It used to be that when Andrew Ong woke up in the middle of the
night, he had to be careful. The path to the kitchen was littered with bottles,
car parts, rubber and other debris—it looked as if there had been an automobile
accident in the corner of his apartment. No police tape, though—nothing to
prevent him from stepping on things he wouldn’t want to step on at three in the
morning.
Ong’s problem wasn’t that he was a slob. It’s that he’s an art
collector with a taste for contemporary works, and he lives in a New York studio
apartment. The scraps were an installation piece, Bloody Mess, by Cady
Noland. And in a studio apartment, there’s no such thing as an out-of-the-way
place.
Why would Ong, or anyone, inconvenience himself like that?
According to collectors of installation art, if you buy only paintings and
sculpture, you’re closing the door to some of the most vibrant art of our day.
If you love contemporary art, you find a way to live with its more complicated
permutations—the installations and constructions that can climb the walls and
spill over the floor and essentially become, rather than decoration, part of
your architecture. Of course, it’s not easy. In a way, living with these works
is like having a baby. You have to accommodate a work and tend to its needs.
Many collectors say they often end up loving their installation pieces the most,
specifically because they require so much care.
James Esber Stormin’ Norman from
the collection of Joe Barron
