More on Mistakes

A few posts ago my friend Erin wrote about Mera Rubell mentioning that the greatest mistakes in her art collection were the works of art she DIDN'T buy. She will always remember those and has a hard time recalling the art she is sorry she did buy.

That comment resonated with me and I agree with Mera. I still curse the day I didn't purchase more work by Keith Tyson while standing in his studio in London years ago. And what drug was affecting my ability to think clearly when I passed on purchasing the entire "Sugar Children Series" (including jars containing the sugar he used to make each portrait) by Vik Muniz in 1996?

However, for someone facing their first purchase of original contemporary art, discussions of missed opportunities may be a little premature. Great art should stay great as time goes by, but trying to hit the mark right out of the gate is nearly impossible and a waste of time. You, the budding collector, need to pull the trigger and buy. Buy anything that strikes your fancy. Don't worry about whether it will be worth anything in the future or even whether or not you will like it in five years. Chances are it won't be worth anything and you won't like it. Your taste will change as you continue to learn. But, you have to start somewhere.

I started young. I was 14 when I purchased my first "work of art" with months worth of babysitting money kept in a shoebox in my closet. This is what I saved up to buy:

This is a small 3-D construction by James Rizzi. I think it cost me a little over $100. It is an editioned piece - this one is number 2 out of 350. Is it worth more now? Probably not. Do I still like it? Not particularily except for sentimental reasons. But, this is where I started and I haven't stopped collecting since. I may look back at this and subsequent purchases and cringe, but no more than when I look back at other aspects of my tastes from that time. This is a photo of me taken the same year I purchased my first artwork:

My mother let me pick out those eyeglasses all on my own and the barrettes holding back my hair probably matched perfectly the design on my sweater. Do I cringe when looking at this photo? You betcha. But that was me. I have to love it, just as I have to love my very first purchase of art. We live and learn. But you aren't living or learning with art until you take that first step and claim your taste. Buy now. Years later you, too, will have something to look back on and laugh.

Comments

[Tyler Green]

Amazingly, those glasses are oh-so-hip in certain hipster circles. For proof, see any Manhattan-bound train from Brooklyn.

[Renee Riccardo]

Dear Paige,
Thank you so much for your enthusiam for the exhibition that I have curated, Paper Chase at Axel Raben Gallery.
Today is my birthday and your comments are the best gift of the day!
All the Best,
Renee Riccardo
ARENA