Interview with Ashley Noyes and Bryce Smith
Ashley and Bryce have been passionate about emerging artists for as long as I’ve known them. When I first met them out front of Sothebys on York and 72nd in 2019, it wasn’t the most recent Marden, Rothko, or De Kooning auction prices that they were talking about— they wanted to know if I was free to go gallery hopping in LES, Tribeca, Williamsburg, and if I was available that weekend to go upstate to check out The School and Magazino.
Few Saturday mornings have passed since then without me waking up to a text from one or both of them asking if I’ll be ready before the weekenders overrun the latest thing they want to show me. Their first visit to Mexico City in 2020 prompted a constant stream of messages exclaiming how inspired they were by the thriving creative atmosphere. When they told me they were leaving their secure art-world positions to go all-in on a residency and gallery program in Santa Maria la Ribera, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. - Ben Adams-Keane
DEVON BERMAN: How did you meet and come up with the idea for Naranjo?
AN — We worked in the contemporary art department together at Sotheby's in New York. Bryce and I both come from similar professional backgrounds in the secondary market and blue chip spheres of the art world. On the side, we were very passionate about emerging art, emerging galleries and younger artists. So we came up with the idea by turning this personal interest into a professional capacity.
Why in Mexico City?
AN — The first reason being that we want to support emerging artists, so the residency needed to be in a location that would most benefit our artists. For us, Mexico City made sense. There's a lot of history and culture here. There’s a strong collaborative spirit present in Mexico City which is an important part of the project.
BS — We’ve certainly found that here. And, I think every artist could take inspiration from the city. There are so many reasons.
How did you choose the space and location?
BS — We wanted to have a space that fosters collaboration and community, which is why the gallery and residency are in the same space.
AN — The owner of the house is also an artist living and working in Mexico City. I think because he's an artist, there’s this natural and considered separation of the studio space, residence and gallery spaces. It's really perfect.
What's in the name?
AN — The name is the address of the space. The idea is that the name represents the story of the beginning. A lot of gallery names are taken from the names of the gallerist. Our decision to use the address instead of our names was to designate it as an artists space, for them to live and work, and to show their work. The address represents the origin of the project, so even if we move elsewhere or expand, the name will stay.
