Producer’s Blog: The Art of Collecting

During the joyful chaos of this year’s holiday prep, while deep-cleaning and cat-proofing, I looked around the living room and I had to laugh. We have collected a hell of a lot of art in my home. Every inch of wall space is filled. Every tabletop is home to sculptures, glassworks and small wonders. Paintings and prints lean in polite stacks against the walls, with a few tucked (quite lovingly) under the sofa. It struck me just how natural and essential art collecting has become in every season of our lives.

I kept finding myself returning to the epicenter of our holiday celebrating our living room, the Christmas tree. Each branch holds decades of memory: ornaments from childhood, pieces gathered over 28 years of living in the Wright Dunbar Historic District and treasures collected during travels across the country and around the world. Many of these pieces were handmade by local artists and artisans, each one carrying a story from a place, person or memory we cherish.

As a working artist and someone who hosts a series dedicated to celebrating the creative ecosystem, there’s a connective thread there that feels deeply personal. Week after week on The Art Show, we highlight artists across genres, mediums and disciplines. And in doing so, I’ve found myself reflecting more intentionally on the symbiotic relationship between art and the people who choose to live with it. Every work of art is searching for its forever home. And collecting, whether you have one piece or hundreds, is a passion each of us can invite into our lives.

Back at home, our first jointly-purchased artwork still hangs in the living room: a large-scale print bought at the Contemporary (formerly DVAC) during their holiday gift boutique. We had just closed on our soon-to-be-renovated home and we bought art before we had proper walls. That purchase was fueled entirely by hope, possibility and the thrill of imagining a life surrounded by beauty. It also marked the beginning of what I now know to be a lifelong, joyful addiction.

Artists are notorious for collecting one another’s work, a gesture of respect, admiration and kinship. But over the years I’ve talked with so many non-artists who collect as well and they all say the same thing: it starts with a gut reaction. A feeling. A spark. Not the price tag. And yes, cost can seem like a barrier, and that first print forced us to tighten the belt for a few months, but the joy it has brought us far exceeds its dollar value. That’s the real alchemy of art.

One of my favorite Independent Lens documentaries, “Herb & Dorothy,” tells the story of Herb and Dorothy Vogel, two middle-class New Yorkers, a postal worker and a librarian, who built one of the most significant collections of minimalist and conceptual art in the world. Over 4,500 works by the likes of Sol LeWitt, Chuck Close and Donald Judd. Their rule? They only purchased what they could carry home on the subway or in a taxi. Their tiny apartment became a living museum. Their lives became a quiet, powerful testament to devotion and passion documented proof that collecting starts with love, not luxury.

Just a few days ago, PBS NewsHour featured an exhibition from the Dean Collection assembled by Alicia Keys and DJ. Swizz Beatz, which is now on view in the Richmond, Virginia area. This award-winning couple, who absolutely have the means to collect works by Amy Sherald, Kehinde Wiley and Jean-Michel Basquiat, started with the same spark that many of us feel when we first see a piece. Their passion for art comes from the neighborhoods that raised them, the cultural richness of New York City and the simple act of being surrounded by creative expression long before fame or financial success arrived. That same cultural richness is right here in Southwest Ohio.

As we enter the season of light, warmth and reflection, I gently and enthusiastically invite you to take the leap into collecting. Make that move from spectator to participant. Trust that spark of curiosity. Activate your inner collector. Your forever art piece may already be waiting for you on a gallery wall, at an art fair, in a holiday boutique or even on a studio table a few blocks from your home. And believe me, once that spark catches, the journey is endlessly rewarding and in this season of giving, collecting may be the greatest gift of all.

Rodney Veal
CET and Think^TV Producer and Community Arts Liaison