Collecting Contemporary is a new title from Taschen on guess what – collecting art. I was curious to read these interviews to get a perspective of the many layers that go towards accepting or rejecting artwoks/artists especially because of the people interviewed in this project. Rarely do I read interviews with collectors that are longer than a paragraph or two at best – in this case 11 collectors are interviewed over 60 pages. I’ll drop names in a few moments, but the basic structure of the book is this:
The art world is broken down into seven basic areas (lets call these “verticals”)
The Artists
The Dealers
The Critic
Consultants
Collectors
Auction Houses
Museum Professionals
After introducing these verticals we have a few interviews with seriously prominent people in their spaces. of these areas “The Artist” is the one area not involved in this book – this makes a ton of sense to me because it’s really about collecting the product of that verticals work.
For me the real meat of the book is in the Dealer and Collector interviews. This is also where most of the focus of the book is. I’ll admit the interviews are all from the high end of collecting – but lets face it I’m thrilled to hear what dealers like Marc Glimcher and Marianne Boesky and collectors like Peter Brant and Charles Saatchi have to say. (A side note: Mr. Saatchi is known for buying heavily in a single artist and then after a few years – dumping almost the entire collection of that artist – many people know that he sold most of Damian Hirsts work back to the artist – but I was not aware of the massive change in availability in Sandro Chia’s market after this happened. Mr. Saatchi denies this was his fault – while many dealers point toward him for the Chia devaluations).
As an artist, I find this book to be valuable because it has started to allow my further understanding of the collector a bit more as well as the dealer and his/her relationship in the business process of art. Overall an interesting read depending on your interest in the business mechanisms of the art world.
Bonus: A six page excerpt from the latest Taschen catalog