marmaLADYa.com takes tea with a ballsy girl from Fulham who decided to make her lifelong dream come true and open an art gallery
It’s sounds incredible doesn’t it? Starting a business in six weeks. If you were going to start your own business why would you give yourself such a deadline? It’s enough to give you nightmares. At least that’s what we thought as we sat waiting for Georgina Coleman to arrive for tea.
Even as she piled into the Parlour at Sketch, where we’d agreed to meet, with a documentary film team in tow, the whole idea seemed quite bemusing. It wasn’t until we started talking, once the cameramen had positioned themselves as surreptitiously as possible in amongst all the teacups and low-slung cushiony chairs, causing the occasional waitress to take a lurch, that it all became clear.
“Well, I’m working non-stop,” she laughs. “Yes, I’m tired, I’m working from seven in the morning till three at night. I’m sleeping on average about four hours a night!” For such little sleep she looks pretty good, but then it sinks in that she’s running on a heady combination of adrenaline and passion. “I love it,” she says, “It’s my passion. I’m loving every minute of it.”
“It all started in the summer,” Georgina starts to explain. “I’d been travelling for a year, all around Asia and the Pacific. I arrived back in London and managed to secure a great job launching a new artist for a gallery. It was so exciting. And then two weeks before the start date I was told that my contract was cancelled – office politics.” She pauses. “That was a bit of a bad day. The next day got even worse when my boyfriend dumped me. I was at a loss.”
Overwhelmed by the thought of having to get herself back on the job-market, Georgina struggled to get her motivation back up. “I moped around for a week before pulling myself together to find another job. But nothing came up. I looked everywhere, searching the web, agencies, seeing career consultants.”
“And then I guess I had a vision,” she continues. “I’d always wanted to run my own gallery. But it was something I’d thought I’d do when I was older. But I’d come into some money as a result of losing my job and decided to do something with it. Two weeks after losing my job I decided to set up an exhibition.”
So, what does it take to put on an art exhibition? “The first step was the artists. I rang up three artists I knew and said, we’ve got six weeks to do this, and they agreed! I knew it was going to be a huge task, organising an exhibition as well as starting a company,” she says. “I knew a bit about PR, and I understand how a business operates – but in a very limited way. And yes, giving myself a timeline of six weeks to do all this was really insane,” she laughs.
Once the artists had agreed, Georgina set about finding a gallery, “I had to decide whether to go east or west, and deciding west I found a space in Fulham.” And since then it’s been non-stop promotion of the exhibition. “The most important thing I’ve learnt? That if someone tells you something is impossible but you have an inkling it isn’t, try it anyway,” she says. “I was told that cold-calling journalists for publicity would get me nowhere. But I spent a day calling magazines and newspapers and it completely paid off. I got a great response from journalists. Even GQ are doing a piece on us.” And it doesn’t pay to be a shrinking violet. “Don’t be shy about talking to anybody. I’m going to an exhibition this evening and I’ve just got to walk in and talk to people I don’t know – it’s not fun going to a party where you don’t know anyone, but that’s what you’ve got to do.”
And her top tips? “Don’t give up on people. Everyone’s busy, don’t assume because they don’t call back it’s a dead end. Call them back. And relationships are key. No matter what your product is if people don’t like you they’ll go somewhere else,” she says enthusiastically. And then more reflectively, “You need to plan, and plan again. Give yourself time to let things go wrong and make mistakes. It’s crucial to make mistakes and learn from them. And don’t give up on ideas immediately. Some things just take a bit of extra time.”
Georgina used friends and contacts to build up a database, calling and pestering everybody she knows. “We’ve spent a lot of time networking, to get people through the gallery doors. It is a huge gamble. People could come to the exhibition, eat all the food, drink all the wine and then leave without buying anything.” How does she plan to avoid this? “Hopefully by the way that we hang the art, make the environment into an inviting place and by providing extraordinary art. The three artists have very different themes and styles, so all tastes should be covered. I have every faith in my artists.”
With the preview evening planned for 5 December there is only two weeks to go. “The time element is a huge factor, I’m asking a lot from everyone. It will happen, but as with everything you never realise how long things are going to take.” And what then? “After the exhibition, I think I’ll just fall over!". She takes a deep breath, "And then plan an exhibition for the spring with new artists.”
A few days later, we head down to Goldsmiths College to meet Georgina assisting on a photo shoot with one of her artists, Boyarde Messenger. The room is a bustle of activity and full of girls, one of whom is a model being trussed up in green ribbon and little else in preparation for the shoot. Another is a red headed girl, one minute fully clothed, the next completely naked in glittery red high heels against the white backdrop.
The theme for the shoot is strong women, being explored through different poses, from voluptuous Greek goddess, to defiant and angry and soft and vulnerable. The red head comes over afterwards and confides, “I’ve never done anything like this before, but it’s really empowering!” Watching her pose in front of the camera was bewitching and there was a sense that it was empowering for everyone there. “I just want to make women look beautiful,” shouts Boyarde from across the hectic room.
Georgina is rushing around in her capacity as photographer’s assistant, moving equipment, adjusting the models’ hair, even stripping down to her bra holding a fan as part of the shot at one point. “It’s all good,” she smiles, “We’ve got a lot done today. The photos are going to be amazing.”
The Georgina Coleman Fine Art exhibition takes place at the Lennox Gallery in Fulham with artists Sophie Morgan, Boyarde Messenger and David Hawson. 7-10 December, Lennox Gallery, 77 Moore Park Road, Fulham, SW6 2HH. Email gcfineart@gmail.com for more details.
Win a pair of tickets to the preview evening by emailing editor@marmaladya.com with your name and address (Georgina Coleman Fine Art in the subject heading).
Photograph: Boyarde Messenger
