What do you collect? Painting, photography, sculpture and
drawing. I also collect snapshots of people I do not know that I find lying on
the ground.
When did you start collecting? What did your first
collection consist of? I started collecting comic books when I was a
kid. It was a passion that eventually led me to art school, which, in turn, led
me to collect contemporary art.
Do you remember how you got
started? My dear friend Mari Spirito (who is now the director of 303
Gallery in New York) opened a gallery in her Boston apartment. At the opening of
her first show was a wonderful little piece by Ashley Holmes: two Marlboro boxes
hung side-by-side, one slathered with encaustic and bearing a big, black “X” and
the other sporting a single, vertical, red stripe down its middle. That piece,
Who I Am And What I Thought You Were, started my collection that
evening.
Why do you collect? I have never been much of a
“joiner.” I never felt comfortable with the idea of signing on with, and
surrendering myself to, a larger group. While this strategy is incredibly
beneficial, it can also be somewhat isolating. Collecting art is a way for me to
surround myself with conceptual and stylistic ideas that are similar to my own,
and heighten my sense of connection to the world around me.
I am
committed to collecting things that are imbued with meaning, both for me
personally and for our collective culture.
Photos by Coke
O’Neal Aaron Parazette, Tangy Taffy, (detail)
1999
