In this series, we’ll speak to artists, curators, collectors, and other art world figures to see how they spend their days and where their artistic lives are taking them. Because we recognize the importance of local knowledge at Collecteurs, we’re starting this series of columns written by local pillars of the arts in cities around the world entitled A Day in the Art Life of…
For the first edition, we asked Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, to give us a sneak peek into his daily life. Nicolas is the co-founder of NOMAD, a boutique art and design fair with editions in Monaco, Capri, Cannes, St. Moritz and Venice.
“The only daily ritual I follow is some simple exercise I can do in any location like planking or the Five Tibetans movement sequence combined with IF. If I can add some morning seasonal sports, like swimming in the summer and snowboarding in winter, I feel like I’m in paradise. For me this is the way to start my day fresh and to enhance my mental focus. Then, inspiration finds its way to me in different moments of the day and even at night, sometimes I can’t sleep because my head spins with the many ongoing projects and suddenly I think of a great solution while I’m half asleep.
I like to take notes of ideas anywhere, on a small piece of paper, or on my phone. I never really read them afterwards, I have a visual memory and it makes me feel I won’t forget.
Selected images from Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte’s home in Milan. Courtesy Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte.
Generally I am not a ‘routine’ person, I tend to run away from repetitive situations. I like waking up in a different city, meeting local artists, designers or patrons and getting into their universes. Finding myself in unexpected scenarios really triggers my creativity. The location where I am also has an effect on my inspiration: whether I wake up in Cairo, the Sicilian countryside or Athens, my way of thinking and seeing things adapts completely to a different rhythm, light, or language that shapes my perspective.
I find a lot of satisfaction in visiting less known archeological museums, ateliers, architectural and creative spaces [Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo, Italy; Luis Barragan’s home in Mexico City; Boros Bunker in Berlin, Germany; Casa Wabi in Puerto Escondido, Mexico], souks [Damascus Bazaar in Syria; Tunis Village in Fayoum Oasis in Egypt], artisans [Henraux Marble Factory in Carrara, Italy; Iznik Foundation in Turkey; Bitossi Ceramics Factory in Montelupo, Italy] or flea markets [Asmara Central Recycling Market in Eritrea], rather than the main institutional art spaces. I think this approach brings me a unique stimulation. I prefer not to be influenced too much by other realities unless a specific show attracts me directly for my own research.
It is with this approach that I have conceived the program at my gallery in Athens. There are so many interesting concepts and talents everywhere; I try to keep my eyes open to anything new and unknown.”
Selected images from Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte’s Carwan Gallery in Piraeus, Greece. Courtesy Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte. Photographs three and six by Giorgos Sfakianakis.
Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte is the co-founder of NOMAD, a boutique art and design fair with editions in Monaco, Capri, Cannes, St. Moritz and Venice.