Leroy Garcia: Gallery Owner / Sculpture Artist / Podcaster / One of 11

@leroygarcia
@blueraingallery
linktr.ee/BlueRainGallery

The scene:
We are sitting across from each other at Leroy’s desk in Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Leroy’s gigantic podcast microphones are approximately 1000% larger than my minimalist travel-sized mic. Blue Rain is a jaw-dropping gallery. I don’t even like galleries very much but this one wows me with how eclectic the collections are and the way the curations both contrast and compliment each other. Join us in the gallery for a colorful convo on the life of a gallerist.

Highlights:
+ Founder Owner of Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico
+ Gallerist for 32 years
+ Bronze, resin, and glass sculptor (his skulls are wicked cool)
+ Runs Blue Rain Gallery Podcast - to give exposure to artists
+ Passionate about all art, from low brow to super fine
+ Studied pre-law and fell in love with a potter
+ From a Poli-Sci major to an art promoter
+ Building an art career with your 24-year partner
+ The business of art: from production to marketing to management
+ 25% Native American + Spanish + German/Welsh
+ Born and raised in Taos, New Mexico
+ The least [formally] educated one of 11 siblings
+ Spanish family heritage in Taos dates back to the early 1500s
+ Discovered his Spanish origin heritage was actually French Jews
+ Artist grandfather was commissioned by the King of Spain to create the first maps, the first ethnological studies of the area, and was an early Santero
+ Navajo great grandmother was kidnapped by Apaches and adopted into a Spanish family
+ Lives in Albuquerque so his daughters can go to better schools
+ Learned good work ethic from gardening, farming, ranching, and building at 8 yrs old
+ Gallerists can be perceived by artists as controlling
+ The role of a gallery is to invest in artists, protect their prices, and help them grow
+ The gallery should be an artist’s team
+ Has never had an investor in the gallery - has lost his life savings multiple times
+ The ethics of an artist / gallery relationship [are the same as life ethics]
+ Blue Rain has a large advertising budget that allows them to better represent their artist
+ A gallerist is the ultimate gambler - sometimes the risk is well worth the reward
+ Has an innate talent to sell things - started selling newspapers at 8 yrs old
+ Life experience put him in a trajectory to where he was headed
+ Raising three teenage girls
+ Shoutout to @erincurrierfineart from Leroy, one of your biggest collectors :)
+ Surrounding your daily life with the art that excites and inspires you
+ Americans should find commonalities with each other, not differences
+ Americana art celebrates the eclectic melting pot of America
+ We should celebrate other ideas and perspectives
+ Integrating contemporary native art

A taste:
“You can’t always sit in the middle of the ocean without a paddle waiting for somebody to find you. Sometimes you’ve got to paddle out there and find them.”

Favorite saying:
To his daughters: “There’s a price to pay for what you want. Don’t say you want to be something and then you’re half-ass about it.”

From an IG post, about his skull sculptures: “Skulls are a reminder of our mortality. A reminder that our time on earth is precious, how we treat each other, to be nice, to be kind, to have compassion. It may be the only thing we can take into the next life is our relationships or how we treated peopl