APAA Client Spotlight: In Conversation with a Midwest-Based Collector

APAA advisor member Erica Barrish’s midwestern collector has been actively in engaged with art and design for the past three decades. The artworks Erica and her client procure is primarily focused on visual objects realized from 1945-1970.

Ellsworth Kelly (American, 1923-2015). White Blue, 1959. Oil on canvas. 18 x 24 in.

What is your experience working with an art advisor, and why has it been beneficial?

There are several things I have gained by working with an art advisor. First is expertise. Someone that can vet the quality, rarity, and condition of an artwork on my behalf. The second is access to art. As an independent collector, I have had two challenges, the first was walking into an art fair and seeing the best works are sold before the opening of a fair. After working with Erica, I now understand before an art fair opens, a significant amount of work is sold a week or two before the fair. Through Erica, I have access to these artworks before the fair opens and perhaps before a checklist is even distributed. The second, was to learn through Erica, how much art is transacted privately and not through galleries or auction houses. Without the help of an art advisory, specifically Erica, I would not have had access to nor known of these works. There is a significant amount of my collection that had come via private transaction via my advisor. 

I had initially started off as a passionate design collector for several decades when I decided to begin my path into building an art collection. The journey through art has been very different from my experience collecting design for three decades.

How do you like to collaborate with an art advisor?

For Erica and I, it started by walking through fairs, museums, and galleries and identifying art that I would collect. Early on we discussed what I responded to visually. The discussion included where the artist was in their career, when works were created, what was most covetable, what periods were most desirable and what was the artist’s trajectory. Now that the collection is more mature, and since we have been collecting together for over a decade, we have a very short list of artists we are pursuing for the collection, the types of works, the most sought after years and what are seminal examples of each artist's work. Earlier on we were buying aggressively, now we are buying very patiently.

Tell us about your collection and its focus. Has the focus changed over time?

When we first started, we were focused mostly on west coast artists/California artists in and around Ferus Gallery working in the 1960s. We have acquired artists including Larry Bell, Ed Ruscha, Ed Moses, Billy Al Bengston, etc. As the collection has evolved, the focus has expanded to include artists from the east coast from the same period in the 1960s, European artists and specifically Arte Povera. As the collection has evolved and we have run out of space, (I live with everything I own). We are now selling works that no longer tell our story. Any additions to the collection the question asked before acquiring is, “does this elevate the collection”?

Additionally, we have over the past few years also recognized that there are contemporary arts that has been lynch pins and must be part of the collection. For example last year we acquired a painting by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Ed Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Annie Times Six [#2], 1961. Oil and pencil on paper. 12 7/8 x 11 1/2 in.

Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-2008). Untitled, 1962. Oil and silkscreen ink on two canvases. Overall: 8 1/16 x 16 1/8 in.

Is there an interesting collecting story you’d like to share?

I tried to enter the art market on my own. I would go to Art Basel, I would go to gallery openings and museum shows, I would talk to other collectors. Even still, on my own I could not get the works I wanted to own. Galleries would not help me and private dealers did not know me. I could not enter the market easily which was unfortunate. As someone who was passionate about learning about art, I found the process frustrating. As a result, I was almost always relegated to buying at auction and as a result I was only buying secondary market work. It was a reactive way to buy as I only had access to what was being sold publicly. Out of frustration of that process, I engaged with Erica not only to manage the process but also to procure works I could not find nor had access to on my own.

Have you worked with an art advisor to help re-think your art collection?

Less about rethinking, more about thinking about a plan. From there developing a vision to create a collection of works that had a relationship with each other. Thus, we are constantly thinking about how artworks are cohesive and connect with a collection. The bulk of the collection and how they interrelate. For example, to have works by Twombly, Johns, and Rauschenberg it is easy to draw a line since they are interconnected and had cross. But then thinking about how artists like Rauschenberg worked was informed by Duchamp’s work.

Do you have a story about the “one that got away?”

I was an underbidder at auction for a 1950s Cy Twombly. Subsequent to the sale, Erica told me that I should have bid harder to acquire the work. Six months later the auction house called, and let me know that the buyer for whatever reason needed to sell the Twombly and asked permission to be in touch with me as I was the direct underbidder. We consummated the deal privately.

Have you exhibited your collection or lent to exhibitions? Any plans for doing so?

I am always open to extending loans and supporting public institutions. I have done this with both art and design and unless a work is extremely fragile, I am always open to lending. I am deeply involved with local institutions and supporting their programming.

How can we learn more about your collection or your projects?

I am very private and take a very humble approach to collecting. I occasionally open my home to private collectors and museums. I prefer to be discreet and under the radar. The way I share the work is through museum loans.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (British, b. 1977), Crystals on the Mount, 2016. Oil on canvas. Framed: 21 7/8 x 18 1/8 x 2 1/4 in..