Art has long been something that oozes around our capital. Whether through public and commercial galleries, art fairs and related art events, or graffiti, art can be found everywhere you turn. Manuel Sanmartin and Graham Carrick know this too well, but felt that certain aspects of art were too commercial and didn’t allow up and coming artists to showcase themselves. Due to this as well as other industry factors, they combined their years of experience, contacts, and expertise in art and set up Mas Civiles Galleries.

Manuel and Graham invites us to visit their most recent space named Cluster, to experience what they enjoy in art and get a glimpse of what direction they want to push Mas Civiles in.

HQ: First of all, if you could introduce yourselves and your exhibiting space:

M: My name is Manuel Sanmartin and I’m the curator of Mas Civiles Galleries.

G: My name is Graham Carrick and I’m co-curator of Mas Civiles Galleries, and this exhibiting space is called Cluster.

HQ: Thanks for inviting us down to come and visit the exhibition, and the opportunity to view the beautiful pieces on show. Could you tell us what inspired you to open up a gallery?

M: Well, we have both been working with probably 200+ artists in the last two years; Graham working with artists from the fine art background, and me working with artists from the street art background, so we have seen really good things in the last 2 years and we wanted to forget about having a gallery showing one particular style/art. We thought “lets put them together”.

G: Yes, that was the starting point. We wanted to show the best of the artists we had worked with and seen from both scenes, in various stages of their careers, in such a way that audiences who wouldn’t necessarily see work from the fine arts background or audiences who wouldn’t necessarily see something from the street art background were being introduced to new work, and given opportunity to promote artists that we believe in or are huge fans of ourselves. There isn’t anybody here we don’t have a great deal of respect for or admiration for, and this show was an introduction to how we felt about both scenes, so we borrowed from both arena’s that we’re familiar with to gather what your surrounded by now really.

HQ: So, as you’ve pointed out, you haven’t gone for a particular niece segment. What criteria did you put in place, for those exhibiting here?

G: Firstly we looked at the abilities of the artists, with their production having to be of a high quality. I guess if there is a niece, the crux of their work had to be good art.

HQ: In terms of choosing the location of the gallery, how did you arrive at Kingly Street? Sections of East London come to mind when thinking of art exhibitions, and most people wouldn’t associate Kingly Street with art, making the exhibition quite hidden.

G: In regards to the exhibition being slightly secretive and being quite hidden, in the same way, if you went to East London and were going to some of the major spaces there for street art, that would actually take you down the back alleys, and you’ll be looking and searching that out as well, creating that ‘hunt’ feeling.

Reason for us being in Soho?  Well, we did actually look for spaces in the East End, but we have an affinity with Soho. I do like Soho, and feel its somewhere that should have a greater art presence and representation in Central London, rather than us being out on a limb in the East End. I think being here helps us to incorporate a wider audience.

HQ: How would an artist go about approaching you, to feature in one of your exhibits?

G: Emailing us via our website would be best, if people would like to exhibit. We’re always interested in seeing what people are producing, for example, in this show we have people who are probably exhibiting for the first time, were as at the other extreme, we have work by Jean-Michel Basquiat. It is a quality issue. One of us will have a gut feeling about a piece of work, or the work will fit in with what the exhibit is about. We definitely will take a look but can’t promise anything, so please don’t send us thousands of emails!

M: As long as an artist shows how much they respect their art and how much they love the art that they make, that’s a good sign for us.

G: It’s very important to us, that the artists we work with do respect art in general, and other artists. It’s very difficult to work with artists that are overly-precious, and consumed by their own work. We are artists as well, so if you aren’t putting enough time and work into your practise, we will know. We come from an art environment, and can be classed as ‘efficient’ artists, so we can see through lies!

HQ: If you could give us the name of a few of the artists exhibiting here?

G: Well first off, that would be the same introduction we gave you at the start; Myself Graham Carrick and Manuel both have pieces on show here [said laughing].

M: a few of my favourites are Isabel Lopez Carrete from Spain, Kiko Lopez from Brazil, Gustav Ortiz; we’ve got Libre downstairs, Mustashrik.

G: a couple of my favourites include Marcus Cope, a very good painter you will be hearing more about, and Clare Price. Some up and coming people are Paul Robinson, Gustavo Ortiz as mentioned by Manuel, Anssi Sojakka.

M: We also have Rory.J.Murphy, Jessica Jane Barlow, Garry Hunter.

G: Something for every one. We are an ‘Art Buffet’!

HQ: When will your next exhibition be, and how can we keep abreast with al things Mas Civiles?

G: We will be back soon, but this exhibition was to launch the group, the logo, and name. Keep an eye on our website for updates. We will have an online gallery and images from this past gallery uploaded, and a mailing list for people to add themselves to.

HQ: Gents, thank you for your time, and we wish you and all exhibitors the very best of success for the future.

For more information on Mas Civiles, visit the Mas Civiles website.