Vincent Rola is a graduate of the Master in Contemporary Art and has completed numerous internships in galleries.
One month after earning his degree, he joined Galerie Lehalle and today is its co-director.
His gallery also donated two works of art for the Juvenars-IESA Prize auction.
Can you introduce the Galerie Lehalle?
Pascale Lehalle founded the Galerie Lehalle in 1989. Located in the Eiffel Tower district, the gallery promotes contemporary art and has enabled artists from around the world to exhibit in France.
Pascale, herself an artist under the name Pascale Courbot, has always made a point of honor of not having a precise, closed artistic line. We work on artistic and human affinity, which leads us to exhibit only artists with whom we have genuine affinities and who have a message to convey through their art. The gallery mainly presents painters, but also sculptors and photographers.
Pascale also has a very fine collection of 1980s Bulgarian prints, which we are currently working to promote.
Could you tell us about your background?
In 2015, with a bachelor’s degree in Literature-History-Law in hand, I joined the Master’s in Contemporary Art at IESA arts&culture in Paris. During this time I learned a great deal about the contemporary art market, both through theoretical and professional courses and through internships. My internships took place in three different galleries: Galerie Mathias Coullaud, Galerie De Roussan, and Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger.
After graduating in May 2017, I began collaborating with Pascale Lehalle in July of the same year with a simple assignment: to make a complete inventory of her personal collection and that of the gallery. We immediately got along well and decided to extend our collaboration for a first year to develop the gallery; with Pascale’s vast experience and my newly acquired skills, I took the position of co-director of the gallery.
Pascale’s wish is to pass the torch to the new generation. It would be terrible to lose the history of small Parisian galleries, which have written whole chapters of art history.
Why did you decide to donate works for the Juvenars-IESA prize?
During this very rich year, we worked on many exhibition projects, either organized by ourselves or with collaborators. Juliette Ferrante, also a graduate of IESA arts&culture, for example curated the exhibition "Géométrie en Mouvement," showing works by Kenia Almaraz Murillo and Elliott Causse. We also worked with Japan Promotion, which is responsible for promoting Japanese culture and arts around the world.
Today, we are pleased to have chosen to donate two works for the sale of the Juvenars-IESA Prize. We are indeed very close to IESA arts&culture. It was Manon Broglin and Lucie Hallouet who suggested we take part. We entrusted them with a painting by Pascale, Oasis, and a canvas by Noël Vérin, an artist of the gallery, Brigitte.
It was a wonderful initiative by IESA arts&culture to create this prize. It will indeed allow eight young artists to be put in the spotlight and students to gain valuable professional experience that will push them to give their best.