Collecting Art The Smart Way – Welcome To My Home!

This week is a special feature illustrating the key points made in the series, Collecting Art The Smart Way, with myself as a collector of emerging artists. I feel that when someone pushes a lot of strong opinions forward, they should always illustrate it through their own actions. This is a tricky exercise, as one must ensure not to become too biased in the subject and matters they engage with. I will try to be as objective as I can… And so, welcome to my home

My home is on Museum Street, facing the British Museum and in the heart of Bloomsbury. It’s literally a dream I never thought would come true. I have always been an avid reader of Virginia Woolf from the Bloomsbury Group and the very idea to be living in such great company is very inspiring. My home has two entrances: One directly on Museum Street and the other via St George’s church on Bloomsbury Way next to the office of The Gentlewoman Magazine. It’s the only church you will find in London that has four enormous unicorns on its bell tower with golden horns. It’s like living in a fantasy everyday. I welcome people via Museum Street and the first thing that you see is a quirky cactus carpet by Phillip Colbert interacting with the work that Tristan Pigott made of my trip to Nigeria. The pop-art playfulness of the cactus bears the same colors as Tristan’s painting which both draws you in and discusses a much more cynical event of Nigerian politics in 2015. I love this about colors; they can play with your mind, seduce you and it’s too late when you realize that the subject matter is a lot more challenging than you thought. And yes, that’s the way I welcome people in. At least they know what to expect next.

As you turn left into the lounge, the windows face the church. This positioning is why I juxtaposed the works of my two Israeli artists next to this view – they both have a lot to say about religion. The three works of Leni Dothan aims to redefine the way women were depicted in religious art history, especially mothers. Think of the beautiful Madonnas from the Renaissance, where the virgin holds the child beautifully, calmly and lovingly. The reality of being a mother is rarely so still and that’s the discussion that these works bring in. The second work on the right is by artist Jennifer Abessira, Jennifer is a lot more playful in her approach to religion, integrating movie references and pop colours to what would be seen as sacred. Here an angel is pulling the laces of her golden shoes. Ironically, our neighbour is a priest and so far, he seems to approve.