over the span of my career, i've had the opportunity to be graced by the company and support of many - most of whom, i remember vividly ... from my first teachers - the sale of my first painting, to the present ...
support and entrepreneurs come in many varieties - but for this entry, i want to focus on financial support ...
one of the advantages to not being a major blue-chip artist is that i've had the opportunity to meet the people who made most purchases ... they come in many flavors:
- the fashion and decorator-driven buyer,
- the person interested in keeping up with the Jones's,
- those who have a rapport/repoire with a piece,
- those who support your school of thinking,
- those who have confidence in your abilities and goals,
- those that need a product to fulfill their own ambitions,
- the persons interested in proving they can own a piece of you,
plus any number of permutations of this list ...
BUT - once in a while you meet the person that has a passion for art, is open-minded, has the financial resources, and will go to any length to find what they're searching for in knowledge or objects ... those are the extremely rare breed of collector, and i've been fortunate enough to spend time with two such people - be affiliated with a few more by one degree of separation, and hear many tales about others ...
their stories are incredible, and i always feel that i'm sitting close to the fire that has kept the engines of art alive through difficult periods of art history - they knew their responsibility, and as 'keepers', took it seriously ... some have died and some are reaching an age where their activities are limited ... i'm grateful for the opportunities i've had to know them, but saddened by the prospects of what lie ahead ...
and i'm not sure why, over the past twenty years, the legacies of such greatness hasn't seeded a new generation of high-spirited collectors - unless it has something to do with diversification, lack of intent - focus, or disinterest ... it certainly isn't because of lack of money at high altitudes ...
what i know through my experience, and sources, is that the extinction of that unique breed is imminent ...
though i'm still affiliated with many that have the 'means', their attention is more directed toward the preservation of institutions that commemorate them than they are about the ideologies that created the institutions in the first place ...
or, it could have something to do with the aggressiveness of fund-raising organizations, tax advantages, or the idea being promoted that if you help an organization - your money has more out-reach into the community - branding and messaging - but it may just be another way of saying: promote generality rather than excellence - or, there are no frontiers - only territories to preserve ...
either way, as i see it, this culture of fear over the past decade has accelerated some pretty far reaching effects - and even though i'm doing okay through it, the dynamic has shifted toward fewer that exhibit the kind of passion and dedication i once experienced - toward a less informed and committed collector ...
p.s. the photograph: i knew a collector that acquired a Gauguin painting - from his Tahiti period - a nude in front of a house with blue shutters ... it wasn't enough to have the painting, the man wanted to experience the location where the painting was made so he made the trek, found the house, and acquired the shutters - in the true spirit of Dr. Barnes ...
