Collecting as Art

03 Feb Collecting as Art

Tonight I had the great pleasure to visit the home of LA based legendary collector Diana Zlotnick. In this day and age when actually having an experience with art is getting trumped by the stampede to keep up with the joneses and make sure the right names are in the collection, it’s very refreshing to meet a collector who still values artist relationships and the actual experience that a viewer can have with art. I won’t go into all the details about Diana’s background (check out the LA Weekly link) but it was a wonderful experience to sit with Diana and hear first hand accounts of LA’s art history. It was also great to see a collection that obviously has some very famous artists but also spotlights artists Diana really liked but who never became famous. Oh, and she’s still a very active collector. It’s days like today that make it all worthwhile. Very inspiring. Some photos follow:

That Marilyn was bought at Ferus Gallery for $50 bucks in 1967. Notice the Ruscha, Wallace Berman’s, Chris Burden’s, etc.

Diana in front of her Mark Dutcher wall.

Dutcher Flowers, Kaz Oshiro Washer/Dryer, Warhol Race Riot

Ed Ruscha (L) with Ed Giardina wall piece.

I could go on….