David Horvitz wants to make “something that is personal to the viewer”. In this case, the something is called “For a Brief Time Only at a Location Near You” (–> Link) and the something is part of my small but ever growing collection. I was stumbled over this item by Christian Schwarm right in the middle of a discussion of new or even alternative concepts for galleries and the apparatus that is the art market in general.

David Horvitz is one of the curators of the show. And he makes it extremely difficult for me not to make this post to be entirely about him, since he is an artist whose work I find extremely interesting. (–> Link) <cut back to “For a Brief Time Only …>  Alongside David, there is Mylinh Trieu Nguyen, the other part of ASDF, which „is a designer/ artist collaboration.“ David does the „curating, conceptualizing and writing, and Mylinh does all the design and production work“.

For “For a Brief Time Only …”, David and Mylinh collected and curated the work of 24 artists who readily agreed to have their work printed in 4×6 inches on standard photographic paper. At any shop near you that accepts file upload and in-store photo-pick up & payment.

So it’s not only affordable but also extremely convenient to visit. “Infiltrating their (i.e. mostly major American drug-stores) spaces with our game” is one of the purposes of this exhibition.

It could also be seen as a sympathetic elbow, nudging the rib cage of the established functionaries of the art market (artists, galleries, auction houses and collectors alike). Which is what I like most about it.

The above is the index photo, one of three “organisational” slides. The other two are a list of artists and artwork titles and the third is a letter to the person operating the image printing machine, ensuring the staff that everything is alright.

The twenty-four artists featured in the exhibition are: Ken Ehrlich, John Sisley, Martin John Callanan, Miranda Lichtenstein, Lucky Dragons, eteam, Jim Skuldt, Mira O’Brien, Joshua Kit Clayton, Matt Keegan, Emily Mast, Brian Kennon, Lukas Geronimas, Amy Lam, Paul Pieroni, Moyra Davey, Graham Parker, Paul Branca, Penelope Umbrico, Lucy Raven, Bik Van der Pol, Emilie Halpern, Tim Ridlen, and Vlatka Horvat.

Of course, it’s not a limited edition or even unique works, at the time of writing over 300 units have been ordered. Still, the concept is well worth supporting and owning. I’m wondering how to present it at home. In a flip-book? Individually framed? All in one frame? So many options …

If you want to see the show, you can do so until December 4th. Just visit www.asdfmakes.com (–> link) to make the necessary arrangements.

If you don’t live in the USA or UK but are registered at Independent Collectors, just look for a collector from these countries and ask for assistance. Or if you’re visiting art basel miami beach, you could probably order it for pick up there …

PS: Of course I bought one of David’s own works. He thought about me for a minute. Which is definitely the most personal artwork I own (apart from the patina painting by Karin Sander, maybe). I thank Christian, for shoving me in the right direction to discover David’s work before he did.

Images provided by ASDF.

Today I was given the book „Collecting contemporary art“, edited by Andrea Bellini and published by HAPAX and distributed by jrp/ringier (ISBN: 978-03764-015-9).

It is a collection of interviews with collectors of contemporary art from around the world.

Naturally, I have not been interviewed. That’s ok. I hadn’t even decided to collect when this was started, I assume.

But hey, this is the internet and I’ll take the freedom and follow standard teenage-blogging proceedure, steal the questions and anser them. Have fun!
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tommi Brem, Stuttgart, Germany

Interview by Tommi Brem, translated by Tommi Brem

When did you start collecting contemporary art?

On June 4th, 2008. I did so because I was asked to write a weblog for this platform of collectors of contemporary art and I thought I couldn’t do this without a certain reason. So becoming a collector was the solution and I have no reason to regret the decision.

Can you give us five reasons why you purchase a particular artwork?

When I started out I actually believed the myth that one has reasons for buying artworks. I went so far as to develop a set of criteria by which to decide. Let’s see if I can remember them all:

There are Pull, Sustain, Inspiration, Love & WTF. Hey, it’s five!

The „pull-factor“ is how much an artwork interests me instantly. For example, if an artwork consists of several seemingly identical pieces, the pull-factor is at maximum. Or if the artwork contains something tiny.

„Sustain“ describes how long the artwork continues to interest me after an initial inspection and/or explanation by the artist/gallery owner or fellow collector. This is mostly defined by the conceptual background.

„Inspiration“ is something that deals with what the artwork triggers in my brain or gut. If it sets off a chain reaction of imagination, the score is high.

The „love-factor“ is somewhat tricky because it’s unexplainable.

And finally, „WTF“ means „what the fuck“ in three different meanings. One: „I don’t get it, what is this?“ Two: „They didn’t really, did they?“ and Three: „Oh whatever, I HAVE to have it!“

Of course, these five criteria are absolutely useless and I never ever bought a single artwork according to it and after not even six months I already own ten. I buy art following „Love & WTF“. That’s easier and it’s more fun! I want to have fun in everything I do. Even in collecting. So there you go. Two reasons.

Who do you trust?

I trust the idea that you can make no real mistakes in collecting contemporary art. When it comes to investing in contemporary art, this is a completely different business. But this is about „collecting“ though and I honestly seperate the two. God, I despise money! I try to get rid of it as soon as it comes in. Let me tell you I’m pretty successful!

When do you sell?

Whenever the price is right. I believe that for some artworks the price can never be right because the value I attach to them has nothing to do with money. With others, their effect might wear off and selling them might enable me to buy others.

So I guess I would sell if I wanted another artwork badly enough.

What’s the artwork you identify as the starting point of your collection?

Lasse Schmidt Hansen, x/°°.

What has your greates mistake been? And what your greatest success?

The biggest mistake was to start collecting in the first place. It’s bloody expensive and time consuming! The biggest success was to start collecting. It’s extremely exciting and fulfilling!

Could you define your strategy of collecting?

I try not to ruin myself. No, seriously, the only thing I strictly stay away from is decoration. If an artwork has passed this filter, I buy according to gut feeling and budget. In that order.

How important is it to be part of a social network?

I’m glad you ask this question! There is this community for collectors of contemporary art I work for … just kidding. My autism-level is pretty high so … just kidding. No really, both of it is true but to answer the question: I found a network to be vital. Mine includes some galleries, some artists and some collectors. And I have to say that I find the enthusiasm of fellow collectors most inspiring. They don’t have to present or explain themselves and their interest is not in sales. Missionary, maybe, but that’s ok. I think a right mixture is essential.

How has your collection changed with the recent boom in the global market?

Not at all. I started after that „boom“ went „ka-boom“. Of course it hasn’t but if you’re collecting with my budget, neither has relevance to the collecting habit. If prices go down, they don’t go down far enough for me, and if they go up, it was too expensive before anyway.

—–

These are my answers to the questions and I hereby thank the „curators“ of the book for asking the questions. Not to me, to these collectors: Marc and Josée Gensollen, Giovanni Giuliani, Renato Alpegiani, Blake Byrne, Valeria Napoleone, José Carlos Vallejo Marsal and Pepa Iriarte, Gemma Testa, Jean-Conrad and Isabel Lemaître, Teresa Sapey, Anita Zabludowicz, Christian Boros, Andrea Zegna, Pier Luigi and Natalina Remotti, Renato Preti, Paolo and Maddalena Kind, Josep Inglada and Roser Figueras, Eugenio Lopez, Charlotte and Bill Ford, Manuel Alorda and Hanneke Derksen, Tian Jun, Francesca Cillufo and Angelo Chianale, Uli Sigg, Josef Dalle Nogare, Licio Minvielle, Guillaume Houzé, Beatrice Trussardi, Albrecht Kastein, Eloisa Haudenschild, Bruna Girodengo and Matteo Viglietta, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, David Roberts, Joshua Adler, Jérôme Tordo, Bet Swofford, Fundación Sorigue, Frank Cohen, Cesar Cervantes, Maurizio Morra Greco, Enea Righi and Ivo Wessel.

No, I didn’t double-check the spelling on these, I know I should have. Please correct me.

Being completely relaxed at artforum Berlin (no intention or money to buy), I took the time taking some pictures which I’m usually not very fond of. But I figured with so much art out there I will never own but like nevertheless, I should start getting over it.

I simply loved this sculpture by Via Lewandowsky (at least this was the nearest name tag). A beautiful winter landscape, complete with footprints and the gaping hole reaching to the bottom of the earth maybe.

Thomas Feuerstein has created this manifestation of Stoner Rock. At leat for me that’s exactly what it is. Pop in the first two or three albums from the Desert Sessions series published on Man’s Ruin to that and I’m all fine.

This definitely has to be posted right after Feuerstein: “Pluto; the ultimate antihero” by Kim Seob Boninsegni. The line “and my shadow plutoes the sun” alone is worth buying this, if you have the change left. This clocks in at several thousand, but lower than 10k, if I remember correctly.

Tom Molloy is the brain behind the soap boxes here. I simply fall for artworks that consist of more than two seemingly identical items, so naturally, I was attracted to this one. Although they are being sold separately. Molloy also painted the book “1984″ by George Orwell (at least that’s what I believe it was) in watercolour, omitting everything but the love story. Beautiful.

Some more stuff by Lasse Schmidt Hansen. The item on the left right is called “In your face (Borrowed shirt)” and it is actually a shirt Lasse borrowed from another artist and the collector “owning”this (who is registered over at Independent Collectors, by the way –> link) is not actually buying it but borrowing it from Lasse for a fee.

And then the crisis struck:

And as if this real life installtion weren’t enough (I expressed interest and handed them my card but never heard from then again, by the way), German television was collecting statements regarding the situation:

Beind questioned: Christian Schwarm, one of the founders of Independent Collectors.

And last but not least two works that grabbed my attention and that somewhat fit my passion for science fiction and for little items (i.e. dots) on large backgrounds:

Left is “Great Britain” by Anatoly Shuravlev (the white dot that seems to hover behind the dude in the blue shirt is great britain in white on a huge black background) and right we have “Red Son of the Scrith” by Justin Lieberman. Which was taken down after the professional opening, I believe.

Not bad for taking pictures, right? I think I finally got the hang of it. No I only need to be more precise in noting down names, titles and prices. I will get there, eventually.

At the gallery dinner hosted by Barbara Thumm (link) at art forum Berlin (just after the opening of the exhibition of a huge work by Fernando Bryce (link)), Barbara came over and said to me: „I have been thinking about you a lot since yesterday and I came to the conclusion that when you decided to start collecting contemporary art, you haven’t actually changed anything. You’re still collecting science fiction. Not contemporary art.”

The night before Barbara had joined us for the first Independent Collectors Dinner, where I gave a report about my first five months of collecting. During the speech I mentioned my passion for collecting science fiction literature. And yes, maybe Barbara has a point.

(This is my dinner speech, by the way.)

My collection includes one work with a direct tie to a major science fiction work, namely Kris Martin’s “End point of Time Machine (H.G. Wells)”. Two other works have something to do with stars and the universe.

Barbara also said that the works I collect are very literary. Which would be true, had I bought Sven Johne instead of Kris Martin, although the works themselves would have been very different.

The easy way out is to quote Wilhelm Schürmann who says that you can only collect yourself. Looking at my fictious collection however, I realized that the reason why all my works bare a resemblance to science fiction is that when I have to decide between two works that will both ruin me, I’m more inclined to take the one with a link to science fiction. Kris Martin’s “13 Idiots” for example has nothing to do with science fiction at all. Is it still a literary work? I’m not sure.

Right there in that moment, Barbara had caught me off guard. Right now, with a night of proper sleep in between me and the fair, I think that my collection will develop further away from science fiction over time. Five months is not enough to leave familiar tracks. Still, her remark was a very useful and interesting one to ponder about.

Other than that, art forum Berlin was awesome. I will post a bunch of pictures of works I liked next week.

I have been collecting contemporary art now for almost five months. Which seems to be reason enough to ask me to hold a dinner speech about it at the first Independent Collectors dinner. Fearing that some of the guests will tap into the blog, I will not let out too much.

Just to keep everyone comfortable: No powerpoint. No slide projector. No equipment. Just a few words really. And this:

For everybody who can’t attend the dinner in Berlin, I’ll prepare a small video of the speech in english, in case you’re interested. I will post it sometime next week when I’m back from art forum Berlin. I’ll be packing my things now, try to grab a few hours of sleep, the hop a plane and off to another art fair.

Enjoy the art fair season!

Let’s wrap it up already, shall we? Frieze has been over for me for a week now and I still haven’t gotten round to do this. So here it comes.

London is hectic. As soon as I left the airplane and entered Heathrow, I could feel it. Everything and everyone seems to be in a rush. Even lampposts appear to be restless. Never mind, we soon entered the calm oasis of the frieze tent. Yeah, right. As if you would believe that one.

I had the pleasure of being with someone who had a VIP pass to the fair, so we got in early, just like all the other gazillion VIPs. It was FULL! As I wrote earlier, the first artwork I consciously looked at was “Avoid Safety” by Jonathan Monk. Which I did. But more about that later.

Apart from being crowded, frieze is well structured and easy to get around in. Being a complete amateur to the business, I couldn’t feel anything like a financial crisis affecting the atmosphere. It certainly didn’t affect the prices of the admittedly yummy sandwiches on sale from the conveniently placed catering booths. 5 quid for a bun? You can buy art at that price. At least if you’re happy with a “Poem” by Allen Ruppersberg. Which I was. For a while.

I mostly kept in the slipstream of Christian, who was ploughing through the fair at incredible speeds. No complaining, it’s awesome to switch into “tag-along-mood”, almost like a roller-coaster ride.

And then, at the booth of Sies + Höke Gallery from Düsseldorf, I encountered the works of Belgian artist Kris Martin. I liked the “Endpoint” series (see the last post). We looked through the portfolio and I was keeping my fingers crossed that nothing exciting comes up. Clocking in at just under 2000 Euros apiece the “Endpoints” are just within a price range where my enthusiasm can override all intelligence and accounting skills.

And of course something came up. Call me proud owner of the end point of H. G. Wells’ “Time Machine”. But I’m getting ahead of me. First, I left the booth to have a beer at the Sushi camp. Went back later to ask whether they could reserve that one (the painting, not the beer) for me until the next evening.

And of course I came back the next day to buy it. Now I have to wait until January for it to be sent. Blessing and curse of the art collecting business: Buy now, pay later. As if my budget would magically increase over the next couple of months. Did I mention that I’m really bad when it comes to money issues?

Anyway, now I’m looking forward to welcoming another “Point” in my collection. I have a lot of points now. If we leave the star-shaped ones aside (those in Lasse Schmidt Hansen’s x/°°), I now have 48.086 points. Rudolf Reiber’s “48.085” + 1.

I’m 31 years old now and it comes in incredibly handy that I have been preparing my parents for the last 20 years or so for this moment. My mother sort of accepted at some point that her son is utterly weird (but harmless). When she sees the art I’m buying she can now jot it down as: “That’s so typical for you.” Other than that, the art I’m buying is not exactly easy to explain to parents (in law) or to friends who think the PS1 is a predecessor of the PSP.

But that doesn’t worry me. There is no time for that. I need time to look at art, find out stuff, to learn things. It’s too interesting. Besides, I like it when people think I’m weird.

Now, I got all side tracked again. Let me just add that Zoo art fair was awesome as well. You should go to London when you get a chance next year. Maybe see you around.

Coming up next: art forum Berlin and Miami. And I promise again to take more pictures.

Edit: Alright then. Here is one from the oil tanks at the tate modern. We had signed up for the early morning tour like 20 other people of which only like 5 showed up. Thanks to the tate for a lovely morning!

Upon entering frieze in London (link) yesterday, the first artwork I really looked at was “Avoid Safety” by Jonathan Monk (see below). A good message for the art fair with the financial world all in turmoil. (Actually a good message to everybody, apart from rock climbers, maybe.) It is conveniently placed right at the entrance, with Galleri Nicolai Wallner (link) having grabbed a beautiful spot there.

While I heard on the news that toys will get more expensive for christmas because of chinese toy factories going out of business due to the financial crisis, I also heard that the price level of art is not going into the same direction. To be honest, it doesn’t help me a big deal if a certain work by any artist at frieze now comes at 20% off (imaginary figure). I still couldn’t afford it.

So I rather look at art in terms of whether I like it. And I’ve seen lots. Especially Kris Martin (link) at Sies + Höke Galerie Düsseldorf (link) caught my attention. “13 Idiots” is awesome (see above). And I put an eye on one of the items from the “endpoint” series (link).

I’m off to breakfast and then back to frieze. More later!

I know it’s a local thing but since the exhibition “Flutung” by Luka Fineisen at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (link) has been recommended to me heavily by a fellow collector over at Independent Collectors and since my colleague here tells me that both the programme “Frischzelle” and the openings at the Kunstmuseum are good, I will spend an unusal Friday evening in Stuttgart. To see the thing and maybe talk to the artist, if I get a chance to do that.

Meanwhile, I had a look at the “Hacking Ikea” blast over at Platform 21, Eindhoven. (link) And I wonder whether to regard (at least some of) it as art or not. I have the same thoughts about an ad campaign by Leo Burnett India Mumbai, namely the one that one a Gold Lion for their Luxor campaign.

What you can’t see is that the three pages contain a biography of the respective person. You can read it top to bottom or you can read only the highlighted text. Both make perfect sense are are well written. Since these probably do not exist as shown (my questions by e-mail not have not been answered as I write this), I’m inclined to not call it art.

This follows a discussion I had and continue to have with Christian Schwarm, as to where to draw the line between art and advertising. No, we are not sitting there, discussing the nature of art. Who would want to do that? It’s more a matter of determining whether the context of a certain collection can justify the presence of items usually not regarded as art. The cover of FAZ for example, as seen in Schürmann’s “The Hole Collection” (link) makes perfect sense in that collection. This would mean that by consciously shaping a collection, the collector gains the freedom of including anything he or she likes.

Which in turn means that as an inexperienced collector you can find out what your collection will be even without spending a lot of money on art by famous artists. And of course you could argue that as a collector you can do what you want, anyway.

Still, I have to admit that I personally sometimes think more about what experienced collectors would think of my collection than about whether I want to live with something or not. I’m a newbie after all, trying to figure out the difference between unjustified intimidation by the market and justified doubt, between excitement caused by artistic quality and excitement caused by pure taste. And whether there is a difference at all.

Maybe I should think less and look at art more. Which is probably the only sane statement in this whole post.

I know, I promised a nice blog post about my wife nearly getting arrested at customs. Well, she went to collect an item that was marked “gift” on the collecting sheet. How was she to know it would be an artwork I bought in the USA and that therefore wasn’t a gift at all? And how was she to know that the artwork contained a design of Adolf Hitler and a Swastika, which is a forbidden symbol in Germany? (Here is a link to the artwork by Frank Kozik I’m talking about.)

Well. The swastika issue came up when she had to unpack the “gift” for the officer to inspect. The first thing to be seen really is the name “Adolf” and a swastika. The man looked not amused. It was quickly resolved when the certificate of the print being a “piece of art” came out, too. Which was marked with a “thank you for your order” sticker. Which in turn raised the “gift vs. non-gift” issue. “You said it was a gift! You can be arrested for that! Five years of prison …” A  phone call to me and me faxing the paypal certificate solved that one. My wife’s dry remark to the customs officer: “He probably didn’t tell me beforehand this was coming, because he knows pretty well that I do not approve of him buying that sort of stuff. He was afraid I’d give him the trouble he deserves.” Which kind of made him smile again, she said.

Yes, my wife had a right to be pissed off. And she was. Slightly. And why does she still like me? (This is not the first time I did something other people would have been pissed off or at least irritated by.) Maybe because I my collecting art generates material she can talk about whenever the conversation with her colleagues shifts towards illnesses of the body, astrology, children or ruined relationships … or a combination thereof.

Moving house is another business all together. I did so last week and I still am. The “moving” itself was fast but the setting up takes time. I still have some painting and woodwork left to do. Both of which is messy stuff and so I have to keep my art boxed. Not a pretty sight, I tell you! I can’t wait for it to invade my walls … maybe another week or so …

True, I’m not writing very often these days. But I have not stopped collecting art. No way, quite on the contrary. I’m still waiting for two packages from the USA containing the two works by Kozik I bought last week.

In two weeks I will move into a new flat, where my artworks will be installed for the first time in a proper way. I would like to move in right now. Some things you just have no control over. But there will be lots of photos to post. And you’re all invited to come by and have a look at my little collection. Make arrangements from October onwards …

Right now, there’s another weekend coming up and I experience a feeling of restlessness. It’s one of those moments when I feel overwhelmed by the overabundance of things I could do, books I could read, websites I could look at, artists I want to learn more about. It tends to paralyze me. I’m one of the people who prefer a restaurant menu with three choices to one with fifty. I have to learn how to filter. After all, this whole art-thing is new to me. Plus I tend to be lazy and not go out much.

Having said that: I’m actually in preparation mode for some art fairs. Frieze London, Art Forum Berlin and Art Basel Miami are events I will attend this year. So I will go out. If you have suggestions for an amateur collector on how to best muddle through … I’m all ears!