ON COLLECTING
As in many of the things we do, the word is all important. We use written language all the time to understand and grasp the meaning of things. To get to the rub of everything we do in life, it is our common communication - from science, history, philosophy, pretty much everything we read, books, talking on the phone, watching TV, words, stories, histories, you name it - the world revolves around words.
That is until you go into an artist studio or to an exhibition of visual arts, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and all the rest. As the expression goes “a picture is worth 1000 words”. It is not to say that artists don’t use words, they do, they question, they argue, philosophise, implore, intellectualise but then sometimes the right brushstroke, like the right note in music, says it all. No need for words just here, there it is, the sounds, the image saying it all. So many times we view art with too many words and not enough openness to all the other senses and our emotional intelligence.
The words and thoughts may come before, or after, but when the right note is played, it can bring tears of joy, fear, the sudden sensation of life or death. To stand in front of Michelangelo’s Pieta needs no words to sense the passing of life, the gifting of soul.
Installation View: NEVER DONE, at Far Far Gallery, featuring Phyillida Barlow, Sophie Barber Francis Upritchard.
As a collector, it is these moments that one senses in an artists work. With this particular process of exploration and presentation that artist bears the human soul for us all to see. Sometimes it is the artists individual soul but this often reflects the common case of the human condition. As an artist/ collector my life is all about exploring and my art is a reflection of that process and my individual attempt to get to the measure of things.
So it is with immense pleasure that I share this process with so many artists, although deeply individual, sometimes despairingly so, they are the great explorers. They can open windows to views that only they can open for us to share. So the window is open… enjoy the view.
Collecting is not a singular thing it can be as simple as, wow… I really like that it makes me smile. I want to wake up and see it when I go downstairs for a coffee. Simple as in Sophie Barber’s Sunflowers. It can be the highly romantic, T&I by Tacita Dean, the complex link between image and text, the line between command and action. The flash of gilded love of Pozniakow, Bethnal Green, the outstanding puff which is Geoff Walls A sudden gust of wind where one can feel all the physical action and reaction in a sensitive and subtle landscape.
Countryside Art Club, Private Tour, featuring T&I by Tacita Dean, on view NEVER DONE at Far Far Gallery.
Collecting is a desire to remind and refresh all of these views that helped to shape my world. Art is a language the world needs. It can speak to parts of us that our other languages can’t always reach. It enables the expression of otherwise inexpressible things. Collecting is a way of keeping this viable and of making this a key part of who we are.
On a slightly more pragmatic note collecting is a great way to build a pension fund with something that you can enjoy every day.
Simon Allison - Collector / Director Far Far Gallery.