Famous art historian and collector, Martha Gnip is a serious factor in the contemporary artistic world. Her home, located in the heart of Berlin, is a treasure house in which she keenly preserves her greatest and valuable art possessions. For the special edition of Unique Estates Life Magazine, she provided the article, which refers to the collector-artist relationship. More about Martha Gnip on her official website www.martagnyp.com
Collector and artist meeting can be a risky venture. Imagine you like the work of an artist named X. You meet him at the opening of an exhibition and hop ... surprise - the conversation with X is a complete failure and boredom. From this point on, every time you look at his work you own and like, you will feel a bitter taste in your mouth alongside the memory of that unpleasant and tedious conversation. On the other hand, at another opening of an exhibition, you meet an artist named Y, who is extremely charismatic and interesting. You spend half an hour in conversation, and you do not feel when time is out, you exchange thoughts, ideas and contacts. Go to Y's studio where he's waiting for you with a bottle of specially selected red wine. He is familiar with your work and, although it is not the top or what complements your soul, you leave with a few pictures - a gesture to the good invitation.
Such emotional saturation dominates the opposite side. Artists often experience difficult moments in their work, and behind beauty is often the shadow of a very restless and dramatic process for the artist. American artist Robert Longo said in a recent conversation that when he sells his work he feels as if someone is taking his child away from him forever. This emotional recognition makes me think that artists also hide quite complex and contradictory feelings for collectors. Very often, very deliberately, they avoid meeting them. Controversial is the character of the artist-collector relationship. And he knows the two extremes - both dislike and friendship.
The relationship between collectors and artists is complex and complex. One of the greatest and bold collectors - François Pino, calls this relationship "unbalanced". The artist is the creator, while the collector is just someone who watches or watches (an expression used by Marcel Duchamp), someone who watches a necessary and unnecessary element. According to Pinot, the real collector is very rare - it is a source of artistic inspiration.
Collectors who stubbornly refuse to meet the artists they collect want to keep their usually pure judgment about their work. Without being influenced by the character, the history and the emotions of the respective artist. However, a great deal of them like to meet the artists they watch and work with. A good relationship with the artist means more free access to his studio, as well as an opportunity to get adequate information about the activity of an artist and the cost of his work.
Typically, galleries are the ones that encourage close contact between artists and collectors, because they create so-called. primary market. When a collector personally knows the artist, this creates a prerequisite for establishing financial relations. He follows his career, the stages in his development, as well as his secular activity - participation in exhibitions, art festivals.
My personal experience shows that artists are not always happy when collectors get rid of the auctioned works they buy to earn more money. American artist Marc Bradford told me he feels like "you wrote some love letters, and then he sold them to an auction," that is, something very personal and deeply made public.
At the end, I would say categorically that the temptation to have financial gain from the sale of artistic work can pose a serious risk to the relationship between an artist and a collector. Your right is to accept or reject this risk.