In the ever-expanding realm of artist-brand collaborations, 44-year-old Sky Gellatly has served as a best-kept secret. Style and art world insiders can credit him with being eager to capitalize on potentially lucrative partnerships between artists and fashion brands. But he has remained mostly under the radar until now.
Eight years ago, Gallatelli and his longtime partner Nicole Guzijan founded ICNCLST, a New York agency that builds relationships between high-profile brands — including Nike, Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, Comme des Garçons, Louis Vuitton and the late Virgil Abloh. — and the art world. Enlighteners like Takashi Murakami and graffiti artists Leonard McGurr, better known as Futura..
Recent deals include Air Jordan, the MoMA Design Store and artist Nina Chanel Abney’s capsule fashion collection. a collaboration between Moncler, the Italian luxury outerwear brand, and artist Rostarr (Romon Kimin Yang); And not least, an LVMH sneaker-in-residence exhibition gelatily curated.
That fall, he teamed up with Jacobs to present the concept of “Just Like Heaven,” which featured the work of some of Jacobs’ longtime collaborators: Sofia Coppola, Marlene Minter, Damien Hirst, and his high-wattage counterparts, such as Control. , a Los Angeles gallery of which Gellatly is a partner.
In the works this year is a collaborative print between Futura and Japanese artist/fashion designer Verdi, which will be sold online. a partnership with Devon Turnbull, creator of audio company Ojas, for a listening room in Detroit; And several collaborations with Nike focus on the 2026 World Cup.
Gallatelli has seen content for the most part to let his clients flex their star power while he works behind the scenes. He followed that trend with Futura, producing artist collaborations with Louis Vuitton, New York Mets, Comme des Garçons, Beats by Dre and Noguchi, as well as projects at Miami Art Basel last month.
Visitors to Basel may recognize Futura, the subject of “Futura 2000: Breaking Out,” which runs through March 30 at the Bronx Museum. They were less likely to pick up Gallatelli as he wandered the crowd at the newly installed Art Basel gift shop at the Miami Convention Center. He came to celebrate the introduction of the FL-001 Mini Pointman, a toy-sized replica of Futura’s most recognizable large-scale sculpture, an alien-like figure with a menacing mine.
Visitors flocked to Futura, but Gellatly maintained a shadowy presence. He wore a Uniqlo black tailored jacket and trousers, the studiously low-key uniform of a self-styled outlier.
And that’s the way he likes it.
“I’m an introvert,” Gillettly said in an interview late last fall. He was sitting at a conference table in his studio in TriBeCa, a space cluttered with a cluster of memorabilia from collaborations with Kaws, Krink, Abney and others. He wore a sweatshirt with the logo of Columbia University, where he is an adjunct assistant professor in the Graduate School of Architecture.
In the interview below, which has been edited and condensed, Gallatelli talks about an early Oprah moment, “fighting the good fight for artists” and more.
You seem to have deliberately kept a low profile throughout your career. Why is that?
I’m not strictly a sales guy. I think of myself and my team as a mirror of the creatives we work with. We want to reflect the skills they have – and hire them. Of course, I bring them opportunities. But we are looking for projects that strike a personal chord for me.
You have chosen an unconventional path in the world of art and high branding. What moved you in that direction?
I grew up in Hopewell Junction in upstate New York, on top of a mountain, surrounded by woods. We were an artistically inclined family. My father aspired to a career in the arts but ended up working in York Harbor as a coastal tanker captain. My mother was a teacher. In the 30s, she had a kiln in her house and used to make pottery.
We had Shaker furniture and Noguchi lamps in our house, and a Keith Haring print my parents bought in the 80s. I feel like what I’m doing is somehow a continuation of the things they were interested in, the things I grew up around.
What made you a fashion fan?
My mother had a subscription to Interview magazine. She did a lot of sewing – she made some of my clothes when I was growing up. On Saturday mornings we used to watch fashion shows on television. Those words stuck in my mind.
Later, after I graduated from college, I was at home watching Oprah with her. Part of the show was cut in Marc Jacobs’ studio. At that time, I probably bought a pair of branded shoes or a t-shirt. And I thought, “Oh, that’s what a creative person’s studio looks like.” It left an impression.
You spent the early stages of your career at the junction of editorial and marketing, working at Complex magazine and editorializing at MTV and Details magazine. You directed marketing at Hypebeast. How did this background influence you?
I saw that the “high culture” of print media suddenly had to coexist with digital media. I realized that we may soon be living in an era where unbridled intersections will become the new normal. Everything in the press release will need to be a new narrative or dialogue.
What tells you that cooperation may have legs?
It comes down to shared emotions. A brand like Nike would want to create a performance shoe with a functional benefit. But Nike will take a holistic view of a potential partner, for example, realizing that an artist can be both a creative and a runner — in this case, a DJ when presenting a brand. If yes, the product is successful. A platform or narrative that reflects something of the artist’s human side, something that is not well-known.
An example is Futura. As a New Yorker, he has been a lifelong Mets fan — he had a season ticket to games. He told me it would be a dream come true for him to work with the Mets.
He ended up creating a collaborative baseball cap and a bobblehead for the Mets in Jersey. He was anxious to throw out the first pitch of the game with his son. With that, he was telling his fans, “I love baseball as much as you do. I listen to the Mets on the radio when I paint.”
Who is the potential consumer of this type of equipment?
My 14-year-old son, for one. For his generation, art and brand partnerships are effectively the norm. From a young person’s perspective, why shouldn’t an artist own their intellectual property on a video game, and on a sneaker at the same time?
You’ve developed long-term relationships with artists and designers including surf wear creator Sean Stussy, Murakami and Abloh, a friend and frequent collaborator of Louis Vuitton. What’s in it for you other than the obvious hype?
I’m mostly drawn to people who I think have created a movement. Some are friends. Some have been mentors to me. My interest is to share a moment of life with them.
One of my most transformative experiences was the first time I visited Takashi’s studio in Japan a few years ago. It is in an old car manufacturing factory that was destroyed. You cannot even imagine the scale, level of organization and creativity of this place. It’s almost like Walt Disney.
My friendship with Takashi has been particularly inspiring. He has given it to me.
A couple’s counselor talks.
Why would an artist of this stature feel comfortable working with you?
For a long time, established artists were discouraged from working on commercial projects, warned that it might diminish their value or prestige. Some of them told me, “Of course, many brands approached me but my gallery said no, without telling me.”
Some of our artists are more about working in an egalitarian world. They want to create products that appeal to a child, someone who reminds them of being a teenager. From a social media perspective, they may also like that a brand partnership can give them a bigger megaphone.
Do you see yourself as some kind of philanthropist?
I think we are fighting the good fight for artists. Historically, the concept has been that a gallery is owned by an artist. Half of what the artist earns goes back into the gallery. This is a disproportionate amount.
What’s in it for the brand?
There is a shared prestige or recognition that the brand and the artist or art institution are leaders in their fields. Three months ago we launched a set of Nike socks with the MoMA and Nike logos. This item indicated mutual respect between partners, a metaphorical handshake. Socks, thousands of pairs, sold out.
How big of a crew does it take to pull off a deal like this?
We have about 20 people in New York and 20 in Los Angeles. We aim to be the first complete, vertically integrated agency for artists, from licensing to curatorial work. This type of support has always been common for actors, athletes and musicians. But for artists it is new.