In a move perhaps inspired by the spate of American, European and Chinese collectors opening up their own spaces, the dashing Canadian collector Bob Rennie will open his own private museum to showcase his collection of contemporary art.
Collector Bob Rennie. Image: rennie.com
Brian Jungen, People’s Flag 2006. Image: tate.org.uk
The gallery will open in 2009, but it will be by invitation only.
Good news, though for the Canadian art scene. Rennie collects big-name international artists, including Canadians Rodney Graham, Ian Wallace and Brian Jungen.
Read the full article from the Globe and Mail HERE
Andrea Carson writes on contemporary art, architecture and design...
12 comments ↓
Does that make it a vanity gallery?
Not according to Wikipedia, which says that:
“A vanity gallery is an art gallery that charges fees from artists in order to show their work, much like a vanity press does for authors. The shows are not legitimately curated and will include as many artists as possible. Most art professionals are able to identify them on an artist’s resume”
Rennie’s museum is a place to display his collection. American collectors Eli Broad, Martin Margulies and Steve Rubell all have this kind of space, as does Charles Saatchi and many others. Often, though, they are open to the public and come complete with a team of curators who produce museum-like catalogues.
Only artists can be accused of vanity, LZG. Collectors and curators act out the most noble of intentions.
Big names and big money still rule it seems.
My wife and I are collectors of contemporary art and according to the dozens of friends and family who have visited our home, it is a very fine collection.
We often get comments like ‘I wish more public and commercial galleries had art as fine as yours’ and ‘you should open your home as a public gallery so people can see your collection.
To that end we have opened it but so far there are few takers. The artists are not superstars in the larger art world, just gifted hard working people plying their craft.
And we are not high profile collectors.
But if you make your way here, you will be in for a treat.
If interested and you live in the GTA, write to philhdtaylor@yahoo.com
Years back I went to San Francisco to visit friends and timed it so I could attend the autumn art fair. I enjoyed myself but it was nothing compared to the experience of being invited by my friend, a Gap employee, for a tour of Donald Fisher’s employee-only [and guests with passes] art gallery which took up most of the main floor of Gap HQ. Fisher is the Gap creator with a massive art collection.
The gallery had Gerhard Richter paintings and wall-size Anselm Keifer’s, Richard Serra sculptures and Warhol’s to name only a few. His collection seemed specialised in German and American Expressionism (tops with me!) among other modern genre’s. The gallery was a thrill but my tour continued up to my friends office where every floor we passed was an art gallery masquerading as an entry lobby which continued down the walls to the offices. Millions of dollars of top-quality art on the walls for the employees to soak in daily.
It was unfortunate I wasn’t allowed to photograph it, nor could I return with my own guests, but to be able to view it certainly made me feel privileged. The work I saw inspired me to no end as well. It surpassed all the other art-viewing experiences I had while there. I understand he too is seeking/creating/maybe-already-has a new home for it so the public can enjoy it too. As an artist especially, I’m always supportive of collectors who show off their collection. It’s not meant to be tucked away.
I also think it’s great when collectors make their collections available to the public. Not that I have things like Warhols and Richters on my walls by any means, but it’s always great to have someone come over to look at what I do have and have them say “you’ve inspired me to buy more art”. I love to hear that! It also seems that many of the world’s biggest collectors have more money to acquire the best pieces by certain artists than many museums do, so it’s important for them to share their collections with the public by loaning works for exhibitions or establishing their own spaces. Not to do so seems covetous and miserly to me.
Then not gallery as vanity project? And not vanity gallery
It becomes a problem when big-name collectors with lots of influence begin hiring curators and publishing catalogues. They are essentially establishing a ‘canon’ of sorts, but it’s for artists in whom they have a financial interest. Not that museums are without bias, but…
At the same time, I love to see the results of a process of collecting - the psychology of collecting - particularly if it’s out of genuine interest and not a laundry list of super-star artists…
I’m glad that you make that distinction, I really love private collections, they’re idiosyncratic and full of surprises, and I’m sorry when collectors mimic the art world monoculture with the ‘laundry list’.
I also really enjoyed seeing the Friedrich Christian Flick collection at the Hamburger Banhof in Berlin a few years ago, but the possible agenda behind that accumulation of art property raised a lot of questions too.
When the newspaper Die Zeit asked various artists in Flick’s collection for their views of the situation, Gerhard Richter responded by noting disdainfully how quickly and easily a “so-called top-class” collection of contemporary art can be bought today by anybody with enough money. He added that a loan is not a gift - and moreover, that “the moral side of the whole story, insofar as it can be separated from the aesthetic side, is also only disgusting to me.”
That’s why we’re so lucky to have the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation in Toronto..
it’s interesting that Rennie made his fortune as a real estate agent/speculator. now he’s an art scene celebrity as well.
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