizing that there was no suitable platform [to sell my art]; there were very oversaturated, entry-level marketplaces, where it’s really difficult to achieve discoverability, or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, high-end blue chip art that felt very out of reach and intimidating, especially at the time. Between my PR work and my art, I had cultivated a network of artists. Eventually, I asked them, ‘Where do you sell your work?’ Because there was nothing occupying the middle ground.

Then, while I was doing research and development on potentially creating a platform, realized that there was a disparity in the arts between women and men—at the time, art by women accounted for 2% of the art sold worldwide. So, I decided to dedicate the platform to women artists, to celebrate female creatives, give them a space to connect with art collectors and also inherit the audiences of other artists within the community. Because what's really challenging is, a lot of artists will try to sell their work on their own website, but it's difficult to get the volume of people that you need on that website in order to convert into sales. By having one consolidated platform, you're able to inherit the audiences of all these other artists, which has proven to be really beneficial.

Renske Herder, Succulents. (Image: Tacit Gallery)

Going back to the stat that women’s art makes up only 2% of art sold worldwide… That is wild. Do you have any insight into why that disparity exists?

I think that the disparity exists in so many other industries as well—only 2% of venture capital funding goes towards businesses with all female founders. So, it seems there's a pattern across the board. Specifically to the arts, though, we've historically prioritized male artists, and as a result that’s who makes up the majority of sales at auction and acquisitions by major art institutions.

There's also different regulations within art institutions where they can't ‘deaccession’ artwork as easily. So, essentially, they can’t sell off artwork that they have by male artists [to make space to] acquire art by women artists. I think I read something about how, even though they have been making strides to be able to change that, it would take something like 400 years to actually balance it out. I think slowly and steadily, people are trying to impact change in that area, but given the nature of the industry, historically prioritizing male artists has made it increasingly difficult for women artists to even out the playing field.

This disparity also makes it harder for women artists to create art, right? As someone who works in media, I feel like the thing that we're always thinking about is, what do I do that is meaningful, purposeful work, and what do I do because I have to cobble together a living? When your focus is skewed towards meeting your basic needs, it becomes much harder to do that purposeful, meaningful work. And I'm imagining there is a very similar thing happening for women artists.

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's really challenging, though there have definitely been people that have been able to break past that and challenge the status quo to be able to make art their full-time thing. I think in order for us to see meaningful change, it will take two things: The actual art platforms and art institutions [need] to represent more women artists—you absolutely need to have the access in the first place. But there's also a lot of power in the hands of consumers and emerging art collectors to say, “I'm going to make sure that at least 50% of my collection is by women artists.” I think people can really vote with their wallets and hopefully we can see change over time.

I hope that through Tacit, we can not only create this community, but give these artists the resources and the information they need. Being able to price their work accordingly is one thing, because that will hopefully help them make this a full-time thing, and also get their work out there into the hands of the right people.

Margaret Gabriel, Tennis Court and Marina Pavone, Inner Landscape 02. (Image: Tacit Gallery)

I think it's so interesting that your focus is on emerging collectors as opposed to established ones, because it seems like the latter would have so much more money to spend. Why are newer collectors your target customer?

I think there has been a real gap in people speaking to the emerging collector. When you think of the art world, there's a lot of gatekeeping; it's very much based in heritage and legacy and not wanting to see new people come into the industry. But at some point, the emerging collector does become the seasoned collector, so I thought that it was interesting that people weren't speaking to them.

I also think emerging collectors are more interested in diversifying their collection, whereas a seasoned collector could have other motives, like seeing the artwork appreciate in value and getting a return on their investment—in which case, they will be acquiring more blue-chip art, likely by more male artists, because that's just the way the industry has been historically. Whereas, with emerging collectors, I've seen that they do prioritize [diversity]. We work one-on-one with a lot of residential clients who say, I want X amount of Indigenous artists, X amount of Black artists, and it has been really great to see that and makes the work of helping them curate a collection a lot more meaningful.

Do you think some of that also comes down to who these emerging collectors are, demographically? For example, if you're talking about Gen Z, that generation has been saying over and over that they’re interested in equity in all parts of their lives.

For sure. Those Gen Z and young millennial demographics are placing more emphasis on that in all aspects. It's been nice to see that we can have that impact with how they collect pieces for their home.

Annette Wüllner, Hidden Spider. (Image: Tacit Gallery)

In addition to having an online gallery, which functions like a marketplace, you also offer art consulting services. How does that work? Are you basically being a personal shopper for art? Because that sounds amazing.

I sometimes say it's like being a stylist for your art collection. There is the online platform, which I like to think is an à la carte [experience]. If you've shopped online, you know how it works: add to cart, it gets shipped to your address, super seamless. Then there's the art consulting side, where we work with residential and commercial clients to curate art for their spaces. On the residential side of that, it is connecting one-on-one with a client seeing the space that they have, the dimensions, their interior design style, any artists that they've identified liking, any existing pieces they may have and their budget. Then from there, we recommend pieces accordingly. We have hundreds of prints that start at $58 Canadian and then we also have original works that can go upwards of $5,000+. That allows us to work with budgets that are very conservative, because we can pull from our print collection.

With commercial clients, it's a similar thing. We've worked on fertility clinics, restaurants, hotels… And it’s a very similar process: space, dimensions, style, artists or themes they’d like to see reflected, budget. We've also seen commercial clients identify that they want to have a diverse art collection; they want to have art in their business that reflects their brand ethos and values.

What you’re saying about budget, and my understanding of Tacit in general, really makes me think about accessibility in art. And I don’t just mean access to actual pieces you can afford, but also the idea of art being ‘for’ you. Like, I think I was in my late 20s or even 30s before I thought, ‘Do you know that original art is a thing that you can have?’ Art was just not a part of my upbringing the way it was yours. I’m curious if you have seen that in your interactions with Tacit clients. Are you finding people come to you who maybe don't have a background, or who don't feel comfortable navigating this world?

Yes, absolutely. I think that we see a lot of people that share the same sentiment as you. We always try and speak in [accessible] terms, so when you’re getting a consultation, it doesn't feel like, ‘Okay, this is completely over my head, and clearly not something that I'm going to proceed with.’

We’re also trying to be really accessible through our TikTok content. I show up on my TikTok in my dirty sweats and no makeup, and I'm like, “This is what's happening in the art world,” or “These are some great collections that we can draw inspiration from.” I think people are like, “Oh, it doesn't have to be this high-maintenance, out of reach thing, because here is this young woman who is talking about art in a very casual way. And if I have an appreciation for art, if I have a print in my home, or I follow artists, I can also be an art collector.” I've also started doing a lot of art recommendations on TikTok of original pieces that are under $1,000. People have been very receptive to that, because I think they have historically thought you need thousands and thousands of dollars if you want an original piece, when in reality, you can buy an original piece by an emerging artist for $200.

Ilaria Antolini, Jayda. (Image: Tacit Gallery)

Can we talk a little bit about that? Because how art is priced seems to be driven more by hype than by the ‘quality’ of art (though I know that’s so subjective). When you're thinking about cost, how are you ensuring that the art is priced so that these artists are being compensated fairly for their work, but it’s also accessible for a wide range of people?

Pricing art is so elusive. There are so many things that play into the cost of a piece. So, obviously scale, medium, the stage of an artist's career, any shows that they've had or press coverage that they've garnered. There are industry-standard calculations of a certain amount per square inch, but a lot of people don't actually use that. I was at Art Toronto last weekend, and you can see an 8x10 piece that's $14,000, so they're obviously not using that industry standard. And then there are all of these intangibles that dictate the value of a piece. I mean, some people say the value of a piece of art is what somebody's willing to pay for it.

I think there are more industry standards in fashion or beauty, where they know exactly what the cost of goods is, and they can mark it up two or three times. I have really tried to use a calculation of supply and demand, which I think is very fair for the artist and the collectors alike. There is a certain baseline of how we would price a piece, especially an original that's one of one, and then as the demand gets higher for that artist, the prices reflect that.

Also, typically one of the most influential factors on the price will be scale, and we're able to keep it very accessible to the customer because the majority of our originals are within a 8x10 to 16x20 range. They're small to medium size, which helps to also keep the prices more accessible. Smaller art is also an easier purchase for somebody because it’s easier to find a place for a 16x20 piece of art in your home, rather than a large-scale piece that you might have to rearrange some stuff and put some stuff in storage in order to accommodate. We find that for so many reasons, smaller-scale and medium-scale pieces are where it's at.

What’s next for Tacit?

We'll be doing another show in collaboration with Cry Baby Gallery at Stackt Market for the holiday season. We’ll also be releasing a few limited-edition drops throughout the holidays, and we'll also have a holiday sale, which we only do once a year. And in January, we will be giving a talk at the Interior Design Show about the topic of art collecting and how to curate a collection that has a lot of meaning and intention behind it, which I’m really excited about.

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Club Friday Q&A: Nuria Madrenas on Making Art More Accessible

By Stacy lee kong