Collector and gallery owner ( Salon 94 )
In an art fair, like the Armory, Art practitioners must market themselves within an informal network of perverse rituals, what are the rituals of allegiance to art you have to perform (i.e., uncomfortable handshakes...)?
The aisles of an art fair are a neutral space, where one can nod to the gallerist in passing and take in their booth superficially - but once you cross into their “paid” space, you must be prepared to engage. The “what is hidden in the closet?” look is often necessary.
Artists like pop stars, galleries openings like red carpets events, what happened to the art world, why has it become so popular, so hip?
I am hoping it will become so hip, that those from the red carpet set will become anonymous amidst our peacocks.
Can mainstream people identify with art scenesters the same way they do with singers, or actors?
The visual artist does not have the marketing or entertainment distribution of the singer or actor. Jeff Koons is not a stand-up comic, nor is Cindy Sherman really a horror film director. Their images are not seen on TV (well maybe, PBS), and serve a backdrop markers in the movie. Art is not built for the mainstream. That would be too easy. That said - it would be great for an artwork to get as many hits on YouTube as the “laughing baby”.
We do not teach our students how to look from an early age - we do give them music, movement and art making classes. Our eyes are thus under-developed and still in great need of training.
Why do we need Art in our lives? Is Art an alternative religion?
Two different questions. Cultures have been making art for centuries, it is part of our human condition. Perhaps an individual can do without art - but like sex - a whole society can not.
Art is a container for our spirituality - but functions differently than organized religion. I am moved by Matthias Grunwald’s Isenheim Altarpiece without religiosity. And I can have a divine experience looking at a Richard Prince's Car hood. Religion, perhaps, just gives us a vocabulary to express such experiences.
I was in a home today where the collectors had just replaced a Rauschenberg early combine painting with a Jeff Koon's Mirror. The mood in the room had changed from serious history, to light fantasy. The owners had not realized the somber weight under which they were living. Next they will trade in their Rothko and Pollock...
Did you know that Bernard Madoff kept his offices to Minimalist extremes - recently spent $700,000 to refurbish his London offices to resemble exactly his New York offices and private jet. He insists upon a black and grey palette - complete with black computers (no paper on the desks), black mouse pad and black refrigerator on the trading floor. Pathological, religious, spiritual, anal and rigorous - could he have been an artist instead of a con man?
Why do you think Art is so undemocratic, and why do art citizens keep their world so secretive?
Visual artists by nature are not social creatures like musicians (who are great company) or actors. Most are not great collaborators, and work alone. It is hard for them to share their secrets. As far as art citizens - we are still dysfunctional - but evolving. That said-
Murakami just made the sets for Kanye West’s last concert tour, and Gary Simmons is making a 50-foot wall drawing at the New York - Presbyterian Hospital. Art is democratic - artists have created many great icons!
How come a gallery is so austere, the critic's language so intimidating, an evening auction so snobbish, for a world supposedly full of unconventional and anarchic people, the artists themselves?
How could we call a bottle rack art without the pedestal of a white gallery? When the viewer walks into a white box they mentally prepare to look at art. They go to a church or temple to find god - or at least see her likeness and a gallery to see art - or her likeness.
The art chart / What's your top 5 artists?
I won’t tell you my top 5 - but lately I have been spending time looking and thinking about (in no particular order):
- Richard Prince
- Marilyn Minter
- Wangechi Mutu
- Julie Mehretu
- Francis Bacon
- David Hammons
Out of the tents / Where do you have dinner?
At home, with my children.
A drink ?
I need to look at my invitations.
Where do you party ?
Ask me closer to the event.
Five things you love about Art
looking, talking, traveling, buying, hanging
Five things you hate about Art
Having to check in at an airport as part of the journey to see it. I can’t think of anything else.
What's the Art world's worst secret?
It is still chauvinist.
What's your favourite piece of clothing for an Art event?
A black YSL jumpsuit or a Rodarte ensemble.
What's the art world coming to?
The art world is still back stage. Perhaps we will see less bronze and more plaster- but artists will figure a way to put the patina back on!
Interview by Eve Therond
