Will Farrell proves that Gabelli students have a wide range of interests, including art. (Will Farrell/The Fordham Ram).
By Laura Sanicola
As many Gabelli finance students prepare for careers on Wall Street or start-up companies, one has eyes on something a little more—Rothko. Dallas Native William Farrell, GSB ’18, sits in Hughes Hall for class but envisions a future entrenched in the art world.
“It’s definitely not something I consider a hobby,” Will told me at Cosi on a cold day in early April. “It’s something that’s always been part of who I am.”
Finance isn’t a hobby for him, either; it’s a strategic tool to help him navigate the tumultuous and ever-changing art world. “I think a lot of people get lost in in the art business is the foundational skills of how to run a gallery,” Will admitted with the self-awareness of a true art professional.
But he was quick to remark that he himself doesn’t create thiw own art. “I mean, I do,” he conceded, “…but I’d never show anything of my own.” Instead, he collaborates with visionaries such as 18 year old “Father Steve,” a young artist who has created clothes worn by rappers such as Wiz Khalifa. This union inspired Will to put down $9000 to rent a storefront on the Lower East Side for his first ever art exhibit featuring Father Steve’s work.
Opening night saw 300 people attend, and four of the twelve Father Steve original paintings on exhibition sold. The show lasted for two more weeks, drawing consistent crowds.
And while they didn’t break even, he came close—good enough for Will.
“Obviously it would have been great if we sold every single painting but we were more concerned about putting on our first show together, getting our names out there and doing something we thought was important,” he insisted, and I was convinced.
Father Steve paints what Will calls “bold and kind of wild portraitures,” depicting detachment with society. Will’s own artistic tastes range from modernism to abstract expressionism.
His exposure to art came early, he revealed. Both sides of his family collect arts, and his grandmother owns her own gallery. Since then he has worked on the art team at MTV and interned at The Journal Gallery, a Brooklyn venue. “Being in New York just offers you so many opportunities to get involved in the art scene, I started to want to make my own mark in it,” he said. “That’s what the plan is.”
Will is largely self-taught, having learned his trade through books on how to hang up paintings, to the way you should curate and establish a theme.
Though passionate about his work, he finds that most students are unaware of the art world that lies past the MoMA and the Met.
“They completely ignore the contemporary art scene where younger artists are opening galleries with fantastic exhibitions,” he said in a sort of lamentation.
He recommends work by David Zwirner, Josh Greene and Michele Maccarone in particular. Many of his contemporary idols have different goals than their predecessors, which is reflected in their artwork. “Many try to tackle the impact that the internet has had on society,” Will said.
For his next venture, Will plans to go international. He and Father Steve, in collaboration with another artist, are to take classically Greek themed sculptures and install them in mountain ranges in Greece to photograph this summer.
Now that he’s gotten his hands dirty in the business, he can’t go back to just admiring art.
“It’s one thing to go to galleries and just look at the work,” he said. “But when you realize the kind of work that it takes to hang and select the work, the whole process, it changes your perspective on the art world.”
