We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melanie Prapopulos. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melanie below.

Melanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I think the biggest part of this story that is The Contemporary Art Modern Project is how some artists are treated by galleries and agents. Unfortunately many inexperienced artists are seen as a means of making quick money by some galleries and agents because they know that artists will do anything to have their work seen and exhibited, which means that they often will pay both galleries and agents to show their work. The goal behind the CAMP Gallery has always been to create a fair and ethical space for artists to exhibit and also learn about this industry.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got into the gallery business after being an artist myself and meeting many artists who struggled with exploitation. I became an artist really because of watching other artists and taking the chance to try and be creative (I always wanted to but was not formally trained, and thought it was impossible without training). I learned through much struggle, tears and also joy that practice, practice and then some more was the key for me and soon started having exhibitions and actually selling my art while I lived overseas. After returning to the US, and needing to work, I immersed myself in academia teaching literature and writing and put off art for just the weekends. But I had two friends who needed jobs, I had begun to notice that the online world was becoming more and more important for art and artists and so I suggested to these two friends to start an online gallery, and over time, I decided to have my own gallery. We opened April Fool’s Day 2020, on purpose and began online and once the pandemic began to settle we opened our first location in Miami in late 2020 and in 2021 in Westport, CT. When I say we, I mean myself and my team of Chloe, Gabe Maria and also Mario.

What we think separates us from some galleries is that we deal with emerging and mid career artists, mostly Ultra Contemporary, we strive to bring them forward through in gallery shows, online shows, museum shows and occasionally art fairs. We also strive to create a niche for our collectors, both those just starting their collections and those that are more established.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Doing art fairs and being on Artsy, Artspace, and other like art platforms definitely helps bring in new clients – but they are not always inexpensive so you do need to consider that. They also can take a while before you start seeing sales, and require a fair amount of time with data entry – but they help. Art fairs, also take a lot of time and of course, money. It can be a hit or miss situation with the fairs, but if nothing else you should be able to increase your list of collectors, and visitors.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social Media can be and often is – a nightmare! It takes so much time to figure what the algorithm wants and once you do – it changes. All I can say is make sure your images are good, look at other brands you like, see what they do – don’t copy them but get a feel of what others are doing. Remember to stay true to your brand – that is probably the most important thing – your brand, if you forget to keep it fresh – other will completely forget it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecampgallery.com
• Instagram: @thecampgallery.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheContemporaryArtModernProject/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecampgallery