As the art world teaches, from Masolino to Masaccio, Gilbert&George, The Chapman Brothers, not least the Italian duo MP-Monticelli&Pagone, even the contemporary art business quality checked by endless research, offers another model of business in duo.

Sweden, as is well known, has always been recognized as a socio-cultural laboratory, particularly open to experimentation and avant-garde. Sweden has adopted new social models, influencing and reworking other modes of doing business in specific fields, changing the orientation of a precise market and the preferences of different target-groups that have contributed to the progressive concept of innovation that has characterized the identity and behaviour of Sweden as a country.

It is very likely that the different historical periods in which there have been many expressions of artists who worked in pairs, even temporarily, could somehow have influenced an idea of patronage, even to the introduction of other innovative models of the promotion and sale of high quality art as a form of safe investments. Because art, as we know, when it truly meets tastes, trends and values in which desirability and realistic valuation, accessible but above all transparent, are assigned to emerging and established names, can only increase an economy that is today too polluted and damaged from abuse and speculation and not really credible.

In Sweden, however, there are still those who believe in a healthy and consistent way to offer the contemporary visual arts, to be considered as new forms of investment, particularly when skills, passions and innovation come together in  a successful pair: as we have decided to tell.

Galleri Andersson/Sandström was founded in 1980, as a company managed by Stefan Andersson and Sara Sandström Nilsson. Offering contemporary art by established and emerging young artists, the Gallery shows a particular orientation towards sculptures to be installed in outdoor spaces and through public commissions.

The Umeå space, recovered from a completely restored boiler house with an area of 650 m2 in Umedalen, is composed of a large fully open space with a ceiling height of 10 metres.

In 2008, Galleri AnderssonSandström opened theirsecond gallery in Vasastan in Stockholm.

In the beginning of 2012, the gallery moved to a space of 500 square meters in the same neighborhood.

Since 1994, the Gallery has collaborated with the Balticgruppen real estate company in organizing Umedalen Skulptur, one of the most important sculpture parks in Europe.

The Gallery has a unique and diverse exhibition programme both in Umeå and Stockholm, and has, for a long time, been committed to participation in several international art fairs.

In the galleries you can admire works of established artists such as Antony Gormley, Tony Cragg, Tracey Emin and Louise Bourgeois, as well as emerging and recently launched names such as Michael Johannson, Tatsuo Miyajima, Ian McKeever, Wilhelm Mundt and others. All this on the back of a research and passion developed through years of study and observance of an increasingly mobile market in search of the new. A journey that Stefan and Sara, have decided to tell, of course, in duo, to Tablet2.0.

1) Stefan Andersson and Sara Sandström, Stockholm and Umeå, it seems that the number 2 is your trademark. Coincidence or targeted business strategy? Do you think is a part of your success? What drove you to collaborate together, under a single brand?

S.A. & S.S.N. It was never part of a strategic plan. We began working together when Stefan hired Sara as his assistant. After a few years, Stefan suggested a partnership since we worked so well together, and Sara accepted. The age difference and the fact that we are a man and a woman might be unusual in a gallery partnership, but for Galleri Andersson/Sandström it has proven to be an extremely fruitful arrangement. There’s many advantages by being two owners of a gallery since we have two different perspectives and experiences to draw from. For instance, Stefan has a technical and business oriented education, and Sara is an art historian and has a more aesthetic background.

2) Stockholm and Umeå are definitely two spaces belonging to the same brand. In what way are they complementary to one another? Have they been designed and developed to accommodate two different categories of artists and clients or are the selection criteria and exposure are exactly the same?

S.A. & S.S.N. Galleri Andersson/Sandström was founded in 1980 in Umeå, and has since then expanded to Stockholm. The exhibition programme is the same in both cities, but we’re not showing the same artist in both places simultaneously – although that’s happened too. In Stockholm the gallery is part of Stockholm Gallery District, and we have bigger opportunities to collaborate with others, in Umeå we’re one of a kind and therefore we get other benefits. Both our gallery spaces are fabulous, but at our Umeå-location the headroom is 10 meter so we have no technical or practical limits on what we can show, which in turn means that some of our most spectacular exhibitions has found place in Umeå. In Umeå we also have the advantage of being located in the vicinity of Umedalens Skulpturpark, for which we have been the curators since 1994. Because of this we have made connections with many of the world’s prime sculptors. In 2014 Umeå was the European Culture Capital, so naturally we focused on this location. In 2015 our primary focus lies on Stockholm, which after all is where we have a bigger client base, larger audience and more staff.

3) What are your selection criteria? In short, what distinguishes the emerging artists,that truly deserve to be promoted by your gallery? When artists are excluded from your selection is it because they are not to be considered "good artists" or because their work may not exactly meet your marketing policy? Or maybe both?

S.A. & S.S.N. Art we represent ought to fit our program concept. It cannot be an artist with an expression similar to any artists we already represent. There’s a couple of important criterions; it must be art that moves us and is exceptionally good, unique, with a solid craftsmanship and technicality – and then we must get along with the person. Since we are a private gallery and our job is to sell the art of the artists we represents, there’s of course commercial concerns as well, but this is not the most important aspect for us when we consider a new collaboration. The most important factor is that the artist makes something we really want to represent, and that we believe we can do a great job for the artist.

4) Modern Art, Contemporary Art and International Art. Surely you've seen these tags used to promote different kinds of work in different cities in ways that do not always reflect the real meanings of these definitions. According to you, why is this? What do the terms  ‘Contemporary’ and ‘International’ mean for Andersson/Sandström, at a time when, in several European countries and Art Festivals, beautiful classical landscapes or portraits, not always particularly original, continue to be the most popular investments, even among the new generations of collectors?

S.A. & S.S.N. It’s not our experience that the classical beautiful landscape or portraits are the most popular investments. If you look at the global art market, 50% of last year’s turnover was contemporary art, which neither is dominated by naturalistic portraits nor portraits. Photography has influenced a decreased interest for the immediate depictions, because everybody photographs more. It becomes more interesting to create an expression for the unidentifiable.

5) Relationship between you and the artists: who really needs who and how much operational cooperation and mutual support exists in the dialogue between those who produce art and those who sells art? How important is the mutual trust between artists and gallery owners?

S.A. & S.S.N. It is imperative. We live in a symbiosis with our artists and thus share both risks and progress. That’s why it’s so important at both parts trust each other, and strive towards doing the best job possible.

6) In many international exhibitions, where galleries present a selection of artists for approval, there have been some almost unjustifiable exclusions, despite galleries proposing names of proven originality and respectable professional curriculum. This clearly has created many frictions and discontent between those who contribute to the real economy of art and those ‘Deciders’ who seek to benefit from a particular penetration of new markets. Based on your experience who is really in the wrong; the Gallery that is unable to properly promote promising new artists  or the incompetence of those who, on the other hand, have been unable to recognize their conceptual value and commercial potential? Who is the real culprit?

S.A. & S.S.N. It’s hard to single out one culprit. With the current situation, 4-5 times more galleries apply than there’s available booths. This means that it’s incredibly hard to be accepted, especially if you’re applying with an unknown artist. Most of the participating galleries apply again, which means that one of these will need to be excluded in order for a new gallery to be taken in. It’s an eye of a needle, and it’s easier for the committee to make a safe choice and choose the galleries and artists they already know.
 

7) Has this kind of thing happened even to Galleri Andersson/Sandström. If Yes, how did you deal with it?

S.A. & S.S.N. We have tried applying for international fairs with young and unestablished names and not been successful. In those cases, we just have to apply again with an even better presentation.

8) Art and nepotism. Unfortunately the world art scene seems to be particularly affected by the link between these two terms. This is a phenomenon that involves artists, galleries and foundations that encourage and promote names that have not always earned the position of the true artist through pure conceptual and expressive merit. How does your gallery combat this unpleasant phenomenon that threatens to obscure the real talents all around the world which, however, who no one knows exist? In short, for the Galleri Andersson/Sandström, is the real truth that artists today are created rather than discovered?

S.A. & S.S.N. An artist with real talent will always succeed, but it’s true that this is an incredibly competitive industry. There’s no definite justice or logic. When it comes to marketing a young unknown artist, the gallery has an important job. The gallery has the network and is invaluable when it comes to introducing and building a new name. One should keep in mind that if the art isn’t of good quality, this will not be enough.

9) Speaking of art outside the box, you have chosen to promote Michael Johansson both in your gallery and as real site specific installations? What do you see in Michael that other young talents do not have? Who buys Michael Johansson today? And why?

S.A. & S.S.N. Michael Johansson has everything we are looking in an artist. He’s working with a unique concept that is multi-facetted and double-edged. His work deals with climate issues, but one can also find several art historic references. The work is more universal than local, and has in addition a characteristic inherent humour. Even though his work might consist of nostalgic everyday commodities from the 1950’s, his work is experienced as timeless and contemporary at the same time. As an artist, he’s the utmost professional, technically brilliant, devoted and precise, and as a person he is, moreover, extremely sympathetic and a pleasure to work with. This can help to explain why his work is included in a multitude of both private and official collections, nationally and internationally.