Meet Deb Pearson, a lady with a serious passion for art. Not only is she the proud owner of a collection that takes up every available space in her home, she has spent her life around art, working as an artist’s model for over seventeen years. If a picture paints a thousand words, then Deb’s walls would have incredible story to tell. As she puts it: “I rarely eat out, I have humble holidays and I dress from charity shops; but my walls – they are priceless!”

Painting by Stephen Rose, of the sculptor Jim Turner with Deb, making the model of her which is now sitting on the mantlepiece behind her.

What first sparked your passion for collecting art? 
My mother wasn’t an artist, but she was very knowledgeable about art history. Home was full of art books and I went with her to exhibitions from a very young age. I would spend as much time in the gallery shop as I would in the gallery itself, as that was the place I could acquire art postcards. My childhood bedroom walls were full of them, positioned with great care and consideration. I remember making a birthday wish list when I was still quite young, and at the top I put “a picture rail!” Rather random, but I already knew the potential of where it could lead me. People are often surprised that I’ve never wanted to paint myself, but I understand it’s not my calling. I’m a life model, and a collector.

Sculpture of Deb’s daughter, 5 days old, by Anna Gillespie

What was the very first piece you bought? 
It was when I was about ten, on holiday in Cornwall. It was called “Milk Maid”, it probably cost my pocket money, but it was so characterful. It’s not on the walls anymore, but I’ve kept it, and can see what drew me to it. The first proper piece I bought was from a gallery in Paris when I was about eighteen. Its of a shady wooded rockpool. Its travelled with me on the walls of umpteen addresses.

How has your taste developed?
I suppose I’m a lot more discerning than I was 30, 20, even 10 years ago. My eye has honed in with age! Although I’m still basically attracted to the same sorts of thing. There are recurring themes: insects, trees, buildings, they feature a lot; but pretty much anything can catch my eye, with the exception of traditional still lives; and cats! My taste is pretty eclectic, but at the same time the collection works as a whole. Someone once looked at it and at the end she said ‘with every piece, I thought: “Ah, of course!” ‘ She could see why I had chosen each one. I took that as such a huge compliment.

What guides your collection? How has it grown?
The boring answer is price, not necessarily because they were too expensive, but just because I hadn’t the funds at that time. I have a parallel collection in my head, of all the pieces I haven’t bought! Sometimes I’ll track them down years after initially seeing them. One piece I got recently came from Australia, after seeing it at the RA summer exhibition over a decade go. Luckily the artist had one print left! I keep all exhibition catalogues. I always circle what I like so I can track them down if possible.

How has it grown? Its always growing! I am constantly playing catch-up, and dream of a day when there are no pictures stacked on the floor waiting to be hung, or pictures at the framers, waiting to be framed.

Is the status of the artist an important factor for you?
Totally irrelevant. The works I tend to buy are usually by jobbing artists, often West Country, people I know. I have absolutely no interest in the commercial value of an artist. If my purchasing their work helps them to continue making it, that’s value enough. I value the piece I got for one pound from a flea market as much as the piece that took me ten months to pay for with the Own Art credit scheme. The investment is in the continued pleasure the work brings to me and my family.

How do you manage to display such a large collection?
I’m very lucky to have a lot of wall space and a very understanding husband who pretty much gives me carte blanche when it comes to the walls – they’re my domain! I hang them very densely, maybe just an inch apart in places. Different walls tend to contain different things. The stairs, the bulk of the collection, are entirely monochrome. The hall is for colour. The lower landing is for photography. One room tends to hold the majority of self portraiture and life studies. Sculpture is everywhere! It just goes wherever there’s a spare bit of surface.

There’s a definite skill to hanging, to getting pieces to breath harmoniously side by side. I know when I’ve got it right and definitely know when its not! Often a wall will be as I want it, and then a new piece will come in and I know it has to go on that wall and it upsets the entire thing; I have to start from scratch. But moving pieces around is no bad thing; it keeps them fresh, keeps you looking at them, wanting to look. Some pieces are definitely prima donnas and refuse to have anything beside them. It’s as if they make the wall tremor a little around them. I have a chimpanzee by Matti that does that, as if it’s saying: “Danger. Keep Out!”

Sometimes its just a practical solution. A large glazed piece cannot hang where there’s a lot of reflected light, otherwise all you see is glare! That’s frustrating when space is at such a premium. Light is a double-edged sword!

Chimpanzee by Matti, sculpture of Deb’s son age 2 by Anna Gillespie

Do you have a favourite piece?
Ha! My children ask me that frequently because they know it will make me squirm! No, I couldn’t choose a single favourite piece, that would be impossible. I have favourite artists for sure: Mark Stopforth is wonderful, I have ten pieces by him. Rachel Milne; I love her miniature oils; a large panel of daddy longlegs drawn into wax by Jane Tudge; exquisite embroidered pieces by the textile artist Roanna Wells; minimalist pieces by Kate Raggett, sculptures by Anna Gillespie, numerous life studies by friends, a giraffe that my daughter did when she was four is a corker; I could go on and on! But I couldn’t choose just one.

What advice would you give to anyone beginning their own collection?
Go and look at as much as you can! Develop your own taste and have faith in it; there’s no need to be intimidated. Collecting doesn’t need to be a rich man’s game or an elitist one. Buy what you love and what you can afford, when you can afford it. Get to know the galleries or exhibition spaces that show work you like and is in your price range.

Big open shows at the RA and RWA are invaluable as they expose you to so many different artists and styles. Locally, visit Spike, BV Studios and Jamaica Street whenever they have their open studio weekends. They’ll all help you to realise and refine your taste.

This week we have been chatting to Lana Zepponi, an interior designer living in Memphis, and discovered that art practically runs through her veins. Her mother is an artist, she studied Art History, and her working life has always involved art in some form or another. Here she tells us why she just can’t get enough.

What first ignited your passion for collecting art?
My mother is a painter and had us making art from a young age. I understood what it meant to create something and leave a piece of yourself in it, sort of igniting it with life and meaning. I’m an interior designer and for me, collecting art is a way of adding beauty and meaning to my home and other environments as well.

How has your taste developed? 
I studied Art History in college, then moved to New York to work for art fair producers Sanford L. Smith & Associates. So many fine art galleries exhibiting together at fairs amounted to temporary museums, and artists and dealers were right there to discuss the art.

Do you have a favourite piece?
That’s a tough one. If I had to pick up one piece and run out the door with it, I’d take my photograph “Handwave” by Christian Patterson. It’s gone with me to every place I’ve lived since I bought it in college and has acquired a lot of meaning over the years. It was taken near my hometown in Mississippi and makes me think of beautiful days when the air feels good but also about the symbolism of the gesture, saying hello, or maybe goodbye.

What do you enjoy most about collecting?
That it’s like assembling a family of stories, from the stories the pieces tell to the stories about acquiring the pieces, and the time periods in my life when I collected them. While individual works have their own stories, a collection ultimately tells a story about the owner.

When it comes to displaying your pieces, how does your experience as an interior designer help?  
While I tend to want a lot of order and neatness, I try to follow the principle that when you love a piece of art, there is always room for it. At the end of the day, a little crowd of an art collection makes a home feel warmer.

What advice would you give when it comes to hanging art in awkward places, or for those with limited space? 
Don’t be afraid to stack and layer salon style. It takes the pressure off to arrange the pieces on the floor and play with them a bit to get the composition right. Then, transfer to the wall.

Our fourth collector is Phillip Meyer, a 36-year old hedge fund General Counsel for international hedge fund Oasis. Hailing originally from Austin Texas, Phillip has been living in Hong Kong (via New York) for nearly 6 years and has fully immersed himself in the local art scene, with Hong Kong artists Koon Wai Bong and Sylvia Yeh being his current favourites.

Untitled, 2011 (bird sculpture) by Sylvia Yeh

What first ignited your passion for collecting art?
From a very young age I have been interested in the arts – visual arts, design, theatre, music, photography. The visual arts have the added benefit of being something that enhance the aesthetic of one’s home and space, which makes collecting art fun and exciting – although sometimes difficult and challenging!

What was the very first piece of art you bought?
My first piece was from a New York City artist (and friend) Karen King – she was producing works that involved taking passport and drivers license photos and applying the image to large canvases and aluminum; effectively making “found” portraits out of interesting identification documents. I bought a pair of photographs depicting two photos taken from Texas drivers licenses, and I still display them today.

How has your taste developed?
My tastes have developed in the sense that because I live with the art I buy, I have to feel an almost intimate connection to the work, and I’ve found that these connections can change over time, much like interpersonal relationships. In many ways my tastes have remained the same – I appreciate artists who defy convention, subvert tradition, yet remain true to creating something of beauty in the process.

Does your collection have a guiding theme or principle?
All of my art has at least the common element of some type of subversiveness – either thematic and/or in technique.

Is the status of the artist an important factor for you?
No, it’s not. I’m of two minds – secretly, I want to be the only person who (along with the artist) sees and appreciates the beauty of a piece, but putting aside that selfishness, I want the artist to be recognized by others and to enjoy success, and therefore I’d be happy if their status increases as appreciation for their works grows. The only artist whose work I would by on status alone is Julian Schnabel, but then again, I like just about everything he has ever done, so it’d be an easy decision for me for the right piece.

Do you have a favourite piece in your collection?
It’s difficult to say – right now, two of my pieces are my ‘favorites’ – one is a metal bird sculpture by Hong Kong artist Sylvia Yeh (Untitled, metal parts and found objects, 2011). She constructed a large bird using various pieces of metal, screws, a compass, discarded bicycle parts, etc., and covered it with a black tar-like paint. Grotesque and macabre, but ultimately beautiful. My other favorite is Reinventing the Classics (ink on silk, 2010), a three-panel ink on silk piece by Hong Kong artist Koon Wai Bong, who paints in a modern and subversive style of traditional Chinese ink painting.

 
Reinventing the classics by Koon Wai Bong, being
guarded by Yuen Yuen the cat.

This week we are off gallivanting to Italy, to meet young professional and art collector, Enrico Molisani. With a fondness for cats and a passion for travelling, Enrico tell us how his love affair with art began.

What first ignited your passion for collecting art?
I am always very attracted by the way in which the human feeling can be expressed through a painting, a sculpture, or music and is an expression of art. My passion for art began during my travels when I realised that a painting, a picture or a sculpture would be a good way to remember the voyage.

What was the very first piece of art that you bought?
I have a great passion for cats and my very first important piece was a drawing by Carlo Bracci representing a cat “Cleopatra”. It now hangs in my office!

How has your taste developed?
My sensibility in art developed when I got to know some artists and by going to events like yours – beautiful ones in which a friendly atmosphere permits good exchanges.

What do you enjoy most about collecting?
Collecting is something that is fun! It is also a good way to invest.

Do you have a favourite piece in your collection?
Yes! It is a piece I bought at the Affordable Art Fair last year in Milan, called “Ago e Filo” by Sergio Vanni. It is a funny play on the works of Fontana!

This week’s collector is Mark Christophers of Cornish pasty fame, co-founder of the West Cornwall Pasty Company. As it turns out, in addition to his love of baked savouries, Mark also has a penchant for owning original art and attention grabbing pieces at that. Here he tells us what sparked his long relationship with art and how his taste has changed over the years.

What first ignited your passion for collecting art?
I’ve always loved art, in fact anything creative, but in terms of collecting I think it was just a natural evolution. After buying my first piece I really enjoyed having an original piece of art in my flat and the impact it had on the room. It was also way of furnishing a place, but with furnishings which would hopefully turn out to be an investment, as well as something to enjoy every day.

What was the very first piece of art that you bought?
It was actually from a friend who was a struggling photographer at the time and had done some paintings for pleasure. I saw this Picasso-esque woman he had painted and loved it straight away. I saw my opportunity and eventually managed to persuade him to sell it to me and now it has been in every house I have lived in for the past 20 years and I still love it!

How has your taste developed?
I think I have become a lot bolder and more controversial. Originally my art was much more abstract/colour driven but as I have grown older, and more confident in the art I like, I have moved toward urban/graffiti based art. A lot of the works I buy are very specific to my house, so nowadays I always have an eye to that when I am looking at art, not just purely whether I like a piece.

What do you most enjoy about collecting?
I love the whole art experience and industry. I have become good friends with quite a few of the gallery owners I source works from. I also enjoy the satisfaction of taking a piece of art home, getting it hung and seeing how much it can complete or enhance a room, and also the reaction that visitors have to the art. For me collecting is all about the return you get from seeing it every day, rather than any financial perspective, although that can be a very nice secondary benefit!

Do you have a favourite piece in your collection?
It probably has to be a sculpture I bought at an Affordable Art Fair two years ago. It’s a blue dog with a human skull and ice cream cone ears by a French artist called Michael Alacoque. It’s in the hall when you walk into the house taking centre stage – it’s a bit of a show stopper and a conversation piece, and always brings a smile to my face.

First up is one of our own, the lovely Pixie Andrew, curator at Will’s Art Warehouse (Affordable Art Fair founder, Will Ramsay’s gallery). Not only does she spend her working day immersed in art, she has also built up quite the collection at home – and she’s adamant that she loves each and every part of it just the same!

What first ignited your passion for buying art?
Illustration is my big passion. I love the stories behind illustrations, one of the first pieces I owned was an original Peter Weaver drawing from one of the Alice in Wonderland books – it’s beautiful, but with a dark sentiment, which I think typifies my taste. I tend to collect illustrations from modern children’s books, works which often remind me of being a child, cookbooks, newspaper features, and work by commercial illustrators.

What do you enjoy most about collecting?
I buy for art for me, art that makes my stomach flip and that I must take home. I go to art fairs, galleries and shows looking to fall in love with something. That feeling when I have to go and look at something again and again. Sometimes I leave empty handed because it’s just not there, but when it does happen and I have to have something, taking it home feels brilliant; simply owning it, looking at it – it’s wonderful!

I’ve probably spent more on art than I’ve spent feeding, clothing and looking after myself! It may seem ridiculous, but I’ve got the bug.

How has your taste developed?
I always keep documents relating to each piece in an A4 plastic wallet tucked into the back of the frame. With significant paintings, I regularly check what the artist is up to and print off news about any shows they are having and keep it in the wallet. It’s just for my records, of making myself aware about each piece and the artist. It’s not about value, simply interest.

What’s your favourite piece in your collection?
I don’t have favourites and I don’t regret any of my purchases, not one. I love them all equally.

Image credits: Amy Gwatkin
Images and text originally published in ‘Affordable Contemporary Art’ by Beatrice Hodgkin, Vivays, 2011