Andres & Stacy Conde
“Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.”
– Ai Weiwei
Husband and wife, mother and father, artist and art dealer, best friends and co-conspirators, we found each other in the most Gen X of ways, at Lollapalooza in 1994. It was art that brought us together and art that continues to be the common theme of our lives.
Andrés started his career studying commercial art, while I began working for Barbara Hulanicki, OBE, (famed designer and founder of Biba) at 17, and continued as her assistant for 10 years on projects ranging from music videos, photo shoots, interior design, and costume design.
Our first project together was working with Barbara on the gut-renovation of an Art Deco jewel, the Marlin Hotel on South Beach, for Chris Blackwell of Island Records.
Andrés was responsible for the famous multicolored silver leafed ceilings and walls, among other creative flourishes. In fact, the walls in Natchez Gallery Suites, are a tribute, by Andrés who stepped away from his easel to make the original wood walls look like distressed, water damaged copper.
Barbara and I still work together . When the apartments were finished, Barbara was called to do a walk through first. “Well done Stacy!”, the suites have been given the queen’s stamp of approval.
Though our work for Barbara was an exciting education, Andrés was already educated and pursuing fine art. Painting wall treatments was a means to an end, not a career.
We opened our first gallery, Goodman-Conde Gallery in Miami’s Design District in 1998, then our current iteration Conde Contemporary in 2013. The gallery originally specialized exclusively in contemporary Cuban art, and has since expanded to include an international group of artists, with a focus on conceptual art, realism and surrealism.
Andrés is from Havana, and I’m from Miami, but my roots are firmly planted in Mississippi and this historic town on The River. Looking for a place closer to family, we bought a house in Natchez in 2018. Then came the pandemic. We decided to shelter in place in Natchez, but soon discovered we couldn’t imagine leaving. So we bought the old Mississippi Bank Building on Main Street, and moved the gallery up from Miami.
The suites are an extension of the gallery. They’re essentially art installations, curated with you in mind. Incredibly talented gallery artists have agreed to show their work in situ. All of the artwork in the suites is for sale, as are several of the antiques on loan from Dop Antiques in New Orleans. Most of the books in the apartments are on art, philosophy, or written by friends (NYT best selling author friends), there is also one slim novel slipped in there written by me (not a NYT best selling author).
The move to Natchez has been a game changer. It’s afforded us the freedom to pursue a variety of projects dear to our hearts. I founded the nonprofit Arts Danu which provides arts programming and education through a teaching artist’s residency program, and produced Allumer Natchez, an open air light based art exhibition and festival. Now with the completion of Natchez Gallery Suites, we’ve fulfilled yet another dream. We’ve tried to think of everything, down to the smallest detail and so hope you enjoy staying here. These suites were genuinely created for you to enjoy and feel at home living in an atmosphere of art and serenity.
- Stacy Goodman-Conde
