My latest obsession

The thing I enjoy most about myself is my obsessive nature. I am not about balance and moderation: I am about serial excess. I used to think it was a problem, or at least symptomatic of a problem, but I don’t worry about it anymore. Now I just dive right in and immerse myself in it, whatever it happens to be.

I love when a new obsession gets ahold of me and sinks its teeth into my every waking moment. It’s like someone flicks a switch and something that never particularly interested me before becomes instantly and completely fascinating.

I love the ravenous research best of all. When you know nothing about something, the world is rich with seemingly endless opportunities to learn more. There are thousands of books and people and resources and experts and branches to explore. Everything, in the beginning, is fresh and juicy and bursting with information.

So. On Wednesday I was walking along Bank Street at lunchtime and I walked by a framing shop/art gallery and suddenly a piece of art in the window made my head swivel.

Some people might have just bought the piece of art and taken it home and hung it on their wall and been satisified with that. Not me. No. I did not buy the piece of art. Instead, I decided to become an art collector.

Within three days I had visited hundreds of websites, amassed a huge set of relevant art links, borrowed two books from the library, contacted the author of one of them, and gone to four art galleries, including an vernissage and a silent art auction preview.

The books I borrowed are The Intrepid Art Collector: A Beginner’s Guide to Finding, Buying and Appreciating Art on a Budget, by Lisa Hunter, and Art for All: How to Buy Fine Art for Under $300, by Alan S. Bamberger.

My plan is to not actually buy any art until I’ve read these books. I want to develop a plan to guide my collection. I’ve learned from my other collections that I shouldn’t unleash my spending power in the earliest phase of a new obsession, because things can change very quickly in the beginning. But I think what I want to collect is works by contemporary local artists.

Last night I went to La Petit Mort Gallery on Cumberland for the Vernissage of the “I Wish I Could Afford Artwork as a Gift” sale. It was fantastic, I loved it.

I wanted to buy all kinds of stuff, but I restrained myself and didn’t buy anything.

I was especially tempted to buy something by mixed media artist Meaghan Haughian. I adored her art – much of which incorporates words and old photos and paper dolls – and she herself was lovely too. If I had bought something, it would either have been the carousel that somebody else bought, or this piece called She’s on Fire, from her book on the wall. (There are similar pieces in The Tales In Between section of her website – go see!)

Earlier in the day I was at Gallery 101 on Bank (near the closed intersection) where there was a preview of today’s silent auction. I asked about two pieces (The Strip Club and something about a Star), and the woman said I have a very good eye. I wonder if she says that to everybody? I think I have good taste, but the one thing everybody thinks they have is good taste. And some people don’t.

I met a friend of a friend at a party on Georgian Bay, and a few of us went to his place by boat for a drink. This guy was stinkin’ rich and very much into collecting art. Upon entering his house, I was dumbstruck by the unfortunate consequences of his combination of too much money and not enough taste. It allowed him to be tacky in a rather monumental way, which included – among other things – taxidermy, ‘sex rugs’ made of the skins of endangered species, velvet nudes, and a reproduction of the Sistine Chapel.