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Beyond the Four Walls
Interview & Words Phadria Prendergast
The only way to describe Marine Tanguy was unrelenting. At 17, limited to the small island of Île de Ré, she threw herself into literature, expanding her mind past the invisible walls she had been subjected to. By 25, she had launched the world’s first creative agency which challenged the art sector’s elitist structure, opening up a level playing field for emerging artists to also have a voice. But just how did a young girl from a non-western background, disrupt an entire industry?
Photographer: Isabella LombardiniMy cab pulled up to the almost familiar navy blue door that I remembered from a video Marine had sent me. Beautiful, thought-provoking art tastefully filled most corners and every room of her abode. A piece from David Aiu Servan-Schreiber, was the first thing you were greeted with upon entering her home. He was one of her favourite artists. Marine was in the kitchen with the WOTC glam team, engaged in deep conversation, no doubt about art. I almost didn’t want to interrupt. I wasn’t the best at depicting height, but I would say she stood at around 5”6, possibly 5”7. I was 5”9. The kitten heels I was wearing that day added an extra 2.5 inches to my height. It was the first time we were meeting in person since first connecting in January via Instagram. She had seen Pia Stanchina’s cover piece in our December issue and was also close friends with Noella Coursaris Musunka who was the founder of global foundation Malaika and a dear friend of the magazine. We exchanged pleasantries and I stood in the kitchen on the sidelines, as the team worked their magic, though she was a natural beauty, so typically didn't wear nor did she need much makeup. It was a cover shoot but I still wanted to keep her makeup as subtle and minimal as possible. She assured the team that she trusted us, telling them to do as they pleased. Shemaiah Gold, who is also our arts editor mentioned a red lip for one of the 3 looks. I wasn’t keen, but decided I would exercise my trust too. It worked by the way! What did I know about makeup anyway? Besides the mascara and nude lipgloss I wore on most days, I would be pretty lost without my own glam team.
Marine had beauty and brains, we chatted away about how we both broke into our industries - me in publishing and media, her in art. She spoke with so much assurity that even if what she was saying wasn’t true, I’m sure you’d believe her anyway.
She had spent the first 17 years of her life growing up on holiday island favourite: Île de Ré, France; a small island which hosted numerous Parisians and tourists during the summer months of July and August. Marine however; a budding creative with an appreciation for the island’s beauty, wanted more. She longed for more diversity and to be exposed to people who thought differently. She had already begun thinking about her career and wanted to be part of an industry that was both visually pleasing and inspiring. When she couldn’t find the minds she wanted to interact with in person, she turned to novels, which ultimately led to her wanting to study literature and the arts.
Marine was ready for wardrobe. The first look was a risk. We were torn between playing it safe and sticking with the Marine's usual style or stepping outside the box. In the end, we decided on the latter. The moment she slipped into it, I knew it was the cover look. She admits that it was out of her comfort zone but that she liked it.
Photographer: Isabella LombardiniThe genesis of Marine’s career came at 19. She had just finished studying literature and classics and had made an application for an internship at the BBC in London, wowing them with a poem she had written and ultimately landing herself close to 3 months at the largest broadcaster in the world. She was elated. It was exactly the world she had wished to be a part of. Everyone was smart and most importantly, she was inspired by what she saw. As an intern, to describe her as keen would have been an understatement. She desperately wanted to be part of the sector and was therefore willing to do anything asked of her. “I would have even done the floor if needs be,” she chuckled.
Aged 21, just two years later, Marine came under the indirect mentorship of Steve Lazarides, a man who had discovered the likes of international street artists Banksy and JR, as she became gallery manager of the former The Outsiders gallery - once upon a time known for its accessible and affordable art. Lazarides’s rags to riches story (having risen from a council estate), wasn’t one that was usual for the art industry. She was grateful to be exposed to his way of thinking. It was unusual. Without being aware, he had shown her how to do things differently within an industry that was used to getting things done traditionally.
At 23-years-old, she became the co-owner of her very own gallery in the centre of Beverly Hills, naming it after the island she had originated from. Marine’s investor Steph Sebbag, was in the process of opening an advertising company in LA and at the time, had travelled to London for a shoot at the gallery. Sebbag wanted to invest in the opening of a gallery in Los Angeles. In his eyes, Marine was the perfect candidate. She was intelligent and spoke about the art world in a way that differed from what he had been used to hearing. The gallery’s opening saw an influx of America’s A-list celebrity crowd including actress Demi Moore and photographer Brian Bowen Smith, however Marine, who was still learning about the art world whilst progressively harbouring her passion for the sector, didn’t think much of the glamorous guestlist that came with the gallery. She barely even knew it existed. “I was very new to even posing, she laughs.” Despite the glitz and the glam that many young women her age would have done just about anything to be a part of it all, Marine knew something was missing. She reminisces on the visits she would take to the sea as a youngster and how it made her feel. “What I love about the sea was the fact that everyone could come to it. As a kid, I could come to it and see it. It really didn’t matter whether I was part of anything special, it was available for everyone.” It was the same feeling of inclusivity that she wanted to create within the art world. Whilst in LA, she would meet businessman Michael Ovitz; previously deemed one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, who would largely influence her way of thinking. As his mentee, they spoke in great detail about his roles and the companies he had built, quickly bringing Marine into the realisation that she would have to take another bet on herself. A bet which ultimately meant ending her partnership with Sebbag at the gallery and returning to London.
“At 25, I didn’t have kids, I didn’t have a long-term relationship. I wasn’t scared of being on a sofa bed for a while.”
It was clear that Marine was a risk taker. Quite frankly, I don’t believe it is possible to build anything successful or enforce real change without risk. “At 25, I didn’t have kids, I didn’t have a long-term relationship. I wasn’t scared of being on a sofa bed for a while. You’re also ignorant, so you have a fear of very little, because you don’t know how hard it is to build a company. I had the ‘I feel like this is the right idea, why don’t I do it?’ type of attitude, and I hadn’t been warned that this is one of the hardest things to do, and so I think my ignorance was bliss.”
She returned to London with no money, but her mind was set. She was going to make her vision a reality! That reality became MTArt Agency. “I remember strongly, the day I just sat down and on a piece of paper, put all the key values of the company that I would never compromise on.” She wasn’t interested in doing what had already been done. There were already many galleries that followed the conventional “elitist” pattern which long reigned within the art sector. MTArt Agency was inclusive. She would still sell to the elite and the wealthy and her talent would work with them, but she no longer wanted it to be just for the few.
Forged in June 2015 as the world's first agency for emerging artists, MTArt Agency became the first B-corp in the art sector and one of the first companies to raise the key issues other platforms had looked past within the art world. Prior to starting the agency, the usual naysayers and their opinions attempted to seek residence in Marine’s ear. She was told that she couldn’t be political and do what she was trying to do. “I couldn't be anything else. My artists, if I think of Delphine Diallo or David Aiu Servan-Schreiber, who today are constantly defending values, clauses, principles; they are political. They do want things to change for the better. And I think for me to pretend that we were not political will be therefore off, because we were.” The bottom line was that Marine was committed. Despite being told that she was making the wrong move, she accepted that she was simply thinking differently to most of the art world. “You could get along with people much more easily than if you hadn't put that on the paper. You also now know deep down, what you can carry [and] what you can’t carry. And I know there’s certain artists - because of the way they behave morally or anything, I couldn’t carry them. I couldn’t have them on board, and the same with the team as well. And I think that's nice because it means your vision, the culture of the company, the values that you put behind it are quite clear. And it doesn't mean you hate the rest, it just means you are clear on what is important for you.”
“There was no net and there was no protection. We had to work. Plan A had to be plan A, there was no B!”
Photographer: Isabella LombardiniI wanted to know what kept Marine going on the not-so-good days, despite the many opinions against starting MTArt Agency. “There was no net and there was no protection. We had to work. Plan A had to be plan A, there was no B!” I understood all too well. In the beginning, she was often told that she was being too ambitious. “Whatever that means - I think [it] is very European, less American.” From personal experience, I had to agree with her last statement. “I think there was almost a duty to think 'this has to change'.” She couldn’t believe otherwise. It was a feeling she couldn’t shake; a mix between anger and simply thinking, “this has to exist [...] there was something in my brain that just refused to accept [it].”
She considered her artists to be much more courageous than she was. Although they had the agency, they had ultimately put everything on the line to succeed. So before anything else, she knew she had to keep going for them. “As an entrepreneur, if one of my artists fail it's difficult, but I have other artists that are striving because the company is striving. They've got just themselves.”
“As a self-made [businesswoman], I'm very comfortable with risk, in terms of how I play it, how I invest with it - because you have an understanding of how this was made in the first place.”
Still intrigued by the comment she had made on the difference in thinking between Europeans and Americans, I probed a little more, wanting her to elaborate. Was life in America different I asked. “I think the explanation apparently is the dissociation towards money.. So the fact that in America you're very close to who's made the money and in Europe you're much further away in terms of the power circles. So, you're almost in the dynamic of trying to conserve the money you've made here, in comparison to actually taking risk with it. As a self-made [businesswoman], I'm very comfortable with risk, in terms of how I play it, how I invest with it - because you have an understanding of how this was made in the first place. So therefore, risk doesn't mean as much as [it would to] someone who's never taken them.” - a way of thinking that was inherent to most, if not all of those Marine had met during her time in America. She believed that her access to [successful] people in business and mentorship from Michael Ovitz and her earlier mentor and collector Yannick Pons, is what allowed her not to be fearful of change or taking risks. Neither of her mentors had come from a middle class background and there was nothing that suggested that either would be hugely successful. “I think exposure matters so much that by the second you see it's possible, your brain thinks about it differently. I had seen that they had done it [...] I didn't even think of my gender, because I'd been exposed to so many men at the time and there were no women role models I could look up to in the sector I was in. In a weird way, I wasn't even thinking I was a woman. I was just like thinking, 'oh, they've done it so I could do it.’ I didn't see any difference.”
“I had it drilled in my brain, that I had to be careful. That it's such a world of glamour and I was one of the few that just needed to build.”
I think people often mistake taking risks for recklessness. She concurred. “That's a very strong statement and I agree,” she states. She recalls being at an event with one of her mentors and being told by him, “Most people in this room have huge nets that can catch them if they fall, you don't. You need to build your net.” Marine credits MTArt being profitable within its first year to his words of wisdom. “I think it was built on that understanding that I had Yannick constantly saying, ‘you won’t have someone to catch you, so you need to really build foundations as solid that you can rest on.’” MTArt was not affected by the global pandemic and instead tripled their revenue in 2020. “I think that's because of those foundations. I had it drilled in my brain, from him, that I had to be careful. That it's such a world of glamour and I was one of the few that just needed to build [...] but this is still the same person that would advise me to take a lot of risk.”
“I think exposure matters so much that by the second you see it's possible, your brain thinks about it differently.
Within the business, Marine has created a unified working culture where her investors, partners, clients and colleagues work as a team; so much so that her team and artists have shares in the company. “We're very lucky that we were profitable from year one of the business, which means I'm a very large shareholder, and there's only a small percentage for the investors. But it also means that my team and artists can therefore be a part of the business in a deep sense, which I really like.”
“I didn't even think of my gender [...] I wasn't even thinking I was a woman. I was just like thinking, 'oh, they've done it, so I could do it.’ I didn't see any difference.”
I wondered how she managed her time being a mother, wife and global business woman. “We have this thing, that even this week when we have five contracts on which are very large for us, even if we have multiple excuses to miss lunch together, we make a point of having lunch - that one of us cooks and we share this together. Before [the pandemic], we would find a way to work out or have a walk outside.” Marine has a bottom line and she doesn’t cross it - for anything! “I've made a point of this, that even if life is about to collapse and there's so much to do, I still on Monday evening, go and get flowers that I put in vases in my house. I still organise dinners with friends and still do all this stuff. I think as you grow into the job, you realise that all the stress will come down the next day. [...] “What I've learnt, is that sense of humour matters, little treats matters, doing all these things matter and even if things feel stressful, it's in your power to diffuse that.”
Photographer: Isabella Lombardini“What I've learnt, is that sense of humour matters, little treats matters, doing all these things matter and even if things feel stressful, it's in your power to diffuse that.”
As our conversation neared an hour, I was intrigued to know if Marine often thought about the next 10 years. She did. Earlier this year, she completed her very first book, which was set to release later this year and covered the topic of visual diets, where she shares the notion that the visuals you consume on a daily basis shape you. “They make you the person that you become. I think as someone that knows that if life doesn't keep on changing - because I love movement, I might struggle to carry it in the same way,” she continues. “So I always prepare for the next change, because I know my entire system lacks change. I like progress.” Marine already extends mentorship opportunities to creatives in her sector and looks to continue to support businesses in making a change to the art world. She’s also excited to see where her artists will be in 10 years. “David was the first artist I ever signed. Just before he walked into the shoot that we were organising today, he was carrying his painting, looking a bit lost, and six years back, it was exactly what it looked like. It was so nice because I think I'm also generally sharing stories like this with people, where we have this flashback every time. We're like 'remember being amongst boxes on sofa beds, with a bicycle and the painting.’ And so I just hope life will keep a few of them, at least, if not many of them, so that I can share that.”