Danny Báez had spent years in New York working in the arts, for names like Gavin Brown and Rirkrit Tiravanija. Having come to the city at 20 years old from the Dominican Republic, he later co-founded ARTNOIR and MECA Art Fair. Despite that breadth of experience, he didn’t see opening up his own gallery as his future. But due to his experience during the pandemic, seeing artists in need of connection, he found himself opening up Regular Normal in downtown New York. At permanent spaces, partnered pop-ups, and art fairs, he showed the work of artists like Larissa De Jesús Negrón, Cielo Félix-Hernández, Devin Osorio, Na’ye Perez, and many more, giving support not only to artists of color, but collectors of color, too.
Early this year, Regular Normal, in collaboration with LatchKey Gallery, presented “Around the Way,” highlighting work by Daniel Castro, Momar Yusef Clemons, and Sabrina Mendoza Malavé. Whitewall spoke with Báez ahead of a solo presentation of Melissa Joseph with the gallery at Independent in New York last week, and the announcement of his new position at Kickstarter as Head of Arts.
Installation shot of “Outside” group show, photo by Magdiel Baez, courtesy of Regular Normal.
WHITEWALL: You set out to create something different with Regular Normal. What did you have in mind?
DANNY BÁEZ: When I decided to do Regular Normal, it was something that I didn’t really want to do, to be honest. Fast-forward to 2020, when the artists were working from the studio during the pandemic. Some of them started reaching out. I was selling works but not in a very consistent way. Then the artists asked, “Do you mind coming to the studio?” I went and started taking photos right away with them and the work. It was such a privilege to be with people then, and I called the whole series “The Privilege of Getting Together.” So what was I going to do with this? The only way I could help was to be different, opening space for a moment and bringing those artists in. So in the fall of 2020 I had the paperwork approved by the state of New York to be a gallery called Regular Normal.
In November I opened the first show. I thought, “What else can I do as a person of color? What else do I have to offer?” So that’s why I prioritize collectors of color. Any time we were doing shows, the way we approached this was to offer to people of color first. And to the POC buyers, the collectors safeguarding the arts, I’m saying, “I want you to have this if you really have the means, if you really connect with the work.”
Everybody was welcome to it as long as they carried with them the ethos of the things that we practiced and preached.
Installation shot of Bony Ramirez’s solo booth at Independent New York 2022, courtesy of Regular Normal.
WW: Who were the artists that fit that ethos?
DB: In Regular Normal, we are regular, normal people. There’s nothing special about us besides the point that we want to make sure that what we do goes beyond self. It goes throughout the whole spectrum of really connecting all these individuals.
WW: And what kind of space did you want Regular Normal to be?
DB: I would love people to hang out in this place. It became also like a sacred space of business. We are loud. People would walk into the space and everybody was greeted and acknowledged. The artists were hanging out. I would push the artist into the middle of the space, even if they didn’t want to, and they would talk about their work. I would say, “This is the artist, this is their work.”
Installation shot of Aya Brown’s solo booth at NADA Miami 2023, courtesy of Regular Normal.
WW: And like you said—I love this phrase—we’re regular, normal people. Artists are people! The collectors are people. The gallerists are people.
DB: We were on the Bowery, and you could see everything out our window. People were afraid to walk in. One day, a young Black couple came to the door, the guy put his hands in his pocket and said, “How much to enter?” I said, “Nothing, it’s a gallery. Come in!” He said, “Can I take pictures of the art with my girlfriend?” I said, “By all means, take as many pictures as you can.” I was so joyful, because he understood that the space is about culture.
So Regular Normal has many more things behind it, democratizing the gallery spaces—this space is for you. For you to come and talk, and see, enjoy yourself, take photos, whatever it is that gets people into it. This is commercial space, yes, but I don’t want to be gatekeepers, and we want people to know this. Now I think, “Wow, why can’t I do that for younger people to understand that if they don’t see another path in life, they maybe could do this?” Give it a shot. Also for the artists. I say do not give up.
Installation shot of “This Is Not Surrealism” group show, photo by Magdiel Baez, courtesy of Regular Normal.
