Meet Liubov Belousova | CEO & Founder of the BOCCARA ART Galleries

We had the good fortune of connecting with Liubov Belousova and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Liubov, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
At eighteen years old, I was often asked: “What is it like to start a career in such a difficult field as contemporary art? Especially being such a young woman.” It was not easy to manage my own gallery, but it also felt predetermined by fate. While still in my second year of university, something incredible shaped my destiny. In 2001, I had to create my own website to pass an exam in computer science. I recall I wanted to make my page on the Internet something compelling and attractive that reflected my interests. This led me to the decision to build an online gallery by posting images of artworks and objects created by several of my artist friends on my new website, choosing what I liked best to share my taste. And suddenly — I got a call from an international development company with a huge office in the very center of Moscow. They wanted to buy four of the works I curated on my page! Just imagine that! My student project became one of the first fully digital art galleries in Russia.
Now, due to the changes that have taken place in the world following the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone is eager to do their art business on the Internet, but we have been doing our business this way for over twenty years. But back to the history of BOCCARA ART Galleries.

Since our first site opened, we have invested in two main areas: First, in attracting well-known collectors who specialize in contemporary art. And secondly, in developing alongside the local artistic environment, to go where popular areas of art activity are developing. Our policy has brought fantastic results.
And then I said: “We want to be everywhere!” I felt this path of development would lead to the most success. To bring art to people in different cities and countries, we needed to look for like-minded people and attract the attention of a larger collector base. We needed to expand.
The best way to do this? To arrange something like a tour of traveling exhibitions across cities. It occurred to me that it would be more convenient not to rent spaces for this, but to have permanent galleries in different cultural centers that would bear the same name — BOCCARA ART.

What should our readers know about your business?
Our rapid development was due to the fact that we excel at partnerships and collaborations and know how to stay relevant and ahead of the curve on trends in the art market. To be successful in our field, it is necessary to study the art market, and anticipate movements, fashion, and major art trends for the next couple of years. For this reason, we have continuously shown at the most prestigious international art fairs, striving to attend up to twelve events annually. We have met numerous collectors and discovered new artists for ourselves and our clients while attending art fairs. Each fair has led to amazing new discoveries in fine art. The art fairs we participate in have inspired us to bring the most promising works from one of our galleries to another. Each BOCCARA ART Gallery shares with other affiliates the talents of their local and cultural community. This approach helps us find unique artists in different parts of the world. We participate in a dozen international art fairs every year, so having our own space at the event venues is another plus! Thus, over the past fourteen years, in addition to New York, our branches have come to include locations in Miami, Palm Beach, and Los Angeles (USA), Monterrey (Mexico), and, somewhat later, in Moscow (Russia). Representative offices of BOCCARA ART Galleries can also be found in Chicago, Monaco, and Seoul. Many of our galleries are located close to the major international art fairs and

exhibitions that we participate in annually. In Florida, we participate in the famous art fairs Art Miami, Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, and others. In California we participate in – LA Art Show, as art thirteen, Frieze LA fair, and many others. In Mexico, we participate in ZonaMaco Mexico City and the PreMaco LasArtes Monterrey festival.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Travelling to every art fair is so exciting We used to participate in about 12 art fairs per year in all the different parts of the world:
Art Miami, Asia Week New York, Art New York, Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, Art Palm Beach, Art Boca Raton, LA Art Show, SOFA Chicago, ZonaMaco Mexico City, ESTRE Arte Uruguay, PArC Peru Art Contemporaneo, KIAF Seoul, Fine Art Asia Hong Kong, Art Shanghai and more.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My book “First gallery on Mars, or
Secrets of success in the contemporary art world”

Website: www.boccara-art.com

Instagram: @boccara_art

Youtube: https://youtu.be/RrGvqQ3xroo

Image Credits
Personal and non-personal