Bruce Silverstein Interview

“Photographer as Sculptor, Sculptor as Photographer”

April 10-June 7 2025

Bruce Silverstein Gallery: 529 West 20th Street, 3rd Floor , Suite 3W, NYC 10011
Interview by James Maher

Japanese translation by Miwa Susuda

Maher: What was your first year at AIPAD?

Silverstein: When I was a collector of photography, back in ’93, 25 years old. It was right at the beginning when I was just starting to collect photography.

Maher: One of your parents is an artist?

Silverstein: My father is a fine art photographer [Larry Silver, a member of the Photo League]. He's been shooting since the late '40s and is still working today. He's the one who turned me on to photography from a very young age.

Maher: Do you still photograph?

Silverstein: I don't really. There was a time when I got out of college, but I found myself basically seeing through my father's eyes. It just wasn’t something I needed to do.

Maher: You began collecting photography, and then started the gallery at 33. Did you completely leave your career at the beginning? Was it a big initial transition?

Silverstein: Well, before I had the gallery, I founded an energy brokerage firm, an institutional brokerage firm. I began collecting when I was 23, and when I turned 30, I decided that wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. After a bit of exploration, I came to the realization that I am what I do, which is basically obsess over photography. It was a natural fit for me.

Maher: What was the first year that you had a booth at the event?

Silverstein: I opened the gallery in 2001, and I believe I had a booth in 2002. So now we're up to 23 years.

Maher: I'm assuming you have things a lot more efficient than you used to? Was it hard the first few years? How was it to learn the business?

Silverstein: The first few years I was on my own, so I did everything — from designing the booth to hanging the work and manning the booth. Yes, it does get easier in certain parts, but I think the more information you have, the more complicated things can sometimes be.

Maher: I read that it was a very fun time in your life — the beginning?

Silverstein: Yeah, it was. I really enjoyed those first few years in particular because, first of all, I was learning on the job. A lot of people who open galleries have experience in the field — they work their way up or they have family in it. I didn’t, so I had to learn everything on my own. There was something about that that was very exciting and fulfilling. I enjoyed every aspect — from hanging pictures on the walls to painting the walls — all of it was fun.

Maher: You also collect in addition to having a gallery. Are there interesting themes or quirks that you like to focus on?

Silverstein: Well, at this point I don't really collect per se, although I buy constantly for the gallery. The things that I buy are things that I love, so I get the satisfaction of collecting, but I'm no longer of the mindset where I won't let things go. Having a gallery enables me to buy a lot of things that I love. It's interesting — when I look at the things I bought when I was 23, I still like them today.

Maher: Were there any tough prints to let go of over the years?

Silverstein: There have been a few that I had to let go — perhaps because of the economy at the time — that I know I'll never find again. But I'm lucky to have had those things, and that's what they're there for.

Maher: How difficult is it to pick what you want to show for each show?

Silverstein: It can be complicated because you want to show works that people find interesting and timely. Obviously, we have so much at the gallery, it's hard to decide what to show. We represent living artists; we represent estates. We also buy and sell a lot of artworks. So it's kind of an organic process. Every fair, it's sort of like, okay, at that time, what is it that we have that we feel should be seen, needs to be seen, and what agendas we are looking to support.

Maher: How much of that is instinct versus what is figured out? Is a lot of what you do now instinct?

Silverstein: I would say that I'm juggling a lot of variables at any given time, and where I'm leaning could change very quickly depending upon what shows up. It could be something that's being offered to the gallery that's very exciting. It could be an epiphany — a realization that a particular body of work hasn’t been seen in a long time, and it makes sense to show it now.

Maher: I want to ask about your new gallery space. You are simultaneously showing at AIPAD and you just opened a new space. Can you tell me a little bit about the process of what it's like to move, even if it's in the same building?

Silverstein: The new gallery is a space that was completely raw — an opportunity to really create something that was tailored to the gallery and the direction of its future. It’s both efficient and also shows the types of works that we plan on showing. Really, the direction of the gallery is going to be one that shows not just photography, but all mediums. And of course, we'll always have a focus on photography. I think that makes us unique compared to other art galleries where photography doesn’t play a central role. The new gallery will look to integrate photography with other mediums.

Maher: Were you showing a lot of non-photographic art previously, or is it now a bigger push into it?

Silverstein: Well, we've always shown [art]. We represent artists that do photography, but often they made other things, and we would show those works within the context of their photographs. For example, Frederick Sommer, known as a really important American photographer, was also painting, doing collage, even creating musical scores based on aesthetics. Often these artists, because they were doing photography, were labeled photographers.　It's always been our agenda to show the full range of work because I think it gives more insight into the artist and the language that's unique to that artist. When one sees the photographs, paintings, and drawings, it becomes more clear. So that's always been the case, but really there's so much more that I would like to do. And I think it's important to position photography in such a way that it's being seen within the context of other art forms, because the people out there who are looking at art are people that collect art — they’re not specifically photo collectors. So it's important to create a dialogue there that they find interesting and relevant.

Maher: Your inaugural exhibition in the new space does that — connecting photography and sculpture [Photographer as Sculptor, Sculptor as Photographer]. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Silverstein: It's something that I've been really looking at for quite a long time. Many sculptors have used photography in their practice in various ways. What I find interesting is while it may have begun as a utilitarian practice, perhaps to document their works, their particular vision comes across. And I think that's really interesting. It's very organic. Often they were not saying to themselves, ‘I am creating a piece of art’ — they were just doing. But through that process, their way of seeing and their ideas came through in a very pure way.
If you look at the history of photography, photographers often were photographing, looking at form, looking at negative space. I see photographers as almost working with ready-made sculpture — whether they're a Josef Sudek who is finding a glass and an egg and putting them together. In essence, those are objects that are made — either manmade or made by nature. They're found objects.
I think we're past the notion that one must create the object to be a sculptor or an artist. I see these photographers as being interested in all aspects of art, and that comes through in their process.

Maher: What is it like being in your career, surrounding yourself with so many interesting photographers, artists, and bodies of work? I imagine it’s inspiring?

Silverstein: It's inspiring, but I was raised with an artist and understand the challenges that artists can have. It's hard because there are so many people that create, especially in photography. Not all people can be someone who can sell their work — and that shouldn't mean they shouldn't enjoy the process. Most people I know who make art, they make art because it brings them pleasure. And so I really want to make sure that I'm not getting in their way — but that can be challenging, to say to someone, ‘I'm sorry, but this is something I can't work with.’ But yes, you meet all sorts of people, and it's a beautiful thing. In my previous career, I didn’t have that interaction, and that was something that I desperately wanted — real human, organic interaction. And to have that in this field... that's great.