Pleased to meet you, Randi Thommessen. Pt. 1
Tommi Brem, December 22nd, 2009This is Part One of an abbreviated version of the interview. For the full text, please visit the discussion forum at Independent Collectors. (→ link)
Randi Thommessen from Oslo in Norway is, like so many of her fellow collectors, also a gallery owner and she has a background as an artist as well. Born in 1970, she started considering herself to be a collector 36 years later, although she had bought works approx. in 1993.
Her collection contains approximately 50 works at the time of this interview (which was conducted by email between Stuttgart and Miami/Oslo).
The three artists from her collection that we should know about, are:
Ane Mette Hol (NO) – beautifully made drawn reproductions of objects on paper (→ link).
Øystein Aasan (NO) – see the second part of the interview
Johan Thurfjell (SE) – often narrative works with a touch of sentimentality
Randi Thommessen and me at Art Rotterdam, 2009.
The first question I want to ask you is the one Christian Pfaff came up with in my last conversation:
If your house is on fire and you’ve rescued all the pictures, which one would you put back in the fire because you don’t like it but would want to have the insurance pay for it?
I can’t think of any work I would put back, or, rather the only work that came to my mind is not valuable enough for there being any point in putting it back, it is a painting of by a Norwegian painter, and since I bought it she has more or less disappeared and is forgotten, and what I have managed to find of images of her work shows she has become less and less interesting as an artist. I have a drawing of her as-well, which is the first art work I ever bought, and that I still really like. And actually this painting, it was not me who bought it, but my deceased father who got it as a present for me, though I picked it out myself. So for sentimental reasons, I would still keep it, even though it does no longer excite me.
Not for the fire.
Apart from that, putting a work back in order to get the insurance money, that would be insurance fraud.
This is a very politically correct answer, I’m sure your insurance company appreciates you sticking to the rules ;) And having lured you in on an entertaining question, here is a more serious subject: You are a collector but you also run a gallery, Lautom Contemporary (→ link). Which one came first, which will stay longer and how do you keep the two separated, if at all?
I bought my first art works about 15 years ago, but I would not say I started collecting until a few years back, as it was just a few one off occasions. I did however decide to start collecting art prior to deciding to start a gallery, as I discovered that a lot of art and artists that had really excited me 10 years before, were now successful and well established artists, I sensed that I might have a certain flair for contemporary art. But before I actually started adding to my then tiny collection, I had already decided to start a gallery.
So it’s a bit like the „chicken/egg“ dilemma, isn’t it? Do you also buy from yourself?
Obviously I buy art from my own gallery, but not only, and I see my private collection as separate of the gallery. When artists in my gallery have particularly good pieces, I do take these pieces with me to fairs or make them available for sale in the gallery, even though I really would like the work myself, it is important for the artist and for the gallery to show as good work as possible, I can’t just show the second best and keep the best pieces for myself, but then, if the work in question does not sell, I will not be too disappointed. (…)
And then the last part of the question: Which will stay longer? I hope they will both stay for a very long time. Though I hope to collect until I die, but stop as a gallerist a few years prior.
Untitled (Drawing for Floor), Ane Mette Hol, 2005
Being a collector, is running a gallery an advantage or a disadvantage? How do other collectors react when you hand them your card and they see that you’re a gallery owner as well? Does it put them off?
I can’t really see it being a disadvantage being both, except that you often have to first focus on selling art from your gallery, before you can go hunting for your own collection. On the other hand, you might get easier access to art works, and better prices if you buy from galleries you have a relationship with, and with time you do build relationships with other galleries, as colleagues.
I can’t say I have felt I have put collectors off by telling I am a gallery owner, but I am not a pushy gallerist. (…) When I meet people, I see them as individuals, not as collectors, gallery owners, politicians or other (…). If I communicate well with a person within the arts, then there is a chance we might like similar art and collaborate in some way, but it is up to the collector to check out if he likes what my gallery is showing, and come to me as a collector. (…) That is how I work, so I expect others to function that way too. (…)
Let’s turn to your collection again. Can you tell us a bit about it? Is it “about” something?
No, my collection is not about anything, I buy pieces I like, at least normally within my price range. I feel I buy quite different type of works, though I do see however as my collection is growing, that even though it is not intentional, there is a certain link between the works, and I guess that link is me, and who I am as a person.
If I were to look at your whole collection, taking my time, what do you think would the collection of works tell me about you?
Very difficult, as I am not good at talking about “Who I am”, but then who is?
I think I would seem rather schizophrenic; I have humor and can be quite playful, but I am also rather dry. I can be romantic, and a bit melancholic, but perhaps not very passionate. I have an intellectual strike. I like simplicity, but I am messy (I am not sure one can see this from the collection, but it is true) and I am not very colourful. Maybe I am a bit shy and not the one to search the center of attention, but I am not afraid to show myself.
I am not sure all of this is true about me, some of it I guess is quite to the point, but some of the descriptions I dare say are wrong. And maybe, if you Tommi, were to look at the whole collection, maybe you would find a completely different Randi than I did. So maybe you should look at what I show here at Independent collectors (which is not my whole collection), and tell me who you see?
This one backfired, didn’t it? I would agree on the non-colorful melancholy that manages to transport a certain sense of lightness and humor. Which is indeed a rather strange combination. Probably that’s why I picked you to have a conversation with … You also seem to take things not too serious, which I think is a very good thing and I believe this atmosphere is a basic building block of your collection. At least of the part that I can see.
(End of Part 1)
In the second part, Randi talks about an artists she really likes and I have asked her to give us three good reasons why becoming a collector is a very bad idea.