We all have those artists that, if money were not an issue, we would snap up their artworks in a heartbeat for our collections. We’re always interested in finding out who and what our art girls would snap up if they could so, we asked them!
Lolita Cros, Curator, The Salon at The Wing @l0l0lita
I have so many but I think the one that I would love spending the rest of my life with is a Lynette Yiadom-Boakye painting. Any of them really. She embraces 100 years of art history and the 100 more years to come. I cry every time I see her work, she’s like a permanent sunset.
Anouska Beckwith, Artist @anouskabeckwith
I would love one of Francesco Clemete’s female portraits as I have been a huge fan since I saw his work in the film Great Expectations. I would be over the moon to have Egon Schiele’s ‘Nude with Red Garters’ 1911 and last but not least I would like to own visionary artist Alex Grey’s painting ‘ Wonder’ as it is has such incredible detail of the human aura and really captures the sense of wonderment.
Flora Ogilvy, Founder Arteviste, @florarteviste
If I were able to add any piece to my art collection it’d be the female Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room, 1965 to always help me find a new perspective. I first stepped inside an Infinity Room at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York then Victoria Miro Gallery in London.
Selena Cerami, Founder Eve Leibe Gallery @eveleibegallery
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1eAiE5Dv8L/
If money was not an issue?! Then space, where to store artworks, would not be the issue either, for that reason, my first decision would be a Louise Bourgeois ‘Spider’ in my living room; she is my favourite female artists and the work is estimated at $25 M. to $35 M., it is placed among the most expensive works by women artists ever sold. Even if a scary creature the spiders for her were an ode to her mother.
The second piece would be Artemisia Gentileschi Oloferne E Giuditta. Great artist! The image is cruel and macabre however the light effect is fantastic and shows women triumphing over powerful men.
Last but not least, I will fill up the house with Tala Madani painting, she skewers stereotypes in her sharply satirical paintings that evoke clashes of culture: men and women, the rational and the absurd, Western and non-Western, totally love her!
Darah Ghanem, Founder Middle East Archive and Halo Zine @darahgram
If I were to buy an art work, the basis of the choice that I’m making that it’s someone that has contributed massively to fine art or art in the global south in some way, shape or form, especially in the Middle East or Africa, because that’s where my heart lies. So, it would be somebody who has been a pioneer of some sort in our region. The first name that comes to mind is Ibrahim El Salahi and the reason is because he is a pioneer in both Arab and African art, and he’s just amazing and the work that he’s produced says so much about our part of the world and that’s why I love him. The following names are all people who’s work I would absolutely love to acquire and to have as part of my personal collection if money were no object. Akram Zaatari, because I love history, and I love the work he’s done for the Arab Image Foundation and archiving is part of my personal practice too, so he’s someone I completely look up to, and he’s a Lebanese artist. Then there’s some of the other names that I mention Zarina Bhimji, she also does a lot of archival work and she’s African of Asian descent, I believe Ugandan of Asian descent, and she’s done a lot of work on archiving and colonization and I really, really love her work. Then there’s Lubaina Himid who is also from East Africa and she’s done a lot of work on reclaiming blackness and highlighting black identity etc. And also it’s important to me that I have some gender balance in my collection, which is why I mention both male and female artists.
Ferren Gipson, Host Art Matters Podcast @ferrengipson
Lately I’ve had two artists that I’ve been dreaming about collecting their work and I even went so far as to see how much it sells for. The first is African-American artist Jacob Lawrence. His work is so colourful and captures different facets of twentieth-century black life and culture. The other is Evelyn Dunbar, who was a war artist in the Second World War and documented the work of the Women’s Land Army. I just love her style and the subject matter of women kicking ass in the war.
Aindrea Emelife, Founder Aindrea Contemporary @aindreacontemporary
Picasso’s La Depouille du Minotaure en costume d’Arlequin. That’s it!
Words Lizzy Vartanian
Images via @artforearth1 @chardonnie @clementestudio @loughercontemporary @theartdistricts @crystalbridgesmuseum lesabattoirs.org
