-
-
-
Would you say art collecting is your hobby?
-
Hobby is too little of a word. It’s why I live. It’s why I go to work.
It’s why I get up; it’s my life. The art galleries, the art dealers, my
art collection; talking about it, reading art magazines . . .
-
What inspires you to collect art?
-
I’m looking for a buzz. I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t do any drugs, I
don’t smoke, it’s my buzz in life. And I’m also looking for myself. My
collection helps me understand who and what I am. I don’t just let
anyone into my collection – it really exposes who I am, it’s like lying
on a psychiatrist’s couch. My collection is really personal. I think you
come in here and you might be able to figure out some aspects of my
personality, and my identity, history.
-
What is art for?
-
I think it has different purposes for different people. For me it’s for
pleasure, I think it’s to learn. I think one of the things it’s for is:
a talented artist was born in this world to help the viewers see what
they didn’t see before viewing the art. For example, the Beckers. They
taught me how to look. I don’t think I would have ever noticed urban
landscape if it wasn’t for them, I would have never seen a water tower.
Or, Marcel Duchamp has taught me to look at things I see in life as a
sculpture.
-
Why do you think people make art?
-
S.S.: I don’t think they have a choice. They were born to do it.
Hopefully a good artist does it because he has something to say about
art history, our society, about politics.
-
What is art?
-
Art is anything that an artist makes, that an artist has dedicated his
life to do. Anything that is shown in an art museum or an art gallery. I
think it’s creativity.
-
Have you ever seen magic?
-
Yes. It’s all magical for me. My first experience of an artist. There’s
an artist I’ve been crazy about for a while, I think it’s a magical
experience for me to see it: Neo Rauch. It’s always a magical experience
for me. It takes me to a different place. I think Kim Keever’s magical.
One of the things in my collection is a sense of place. I have this
thing; I work in New Jersey, I’m a doctor, and then I go through the
Lincoln Tunnel and I’m in the art world, New York. I’m from Detroit. Kim
Keever takes me to another place. I think that’s magical. It’s like a
high. Art can be an escape in that sense.
-
Do you think a work of art should transcend the picture plane?
I think it’s more religious than spiritual. I don’t go to synagogue or
church. It’s like a religious calling or religious experience for me.
It’s more exciting for me when I first see an artwork as opposed to
possessing it. I end up looking like a squirrel, maybe, because I have a
big collection, but the biggest thing for me is to see it, to discover
it, than to possess it. I like to be a part of the whole situation.
After I acquire a piece I like to meet the artist. I also like to
consider myself an artist as curator. The work takes on a different
meaning in the context of my collection, and I think that’s why people
find it interesting to come see my collection. Because it’s a curated
show in my home.
|
-
-
-
Steve Shane, art lover, visits thirty galleries in New York City, where
he resides, every Saturday. Sundays he goes to museums, or galleries
outside of Manhattan. All of his vacations are scheduled around art
events. He has barely missed a major international art fair in twenty
years.
He regularly sends out his art e-mails of his picks to over five
hundred fellow enthusiasts. Shane prefers to term himself an “art
lover,” rather than as a collector, stating that his “collection is
only a little side effect of my passion,” although he has amassed a
collection of over five hundred works of contemporary art to date.
Shane has never sold any of his collection, which will one day be
bequeathed to different
museums.
Is there any particular overriding theme or direction to your
collecting?
Within my collection there is a strong sense of place -a longing or an
imagining to be in another place-a different, better place. Other themes
recurring throughout my collection include, “art about art” -art that
alludes to or builds on the history of art. I am also attracted to art
that exhibits a sense of humor; art that uses wit or irony to comment on
historical art movements, artists and the creative process.
Another key theme is the marriage of seduction and repulsion. In its
physical presence and its emotional content, the work in my collection
both attracts and repels the viewer. Contemporary art, as art throughout
history, expresses the horror and the joy of the human condition. The
artwork in my collection reflects this condition with assuredness,
strength, and sincerity.
Other themes that have subconsciously entered are: “painting without
paint,” “photography of invention”, the element of the “fake,” “the
dysfunctional family,” “celebrity,” and a sense of the theatrical.
Did you collect other things as a child?
It was elephants. Elephants from all over the world made from all
different materials.
Do you collect artists in depth, or do you try to go across the
board?
I used to only want to have one of each, but then, I was enamored by
Cindy Sherman early on – in the early eighties – and I think I have
twenty Shermans. Elliot Green, I have four or five and then Nina Bovasso
. . .it’s mostly one ofs, but there are certain artists I have multiple
pieces by. [(5) , Condo (2), Dunham (2), Dzama (4), Glantzman (2), Deb
Kass (2), Jonathan Tucker (9), Lasker (2), Simmons (6), Elizabeth Olbert
(2), John Waters (2) John Waters is hilarious, Angela Wyman (4),
Wojnarowicz (2) ]
What’s your favorite work in your collection?
The last piece I acquired always.
Do you see any particular direction that you think art is heading in?
Yes, I think it’s heading way toward video. I went to the last
Documenta. I don’t have the patience to watch a video for forty-five
minutes. In my opinion a good video is if you can jump in at any point
and watch it for three minutes. That’s Pipolitti Rist. I end up being
mesmerized, maybe that’s the magic you were talking about. Actually, I
stay for a long time with hers. But, I don’t think it’s going to be the
end of painting, that’s for sure. I am an individual. I go all over the
place and figure it out for myself. I search for what I think is a good
painting, not what’s going on now. That’s looking at art with your ears.
I think it’s amazing what some dealers don’t know about art history.
Christopher Chambers
|
