This modern art aficionado sets himself apart through his dedication to ensuring that young artists are able to find expression and boost their visibility.
Everyone’s been a collector at one time or another, cultivating our passion for some special subject, or item, or story. Of this universal experience, Frédéric Lorin’s earliest memories go back to the time he spent collecting stamps with his grandfather. Many years later, over the course of his travels exploring Laos, Burma and Cambodia, he would fall in love with “the culture, the food and so many other things.” These other things included small, ancient Buddha statues dating from the 17th – 19th centuries, which Frédéric Lorin says he was “literally enamoured with.” Made from alabaster, wood or marble, these pieces would come to form his first collection. “They’re magnificent, and they express such a sense of fulfilment,” explains the man who, even today, still feels a “flutter in the stomach” when he passes one of these statues in a gallery. Though this passion may be unabated, it has given way to another: here, too, there is a story of love at first sight, as Frédéric Lorin himself puts it.
One day, at a modern art show, he came across a folded painting (pliage) by French artist André-Pierre Arnal. “I was awestruck,” he recalls. Frédéric Lorin bought the painting, which became the first in a collection that has been growing ever since. Depending on the tastes and artworks that captured his attention, his interests expanded to painting, sculpture and then photography. He then realised what had been missing from his collection of ancient Buddha statues: “I hadn’t realised it, but I was craving the element of contact with the artist. In the modern art world I could go and hang out with living artists, and talk to them about their work. So I made the switch.” Jumping in with both feet, Frédéric Lorin delighted in the conversations that would take place in front of an artwork that had captured his gaze, opening up a dialogue with the artist who had conceived and crafted it. “I love it when an artist tries to send a message; when the artwork is imbued with meaning, that’s what interests me.”
He is particularly attached to exploring the work of younger artists. For him, this involves not just buying their pieces (though he does, in pursuit of his own personal tastes and in order to support the artist), but also creating an opportunity for shared experience. The man, who works in finance, loves to converse with and support artists in their projects, and to see them grow and progress over the long term. “The last thing I want is for it to be a one-shot transaction,” he stresses. Frédéric Lorin prefers to get involved and discuss the goals of a project, and to “reassure artists who sometimes find themselves paralysed by doubt”; to brainstorm with the artist and mobilise his networks to find a technical solution or a professional who can help them pursue their ideas to fulfilment.
Nor does the collector hesitate to contribute his own time and effort, as he has done for certain exhibitions – such as the two Nuits Blanches (‘all-nighter’) events for artist and photographer Sandra Matamoros in 2021 and 2023. He also enjoys discussing technical aspects with photographers who are seeking ways to print on glass, sheet metal or ceramic surfaces, and reconnecting with bygone techniques such as the cyanotype. “This sector is growing fast, and it’s fascinating. Here too I try to help artists, who might be struggling in some way, to find the technical solutions they’re looking for.” The year 2020 was dominated by the health crisis and its ensuing lockdowns; for Frédéric Lorin, this meant the inability to seek out these encounters and exchanges. Still, he was determined to ensure they would continue: “I work for a bank, and I was lucky enough to still be getting a pay cheque at the end of the month even though I was stuck at home. For artists, with no way of making their work visible, the situation was stark. They no longer had any projects, or any income.”
So the collector reached out to some of his friends, then friends of friends. The goal was to put together the funds for an exhibition – a real, in-person exhibition – in order to provide the visibility artists needed, as soon as the spaces required to display their work were open again. He found a space, brought together the resources and created CulturFoundry, an association whose sole objective was to put on an annual exhibition, on a strictly non-profit basis. “All the revenue generated goes to the artists, as they are the ones who’ve invested in the exhibitions we put together for their work. We don’t sell their pieces; they make their own sales and we don’t take any commission.” Each year, around thirty natural and legal persons come together with Frédéric Lorin for the CulturFoundry.
The fact that it operates as an association rather than a gallery (which would need to turn a profit) offers Frédéric Lorin considerable freedom. “We don’t have to present bankable artists, so we can go all-in on showcasing young talent before they’ve found representation with a gallery.” The event is a collective enterprise; once the theme for the exhibition has been chosen, he puts together a list of suggested artists to exhibit (both his own and those picked by the friends who support the CulturFoundry), before sharing them with the exhibition curator, who may add a few ideas of their own. Frédéric Lorin is already working on the next event, which will take place in March 2025 at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, next to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, featuring artists mentored by the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington D.C.
Frédéric Lorin is pulling out all the stops in pursuit of his passion: he has been organising “deep dives,” a concept used in the world of finance, where artists are invited to present their oeuvres. Artworks can be bought or pre-purchased by those who attend, which also helps the artists to finance the forthcoming exhibition. He also presents artists he is particularly fond of, such as Romanian photographer Dana Cojbuc (now based in France) at the unReperesented salon, a dedicated event for collectors. He could talk for days about these latest discoveries, as well as the artistic projects he has been a long-standing patron of – as he says, his involvement is anything but a one-shot occurrence. Lately, he has been swept up in the work of Quentin Germain, a young artist from the Poush ateliers whose work plays on the effect of rust on corrugated iron, and who will soon be submerging a selection of his works along the coast of Belle-Île, in Brittany. This promises to be another invitation to dialogue and shared experiences; a dream come true for this atypical art collector.
