07/28/2023
I’ve been a born collector since I was a child. I first started collecting everyday items – pencils, matchboxes and coins. And then, visit Sunday flea markets all over the US. I began to buy my first paintings by unknown artists. But these paintings sparked within me a deep interest in the beauty of art, and I pressed on looking for more and more important works.
Every collector feels certain possessiveness, an incessant drive to acquire what he most deeply desires. What motivates me is the surge of passion, the thirst for knowledge, the dream of building a collection of beautiful works, and strong feelings I had from the moment I hung my first painting on a wall at home.
I have an eye for the beauty in many different kinds of artwork. I would be hard put to specify any one kind of artwork or artist I’m most passionate about.
I cannot designate one work as most important because I see my collection as an evolving whole. No single piece stands out. It’s the ensemble of all the pieces. Collecting itself is my passion. Collecting for me is not the amassing of works of substantial monetary value. Neither do I regard it as a straightforward means of investment. Rather collecting for me is an intense search for that which is excellent in each artist.
The dedicated collector trains his eye with practice over time. He continually examines numerous works. Only then can he learn to exercise discernment and apply criteria. In art, certain principles and standards appear and reappear, again and again. By talking with experts and specialists, he learns to judge and discriminate, to observe more deeply than what he might take in at first gaze. The principles and standards that validate a work of art become instinctive to the collector as he continues to appraise. He will make mistakes, but practice over time will refine his eye and sharpen his discernment. And just as the work of an artist constantly redevelops itself, so too should the discernment of the collector. At each art fair and exhibition, where new works are displayed, the collector must pay close attention to such renewals, so that his discernment does not grow stale.
