"That does not excite my eyes."

On Tuesday evening, I unwrapped a new painting that we recently purchased from Shaheen Gallery’s exhibition of new work by Antwoine Washington. Maybe they have been groomed or maybe their excitement is genuine, but my sons love it when new art arrives. They have opinions on where it should go and why; and, it is the most fun to hear all about what they are thinking. After we settled on the fact that the painting really aligns most closely with my younger son and that it should hang in his room, we took it in there to figure out which wall. There is a lot of bright art in his room and this particular painting is also bright. I held it up and my older son declared, “That does not excite my eyes.” He is 7 and he was exactly right. When I asked him why it does not excite his eyes, giddy with glee that he had articulated his opinion so clearly and concisely. He observed that the colors in the new painting are too similar to the other work on the wall and so it all just gets lost.

Whoa.

I was speechless.

How did my 7-year-old, sports-obsessed, can’t-put-an-outfit-together-to-save-his-life, doesn’t-know-where-his-brush-is son just say this? And clearly! And articulately!! And confidently!!!

Color me impressed!

After I got over my excitement at what a brilliant boy he is and that he is going to be the next world-changing curator….obviously….I asked him for further thoughts. We agreed that the painting should still hang in the room but not on the same wall because it needs some breathing room. So we are going to take one thing down, move it elsewhere, and replace it with the new kid on the block.

So then….yes, there’s more!!!! My son was on a roll. He was like, “Mom, now that we have that done, there are some paintings in this other room I want to look at.”

Hot dog, let’s go!!!

We proceeded into the next room where I have a gallery wall of small works. In the grouping, there are 3 Rituals drawings by Charlotte Keates along with a small painting by her that I purchased from Arusha Gallery. I adore Charlotte Keates but don’t have the wall space (or husband buy-in) for one of her larger works.*

My son wanted to discuss the painting and he promptly launched into his understanding of it and began making connections between it and the drawings, which he did not know were by the same artist. He lit up when I told him the same artist made the paintings and the drawings; and, that the drawings were the artist’s way of practicing and working out her ideas before she made a painting. We shared our mutual love of the style and different elements. I told him that I loved the painting because it looks like the treehouse I never had. He told me how much he wants a treehouse and was surprised when I admitted how much I’d love to have one as well!

 

Here we go again—art fostering connection and community. Art gave us the space to have a real, authentic bonding moment. He came into my world for a little bit and we spent time together in my space. Usually I’m trying to claw my way into his world but the art in our home opened the door for him to waltz right into mine. I became a little more human to him when he realized that I like to play and have fun and once dreamt (ahem, still dream) of a cool treehouse! In the parent-child relationship, that does not happen very often.

But I think the lesson here, as far as art collecting goes, is this. Like my son, don’t be afraid to not be an expert. Exercise your childlike curiosity. Be honest about what you don’t understand. Trust your instincts and be open to new ideas. One of the main reasons we collect art is because it expands our understanding of the world around us. If you feign expertise, you miss out on the possibility of that expanded understanding.

Let me give you another example along with some freaking cool art…

 

*I often go rogue and buy art upon which my husband and I have not agreed. But when it comes to significant wall real estate, I respect the fact that we both have to live with it. We both have to LOVE it when there are major walls involved.

A couple of weeks ago, I presented the work of Katie Paterson to a client. This client is very cool. I want to be them when I grow up. Even so, I knew that the work was going to stretch them and their collection. In many respects, Katie’s work is conceptual. While the physical objects she makes are gorgeous and executed with immense precision (unlike a lot of conceptual art), it is the ideas behind them that really knock your socks off. If you miss that piece of her practice and just look at the objects, you are definitely going to miss its importance.

I think a lot of people (hopefully none of my clients) would immediately dismiss an artist they don’t understand for fear of being thought dumb or uninformed, but not this client. After looking at the work, she totally admitted that she did not understand it but was open to learning more. (Yes! I’m in!) After we discussed the work in some depth, they were totally enamored and ended up buying a suite of works on paper.

So let’s talk about why I love the work SO MUCH! “Katie Paterson is renowned for her multi-disciplinary, conceptually-driven artwork that explores themes of nature, ecology, geology, and deep time. Through collaborations with scientists and researchers worldwide, her ambitious projects delve into humanity’s place on Earth within the vast framework of geological time and transformation. Employing advanced technologies and specialized knowledge, Paterson creates intimate, poetic, and thought-provoking works that challenge our perceptions of the world. Blending a Romantic sensibility with a rigorous, research-based approach and minimalist aesthetics, her art bridges the gap between the viewer and the farthest reaches of time.”

The series to which I am most drawn (and just happens to clock in around $10,000) is her Ideas. I’m going to use the gallery’s explanation here:

In this body of work, “Paterson [starts] with a single, seemingly impossible Idea—represented in this exhibition and throughout her body of work as short, haiku-like sentences crafted in sterling silver. These sentences pose questions about deep time and the boundaries between reality and imagination. The works, which may or may not materialize, take form in the minds of those who engage with them, becoming an expression of the idea itself. Often, these initial concepts expand into a range of interlinked inquiries, both material and philosophical.”

On a recent visit to New York with my family, I made a special trip down to Tribeca just to see this exhibition at James Cohan. It was so much fun to spend time with these Ideas with my kids. Their imaginations ran totally wild with what the works might look like if someone actually made them! Unlike many adults, they had no trouble with the fact that making them might be impossible or the very ideas represented are inherently paradoxical.

I can imagine one of these in a quiet corner where someone might stumble upon it. Or in a powder room where all we can do is sit and think… Or in an office where we might need to expand our thinking outside the box or take a brain break from the daily grind. Or in a bedroom where we can drift off into dreams of the cosmos.

What would you do with an Idea?