Cherine Badrawy and Taya al-Zayadi are the two art lovers behind the launch of Tache Art, a new gallery in Designopolis, located in the city of 6 October, on 22 January. The current exhibition at the gallery features Huda Lutfi’s 20 years of art.
Mohamed Abla will be the second guest artist as of 5 March, according to Badrawy, co-founder of Tache Art and an art collector.
Together with her lifetime family friend Taya al-Zayadi, who has worked in advertising and PR, Badrawy went on a "how to open a gallery" course in London. “Tache combines both our names–Taya and Cherine–it also means stain in French, and is derived from Tachism, a well-known art movement,” explains al-Zayadi.
“The purpose of the gallery is to tell people that art is accessible,” says al-Zayadi. “We chose Designpolis because the space was designed for an exhibition, and it also felt right,” says Badrawy. “Four-hundred people attended our launch and the other tenants were of great help; we can use the entire space around our gallery for events,” says al-Zayadi.
“We decided to do it properly and dive in full force. We hired a talented designer and a good contractor and did not cut corners,” says Badrawy. The two partners believe that the success of any business is based on attracting a wide audience and creating a buzz. “And the key to that is a good PR team,” adds al-Zayadi.
“We are targeting art lovers, avid collectors as well as the younger market,” Badrawy says. “We want to educate young art lovers.” According to the gallerists, many young couples came to the opening and bought art pieces. “Art is not intimidating; it needs to be accessible,” says Badrawy. But with Huda Lutfi on display now, the prices for her pieces are not really "accessible." Badrawy and al-Zayadi are keen to feature up-and-coming artists in the very near future to give them exposure and allow art lovers with lower budgets to begin collecting.
Al-Zayadi was extremely moved by a 21-year-old visitor who bought her first art piece from Tache Art. “Huda Lutfi and our next artist, Mohamed Abla, are renowned artists, but after those two collections we will start featuring less known artists and less expensive art pieces to attract a bigger audience,” promises Badrawy.
Both founders say it is hard to find an artist, and once an appropriate artist is found, promoting their art is financially risky.
According to the ladies, the competition in the artistic field is not so fierce though. “We work together and we refer clients to each other,” says Badrawy. They both express hope that soon art will stop being intimidating to certain people and that more people people will start going to art galleries and exhibitions to look at the art, ask questions and maybe buy.
“We also want people to check our blog , comment and start a dialogue,” says al-Zayadi. Their blog can be found at www.tacheartblog.com and includes information about contemporary art in Egypt.
