Relationships Between Collectors and Artists
- Location: Home of Patric McCoy, art collector and environmental chemist
Conversation Lead: Patric McCoy.
About
This convening considers how artists and collectors nurture meaningful relationships. What role does the collector play in helping to initiate and maintain the trajectory of an artist’s oeuvre, and how do relationships with artists help a collector to develop their collection of art?
Person Name: Raub Welch Object Name: Antique tags and shackles worn by American enslaved people
Maker: Unknown iron workers, around 1700 Materials: Iron Dimensions: 3 x 0.5 x 3.5in. Provenance: They came from Charleston, USA. They were owned by owners of enslaved Americans.
- Raub Welch, Bronzeville
Antique tags and shackles worn by American enslaved people, around 1700
“[The quilts] have modern sensibilities but are not consciously about modernism.”
I’m interested in the quilts. I first saw some of them in Houston.
Person Name: Manvel Robinson
Object Name: Woman with Fish, 2017 Maker: Liberian Artist Materials: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 10 x 0 x 6in. Provenance: I received the art piece as a gift from my friend Vincent Gills. He is an ophthalmologist who was volunteering in Liberia and he brought this piece and several others back as gifts for me. The art was purchased at a local market.
- Manvel Robinson, Pill Hill
Woman with Fish, 2017 by Unknown Liberian Artist
“This was a gift from a friend studying metalsmithing in high school . . . [it] was made with a very modernist mindset.”
Full Quote
This was a gift from a friend studying metal smithing in high school. Though this object is very much so ornate, the concept was made with a very modernist mindset.
Person Name: Ciera Mckissick
Ciera Mckissick
“I am a curator and art historian by profession, but when it comes to collecting things for my home I like to do it more intuitively rather than taking the approach of a scholar or connoisseur.”
This is one of about 16 dishes I have collected, in different colors, across different vintage shops in the Chicago area over the last couple years. I first bought six in yellow and then began to see them in different stores.
This is emblematic of my obsession with collecting vintage glassware, dishes, and serving items. I am a curator and art historian by profession, but when it comes to collecting things for my home I like to do it more intuitively rather than taking the approach of a scholar or connoisseur.
Partially because it is representative of the type of things I collect, and it also was portable—and sturdy—not in danger of breaking like the glass and porcelain items in my collection.
Person Name: Patric McCoy Object Name: Bronze Black Enslaved Pregnant Woman with Shovel, 2007 Maker: Preston Jackson Materials: Bronze Dimensions: 8 x 8.5 x in. Provenance: Preston Jackson gave it to my mother, I inherited it.
- Patric McCoy, North Kenwood
Bronze Black Enslaved Pregnant Woman with Shovel, 2007 by Preston Jackson
“I kept this paperweight when my grandfather died, and it reminds me of how many things I did not know of my own history.”
It represents the mysteries that my elder relatives carried. Their world was understanding DNA and space for the first time.
I realized that I have kept it in order to keep my family close as have moved. It speaks to my 6-year-old self.
Person Name: Luis De La Torre Object Name: Pescado de la Isla de Mujeres Maker: Materials: paint on wood Dimensions: 4 x 7 x 1in. Provenance: Patric McCoy gave the "pescado" to my daughter Catalina
- Luis De La Torre, Bridgeport
Pescado de la Isla de Mujeres
“I wanted to bring an object that reflects modernism as a concept of relevancy . . . In its most ideal state, the intersection and efficiency of form and function is true modernism that transcends time or culture or practice.”
When I purchased this object, it caught my attention based on the wind up function and being a robot.
It represents simplicity and interaction in a playful way.
Person Name: Michael Darling
Object Name: Lightning Bolt Keychain, 2019 Maker: Rick Owens Materials: Metal Dimensions: 4 x 0.25 x 2in. Provenance: I bought it via phone from store.
- Michael Darling, Evanston
Lightning Bolt Keychain, 2019 by Rick Owens
"It shows the 'sexiness' of modern. Simple and sweet."
Acquired at a Hyde Park estate sale.
Featured images
Person Name: Dwamina
Drew Object Name: 3 Fly Boy sculptures (Original 1st Version) Maker: Hebru Brantley Materials: Resin
Dimensions: 5 x 3 x 2in. Provenance: I received each of these three figures from Hebru himself at his studio.
Dwamina Drew, Hyde Park
3 Fly Boy sculptures, Hebru Brantley
"I appreciate the reminder that artists are people with bodies, noses, hands, baseball gloves."
The photographer Arthur Siegel is a favorite of mine. Typically we think of artists as serious creatures but this photographer baseball card project by Mike Mandel offers a nod to the humanness of artists and a play on how art and artists are collected. In his photograph and the ‘stats’ on the card’s back, Siegel embraces playfulness and runs with it.
It speaks directly to tonight’s conversation about modernism (Siegel) and collecting (baseball cards).