In conversation with Rom Levy – The curator and the blogger

We recently had the opportunity to catch up with Rom Levy, French art dealer and curator, and the founder and editor-in-chief of StreetArtNews, which, launched in 2009, has been one of the leading online magazines covering the Street art scene for more than a decade now.

But the popular blog and its many followers on both facebook, instagram and twitter, is not the only thing that Rom Levy has achieved during the past years. He has also curated a large number museum exhibitions including Borondo’s amazing ‘Animal’ solo show in 2015, the co-curation of Urban Nation Museum in Berlin which opened in 2017, as well as the curation and production of Dubai Street Museum.

The list doesn’t stop there, and over the years, Rom Levy has collaborated with world renowned street and urban artists, tirelessly working for the promotion of Urban Contemporary Art, becoming one of the key figures that have helped to popularise the scene by highlighting some of the latest trends in Urban Art. 
In an exclusive interview we got to know a bit more about Rom Levy and his whereabouts. Here is what we found out.

Could  you tell us a bit about your background and how you ended up being such a big part of the Street art scene?

Born on September, 3rd of 1983 in Paris – France, I grew up with an evolving interest in graffiti and street art.

I was actually studying in Paris 14t, at the “Lycee Jean Lurcat”, and got first introduced to the arts through my daily walk to school. I was walking through “La Butte Au Caille”, which is a famous street in Paris for its street art pieces, at least twice a day. After a while, at the age of 14, I started experimenting with graffiti, and the rest is history.

As you know, I later on turned this page and I started working as a curator and art dealer. I felt that I could share my own perceptions and ideas while bringing people closer through the use of art.
To be honest, I am not sure I can describe myself as a big part of the street art scene; however, I am proud to have somehow influenced a few pages of the Art History.

When and why did you decide to create StreetArtNews?
For years, I was spending an awful lot of time on a daily basis, searching for the latest pieces, murals and artworks that would appear around the world, out of my own curiosity.
One night, after spending for one more time hours looking at murals, it just hit me. If I could compile all of these works and news on a website, maybe it would be interesting for some other people too, and it would actually help them to save some time. I started by creating a small blog in which I published some of the things I had found that day, and like that StreetArtNews was born.

Since its creation, SAN has being one of the leading street art blogs in the world. What do you think has been the key to its success?
The main idea was to introduce street art to people that were not familiar with it or did not have the chance to see many pieces. As I was lucky to live in Paris, I wanted to share with the masses, the same exact feeling I had when I was discovering a fresh, new street piece.
The site was updated daily with several posts, and it was, at this time, kind of the only way to be on the loop with the scene.

Thanks to the blog, you have interacted with many artists through the years, curated a series of exhibitions, prints and so on. How would you describe this experience?
It has been a unique experience for sure. I would have never imagined collaborating with such influential artists, like Space Invader, Banksy, D*Face, DALeast, RETNA, Shepard Fairey, Vhils and so many more.
The human relationships I have experienced over these years, have been unique and enriching in so many ways and levels, that they definitely changed me forever.

A lot of things have changed over the past decade.
Back in 2010, most of the murals I organized and produced in Paris or London, where done with no official authorization or with only some sketchy approval that I managed to get from the owners. Nowadays, everything is commissioned by cities and other entities, and through such projects the artists are finally getting paid more than a flight ticket to create their work.

In terms of general public acceptance, the movement is also much more popular and accepted. From mainstream documentaries to designing stages for Music Awards, street art infiltrated most layers of the popular culture.

The use of Internet plays a huge role in this last point, as it is the major element bringing street art to the masses. Back when StreetArtNews was created, platforms and apps like Instagram were not that popular, and websites such as Wooster Collective or Unurth, were the main means for consuming street art.

Today, social media and the overall instant consumption of content, have somehow started to make it less unique and less impactful. The audience has seen hundreds of murals in person and online, and are flooded under a constant deluge of images and that make street art an almost common form of artistic expression.

In 2020, only a few countries have the growing appetite, we used to have ten years ago for street art – China and Russia are the first to cross my mind.

For many years, SAN was run by an anonymous and pretty elusive publisher (the Banksy of street art blogs), living during the first years in Paris and working elsewhere. Then you just started moving around. When did you decide to step into the light and why?
StreetArtNews started at the same time with a large project I launched in Paris, called ParisOpenWalls. For this project, I brought several artists to paint illegally in Paris, which was lacking the international input at this time.
Therefore, it made more sense to keep the identity anonymous in case legal
issues would come up.
I decided to step into the light, once all the walls and projects became legal, lol.

Since then, you have worked both alone and in collaboration with a series of curators and institutions; both in North America, Europe, Asia and now the Middle East. How do you think that experience has influenced your practice as a curator?
Each continent and culture I worked with, have clearly influenced my work, making me appreciate the importance of being specific with the local audiences.
I was of course, exposed to different sensibilities and cultures that influenced my personal vision. It is a constant work in progress.

Could you tell us about your curatorial work the past years?
There has been a lot of work over the past ten years, my most challenging project was “Animal”, an exhibition by Borondo that was held in 2015. It took around two years of work and it was a truly magical exhibition.

Heading back to the beginning, I created my first gallery, MSA Gallery, in 2011 in Paris. This was kind of an incubator for me, as I learned a lot of what I know today. I then founded RexRomae in 2013 in London, which has a roaming program of moving exhibitions around the world, from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. I also have a Contemporary Art Gallery in Dubai, The Mine, where I partnered with Sanaz Askari.

While living in the United States from 2012 to 2015, I curated the art part of Life Is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas, and also created art installations for Coachella Festival in California. Around that time, I also created the fine art editions division of StreetArtNews. Our studio in Turin, Italy has been producing limited edition screenprints, which introduced me to another side of the scene. 

Thinking about it now, another one of my favourite curatorial works, was “Printology”, an exhibition I curated at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, in the new Windgate Arts and Design Building. It was actually very fun to retrace a side of Street Art history through the popular technique of printing.

 

What kind of projects have been the most rewarding for you? Especially at a personal level and why?
I’ve done a lot of projects over the years, but probably the one that has been the most rewarding is Dubai Street Museum. It truly enabled me to change a city on a large scale. I was actually living in Puerto Rico then, when the UAE Government and H.H Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum contacted me, about creating the largest open-air museum in the world. Shorter after that, in January of 2016, I moved to UAE.

I also have to mention Urban Nation in Berlin, the first Street Art museum in the world. I was a member of the curatorial board for the launch, and it was quite rewarding to work on an institutional and official place for street art. The Museum was launched in September of 2016 and is open to the public since then.

When it comes to your relationship to the artists you work with, I have noticed (my personal perception) that you often build a close connection with them. In your opinion, is there a difference between so-called street artists and “fine art” artists?
Yes, most of the artists I worked with became close friends. As I mentioned earlier, human relationships are what interested me the most. I do not think there is a difference between street artists and fine art artists. The only thing that would be different in my case, is the common background that I share with street artists, giving us something that we can relate to.

Going back to SAN. I often look at projects like if they were relationships, so this is why I ask; Do you still feel SAN close to your heart or has the original passion started to fade?
It is still very close to my heart, however after a decade, I am trying to find ways to go beyond what it already is, and create bridges between different art genres.

What can we expect from you during the next year?
With the recent Corona-Virus outbreak, almost all of our projects have been postponed. So, depending on the situation, I will be hosting a Martin Whatson solo exhibition in HK later this year, and then take a step back and start preparing 2021.
I also want to spend some time with my daughter, Esther. She painted her first mural at the age of four, in Paris and now at the age of thirteen, her recent works evolved in a very interesting way, which will be fun to explore together.

I remember asking you once about your plans for the future and how you quickly replied “To conquer the world”. Is that still your plan?
It still is a work in progress, but to be honest, if it had to stop now with what has happened over the last 15 years, I would be very happy and satisfied (:

---

Rom Levy currently lives and works in Dubai where he runs projects across the globe. You can find more about him and his projects on www.romlevy.com