Feb 21, 20183 min read

Curatorial Hub: An Online Gallery for Los Angeles and Beyond

Bettina Hubby and Saskia Wilson-Brown founders of Curatorial HUB; Photo credit Eric Mihn Swenson

Curatorial Hub: An Online Gallery for Los Angeles and Beyond

By Genie Davis Bettina Hubby and Saskia Wilson-Brown launched their new online gallery, “Curatorial Hub”, on Sunday evening with an exhibition at Silver Lake’s Bestor Architecture, offering a real world introduction to a virtual space.

The gallery is designed to bring varied and affordable art to the public, featuring works by both well-known and emerging artists.

The concept for Curatorial Hub was created by artists Bettina Hubby and Saskia Wilson-Brown. The pair is exhibiting works such as paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and ceramics. Artists include Mike Slack, David Lloyd, Mark Allen, Joshua Callaghan, Emily Joyce, Bob Dornberger, Emma Gray, Jonesy, Chad Attie, and Agnes Bolt.

Curatorial HUB launch party at Bestor Architecture; Photo credit Eric Mihn Swenson

Hubby and Wilson-Brown discuss how the idea for the project came about – and the future of online galleries.

Hubby says: “The idea came packaged and downloaded fully as the answer to a question I was posing to myself. How can I continue to have this community engagement, and also create support for my own artistic endeavors? I didn’t want to open up a gallery, that would limit my freedom, so an online venture made sense.”

Wilson-Brown adds: “When Bettina told me about her idea for Curatorial Hub, it felt like a wonderful extension of her practice’s trademark generosity, while also creating a sustainable opportunity to help spread the word about L.A.’s art community.”

As to the future, Hubby explains, “I see the white box opening up and an exciting restructuring happening, where artists are creating new platforms and finding fresh audiences and dialogues that are happily morphing the current system. Online galleries are just one way this is happening.” Wilson-Brown agrees, “Online space is a real space, and why not put good work in the places where people go? As in music, film and TV… So in art.”

The duo have been friends and a creative team for many years, collaborating on projects at the Institute of Art and Olfaction, which Wilson-Brown founded, a non-profit devoted to experimentation in scent.

“We’ve both enjoyed how our individual ideas are stretched and blossom together beyond what we could do alone,” Hubby says.

A passionate supporter of Hubby’s artistic vision, Wilson-Brown says she’d never refuse a chance to support her friend. And so – a virtual and collaborative curatorial process was born.

Hubby invited artists she’d worked with previously to be a part of the project, adding in referrals, and creators who’d worked with Wilson-Brown.

“Word spread and we began getting a steady stream of applications from far and wide. There is now a waiting list of over 40 artists,” she reports. “Our collective aesthetic is like a fingerprint, hard to describe, but unique to us. Some of the qualities you may notice in the works on the site are dark and light humor, wonder, elegance, beauty, and handsome abstraction.”

The pair’s goals for their project include bringing artworks to the world at large, and welcoming curious collectors to a portal for thoughtful, high-quality work.

“We have a multiplicity of perspectives in the world, and we need a multiplicity of support mechanisms,” Wilson-Brown notes. “If we do our job right, Curatorial Hub will be an important part of this equation.”

What they want art lovers to know about their project is that it’s a “manifestation of a shared spirit to be a hub that links artists to the people who value art in their lives,” according to Hubby.

Wilson-Brown asserts “This is a project born of an impulse towards generosity, that presents good, thoughtful work. Curatorial Hub walks a tight balance between affordability, aesthetic and conceptual diversity, and community. To my mind, it succeeds.”