“It’s not as though you feel satisfied after collecting a certain amount of stuff. Instead, you keep thinking about what you’re missing.” – Fumio Sasaki

 A Good Day at the Races 

One of the great pleasures of collecting art is bidding for it at auction. If you’ve ever participated in a competitive auction, you know how thrilling it can be. It’s exciting enough just to be in the action, but to come away with something you’ve wanted – and at the right price – that’s a feeling you won’t forget easily. I can compare it to being at the racetrack and seeing your horse come in.

If I were a mentally healthy person, I’d be spending most of my retirement buying and selling art. But since I have ADD, my art business/hobby is just one of a dozen activities I am involved in. I don’t have the time to bid at auction. When I see a piece I like in an auction catalog (I get them every day), I notify Suzanne, my partner in the art business and curator of one of my collections, and she gets the fun of doing the auction.

Because I’m a conservative investor, and because the art market is generally on fire, it’s rare for us to win anything these days. But sometimes we do. Yesterday, she told me we had won two pieces.

The first one is by Ignacio Iturria, a Uruguayan, one of my favorite Latin American artists.

Iturria was in commercial art and graphic design before turning to painting full time. Since then, it’s been pretty much all uphill for him.

He is not only a prolific artist, he has the talent to produce quality in volume. He is, as one critic put it, “generous with oil paint, building up lush textures on surfaces ranging from traditional (canvas) to unconventional (corrugated cardboard). His palette is dominated by muddy browns and earth tones that reflect the colors of the Platte River.

His work – quirky interpretations of dreams and memories – is considered Surrealist by some. I think that’s a fair categorization. To me, his landscapes look like Hieronymus Bosch meets iSpy.

After I bought this piece, Number Three Son (who is also a collector) wrote to ask me if I intended to keep it for my own collection.

I have no idea how he knew I won it. And now he’s put me in a difficult position. It is a really good piece at a very good price. Will I give it/sell it to him?

Stay tuned.

Oddly, the same auction had two Howard Finster oils up for sale – and I got one of them!

I’ve been a fan of Reverend Finster since I first saw one of his imaginary illustrations on the cover of Little Creatures by Talking Heads.

Finster believed that he was spreading God’s word through his work (he published religious songs and poetry and even hosted a radio prayer show in the 30s and 40s) and his art. His most famous work of art is Paradise Garden, a massive outdoor “museum” consisting of multiple walkways and buildings that he constructed out of… well, junk – broken glass, concrete, discarded objects, etc.  After his death in 2001, Paradise Garden, which is located in swampy Chattooga County, GA, began to decay.  It was acquired by the county, and ultimately turned over to the Paradise Garden Foundation with a 50-year lease for $1. The Foundation has not only maintained the property, it’s turned it into a profitable tourist attraction, providing tours and accommodations (a bed & breakfast) for visitors.

I have several pieces by Reverend Finster, part of a small collection of naïve and outsider art. This one will be a nice addition.

I’m actually shocked that I was able to get these two pieces for what I paid for them. Everything I’ve been bidding on for the last several years has gotten more expensive month by month. Why these two artists, whose work is superb in so many ways, are trading at these prices… I just can’t explain. But I’m not complaining.