Art dealer: Tribalmania’s Michael Auliso (video interview, show review & interview archive)

Michael Auliso is a former art dealer who until recently ran Tribalmania gallery. Not only is he well known for being a Tribal art dealer and participating in a lot of Tribal shows, he is also well known for having one of the first online tribal art gallery’s and for posting Tribal show reviews & interviews on his website: tribalmania.com

(The Tribalmania.com show review and interview archive can be found by clicking here or scrolling down)

In 2022 Michael decided to close the gallery and in his own words:

“We are most grateful to all our customers and “Art Enthusiasts” for your loyal support. I’ll miss you all as I pivot into a new career and journey”

I first came across Michael’s website “Tribalmania.com” around 2012 when I started this collecting adventure. At the time it was one of the few websites that not only had wonderful items but also prices listed… a rarity even today!

What kept me coming back again and again, year over year, were Michael’s remarkable show reviews and interviews, honest insider information that is sadly no longer available for new shows (unless we can convince Michael to become a writer for Tribal art Magazine?).

Various versions of the Tribalmania website over time.

I cannot begin to explain how many times I read and reread those show reviews and interviews and how much they helped me. Not only did these pages show me the Tribal Shows to go to and where to find them, they also provided valuable insights into a world I was not accustomed to.

They also greatly increased my enthusiasm for this field and sparked a bit of Tribalmania in my mind, and for that I will be forever grateful.

After hearing that Michael was closing Tribalmania I asked him if he would allow me to save the Show reviews and interviews and republish an archive of them on this site, Michael generously agreed and allowed me to repost them on this site indefinitely! (they can be found lower down this page) And while I was in the “strike iron while it is hot” mode I asked him if he was willing to do an interview with me, and amazingly he agreed to that too! (probably my amazing Dutch to English e-mail writing skills that did the trick…or luck?)

Interview with Michael Auliso

Below is an embedded video of the interview where Michael and I talk about Tribalmania, closing the gallery, Tribal art in general, the current market climate and much more! (There is a small chance you may notice my enthusiasm in this interview… please reread the paragraph that starts with “I cannot begin to explain” to understand my absolute professionalism in this matter)

If the above embedded interview is not visible, you can watch it on YouTube following this link: https://youtu.be/6b4COnXA9Ag

Tribal show review and interview Archive

While running his gallery, Michael decided to start writing and taking pictures during tribal shows and openings. He also started interviewing other collectors, dealers and art professionals to produce a series of very informative interviews and Tribal show reviews that he has generously allowed me to republish here.

Unfortunately, some reviews have been lost to the sands of time, while some others are missing images and or second or third pages (they used to be separate pages).

If you have any of the missing reviews, pages, photographs or information for me to add, please email me at info@tribalartcollector.com or message me on Facebook.

Julien’s Note: Phew! Adding all the show reviews and interviews was a lot more work than I was expecting, and I can only imagine how much work must have gone into making them! Thank you, Michael.