Collectors perspective: Michael Schwarz on collecting art during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the start of each year my partner and I make the same resolution: ‘No More Art’. This is a common resolve of long-term art collectors who have run out of space on walls, in cupboards and under beds. And, within a month, it is another failed endeavour. Collecting art is as insidious as COVID-19 - it gets into one’s system and takes over. With the emergence of coronavirus, we thought we might have a better chance of sticking with our ‘no more art’ intention. We could not go to galleries, attend art fairs, or even catch up with other collectors – the potential transmitters of this ‘disease’. We felt quite safe and even smug as we don’t like acquiring art without seeing it ‘in the flesh’ or at least knowing the artist and their practice. However, a disease is a disease is a disease. And within the past month, the art that is part of our ‘COVID Collection’ has arrived. It began with a whimsical ceramic work by Glenn Barkley from his recent show with Sullivan+Strumpf. Poseidon with shell stopper and fancy handles, 2020 appeared on our radar in the early days of coronavirus lockdown. It is bright and quirky and figurative (there are a lot of faces and ceramics in our collection) and referenced the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, who helped protect people during storms. A storm was raging - it was a no-brainer. Glenn Barkley, Poseidon with the shell stopper and fancy handles, 2020
