Nicola Vassell
Nicola Vassell (born 1979){{Cite web |last=Neyfakh |first=Leon |date=2010-06-02 |title=Art Dealers Re-up |url=https://observer.com/2010/06/art-dealers-reup/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Observer |language=en-US}} is a Jamaica-born American art dealer, curator, and gallery owner. She is recognized as the first black woman to open an art gallery in the Chelsea Arts District of New York City.{{Cite web |date=2024-10-24 |title=For Nicola Vassell, Art Market Success Is Rooted in Character |url=https://observer.com/2024/10/interview-gallerist-nicola-vassell-gallery/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Observer |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Mechling |first=Lauren |last2=Silverstone |first2=Tom |last3=Gilliam |first3=Brendan |last4=Herring |first4=Sophia |date=2023-04-05 |title='Every day a revolution': the first Black woman to open a Chelsea gallery shakes up the art world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/video/2023/apr/05/nicola-vassell-black-gallerist-chelsea-new-york |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |last=Packard |first=Cassie |date=2022-11-25 |title=Gallerist Nicola Vassell considers the Caribbean context |url=https://www.ft.com/content/8c39b8a5-c3ea-4038-9063-ca0fc0336d50 |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=Financial Times}}
Early life and education
Vassell was born and raised in Jamaica. She moved to New York City in 1996 to work as a model.{{Cite web |last=Freeman |first=Nate |date=2020-10-23 |title=Wet Paint: Swizz Beatz's Longtime Curator Is Opening a Gallery, Damien Hirst's Shirt May Flip for a Fortune, & More Art-World Gossip |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/wet-paint-swizz-beatz-curator-gallery-1917690 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}} She studied business and art history at New York University beginning in 2002.{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Felicia R. |date=2009-02-02 |title=A Shaper of Talent for a Changing Art World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/arts/design/03break.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230809004551/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/arts/design/03break.html |archive-date=2023-08-09 |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Krysta |date=2021-05-30 |title=Her Way of Art: Former Jamaican model Nicola Vassell opens gallery in New York |url=https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/social/20210530/her-way-art-former-jamaican-model-nicola-vassell-opens-gallery-new-york |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=The Jamaica Gleaner |language=en}}
Career
In 2005, Vassell began working as an intern at the Deitch Projects gallery after meeting Jeffery Deitch at the 2004 Armory Show. She became a director at Deitch in 2007, where she developed a close relationship with Kehinde Wiley and worked until its closure in 2010.{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=2021-05-18 |title=A Rare Black-Owned Art Gallery Lands in Chelsea |work=The New York Times}} Vassell then served as a director at Pace Gallery between 2010 and 2012.
In 2014, Vassell started her own contemporary art advisory and curatorial business, Concept NV. Through her firm, she curated a group exhibition, "Black Eye," which featured the work of contemporary black artists, including Derrick Adams, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Simone Leigh, Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Sanford Biggers.{{Cite web |last=Chan |first=Dawn |date=2014-05-01 |title=A Group Show in TriBeCa Explores Black Identity Today |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/on-view-a-group-show-in-tribeca-explores-black-identity-today/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=T Magazine |language=en-US}} She also curated the artwork that appeared in Empire
In May 2021, Vassell opened her eponymous gallery on Tenth Avenue in Chelsea. The gallery's inaugural show featured the work of Ming Smith.{{Cite web |date=2021-05-19 |title='Unity is survival': former Pace director Nicola Vassell to open a gallery in New York |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/05/19/unity-is-survival-former-pace-director-nicola-vassell-to-open-a-gallery-in-new-york |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events}} In November 2023, Vassell announced a partnership with Hauser & Wirth for co-representation of artist Uman and the production of a jointly organized exhibition of her work at Hauser & Wirth London in January 2024.{{Cite web |title=Welcoming Uman to Hauser & Wirth in Partnership with Nicola Vassell Gallery |url=https://www.hauserwirth.com/news/welcoming-uman-to-hauser-wirth-in-partnership-with-nicola-vassell/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Hauser & Wirth |language=en}}
References
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