Collecting Art / A Panel Discussion

June 3 , 2014  7 – 9 p.m. 
Gallery 1313

While another debate for the provincial election was going on television and radio – a great panel of experts in contemporary art discussed the various aspects of collecting art. It was very timely as the visual arts critic for the Toronto Star, Murray Whyte, had just written a piece on the donation of 279 images to the Art Gallery of  Ontario by Harry Malcolmson and his wife Ann. Harry just happened to be one of our panellists and he gave us an inside glimpse into the world of a collector. 98 of those art pieces are on display at the AGO till September 7, 2014.

The Panel (from left to right): Harry Malcolmson, David Liss, Jessica Bradley, Stephen Ranger, Flavio Belli and  Richard Rhodes

Richard Rhodes, editor of Canadian Art, skilfully moderated the discussion and kept the panel engaged. The panel included Jessica Bradley of Jessica Bradley Projects, David Liss, the curator and director of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Flavio Belli, currently a co-curator at the Al Green Gallery and an artist and collector himself, Stephen Ranger  the Vice President of Development at Waddington Auctions and the creator of Concrete Contemporary and Harry Malcolmson  collector and former art critic for the Toronto Telegram. Topics of discussion ranged from what made an art work collectible and on the other hand what made people collect art.  Did people graduate from collecting other objects and art just became their new passion? Was it enterprise or people want to use art as a commodity?  Did an art collection raise the social stature for some people who would try and impress others with their collection? Harry Malcolmson brought up the hunter gather as a collector and Jessica Bradley read a quote which reaffirmed that the importance was on the art itself. There was common agreement here. 

From left to right: David Liss, Jessica Bradley (speaking), Stephen Ranger and Flavio Belli

It was declared that a serious collector was one who collected for more than just the walls of his or her domain. Indeed Flavio said he had 300 art works displayed on his walls and another 3,000 squireled away safely stored. Likewise Liss admitted to storing away art works he collected. He compared his art collection to his book collection which he treasured equally refusing to part with certain books that he might not re-read. It was suggested  that owners of large collections  rotate their works on display to enjoy them all. 

Stephen Ranger gave insights into some of the attitudes of some buyers at art auctions. There were distinctions made for people that just bought art to make a dollar by flipping it and those serious collectors who hung onto the art works they purchased. It was also discussed on what made  up an art collection itself. 

From left to right: Harry Malcolmson, David Liss, Jessica Bradley, Stephen Ranger (speaking) and Flavio Belli

David Liss of MOCCA  declared that while MOCCA was an institution that had a mandate to collect art  it was still rather early in its development and there was hope for the institution to have the means to collect more art in the future. Flavio Belli confessed to having collected a series of winter scenes and discovered the Sunday painter’s pleasure in creating these works.

From left to right: Harry Malcolmson, Jessica Bradley, Stephen Ranger, Flavio Belli (speaking) and  Richard Rhodes

The audience was treated to a number of insights, not all encouraging for the artists in attendance. Those in attendance came up with some probing thoughts and questions. The panel was asked where did they go to seek out art and again there were a variety of responses from outdoor exhibitions where people could converse directly to the artists to galleries and consultants where other opinions could influence a potential buyer.

Toronto was declared a healthy site for art collectors and perhaps better than Montreal and other Canadian centres . It was agreed upon as well that is a wealth of talent in Canada still untapped and unknown for a large part outside of Canada. There was a healthy conversation as well about if local art could be supported more through municipal intervention and support. It was agreed that while  it was not a good idea to become dependent on government support at any level however any support would help. At the end of the discussion panellists and those in attendance seemed to feel that having discussions like this was a good first step in looking at and examining  the art collecting climate locally and nationally and finding possible solutions to increasing it through arts education and appreciation of our cultural heritage. There were  no clear answers but some great ideas and insights at the end of the evening unlike that other debate where hopeful provincial leaders squared off.

Text and photo: Phil Anderson