2019-03-01_American_Art_Collector

(Martin Jones) #1

056 http://www.AmericanArtCollector.com


“Some of our purchases address serious matters in
a sober way,” she continues. “Other pieces make a
societal statement in a fun-loving way. In either case,
art often speaks to what is happening in the world.
Look at Ellwood Risk’s painting of Mickey Mouse that
hangs in our kitchen. It depicts a black American flag
superimposed over dispiriting newspaper clippings.
Mickey is smiling amidst the gloom. Next to it is
Rachel Welty’s  Lost in my Life  (twist ties) which is
a playful look at consumerism. We often display
disparate pieces, side by side.
“We are very much an us couple,” she adds. “We will
sit at home and remark, ‘This is our history. Each of
these pieces is a memory of where we were and what we
were thinking.’”

When asked about the photograph of Louise Bourgeois
by Michele Mattei, which hangs in their living room,
the wife remarks, “Just look at those remarkable hands!
They are her history, her story.” During his career,
her husband had worked on an outdoor Bourgeois
Spider installation in Manhattan. The couple has long
admired her work.
Many of the couple’s purchases are figurative
ceramics. “Recently a guest was studying our
sculptures, which were purchased over many years and
during many moves, and remarked, ‘you own so many
pieces of bald-headed people.’ We had never noticed
that...but he was right! And we all had a good chuckle.”
They have invited many of the artists whose work is
in their collection to see their art in place. “We recently

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Louise Bourgeois,
archival pigment print,
by Michele Mattei,
hangs in the living room.

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