TEMPORARY CUSTODIANS.

GB: About a month ago you told me that you were “just focussing on the essentials”, which has challenged me and stimulated great self reflection ever since.

That is a great place to be, however as much as I envy that ethos and wish I could do the same, I seem to be moving further away from that commendable discipline at an alarming rate and doubt I could ever return.

It is a fascinating statement and at the centre of collecting behaviour.

After some deliberation I have realised that none of the items I own are ‘essential’, yet the practice and activity of collecting is for me ‘essential’.

Humans only essentially need to collect oxygen, water and food, yet to maintain a healthy mind we all need a structure, a passion and sense of creative worth, so for me personally the Antique fairs are an environment where I can utilise my combined skills and experience in the most acute and progressive manner, making the actual activity ‘essential’ for my well-being and sustainability.

I feel the most alive and alert when at a busy Fair, with all senses heightened, and firing. Surprisingly I only see that same level of focus, drive and concentration in about 10 other dealers out of the thousands that attend… unless it’s just a desperation thing ?

PWB: I was 1/2 joking about ‘essentials’, (as obviously we don’t ‘need’ any of this stuff :) but at the same time I’m trying to cleanse and clear / to ‘prune’ – and pick just ‘the best’ if buying new (old) stuff. Re. your point about the fairs – I can totally see this – and wanted to ask: what percentage of you would you say is a collector? vs a dealer? (..and over the years how do you decide what to keep Vs what to sell on?)

GB: Yes I realise it was not a literal statement, but still a brilliant and evocative remark which will resonate and challenge all collectors.

It all depends on the collector’s own perception and ambition of what progression means, which could be more volume, every or diverse examples, or less better examples, all have tailored idiosyncratic taxonomies and manifestos.

My rational, focus and targeting is never fixed to one subject, style, period, designer or artist, I am constantly in a state of flux and shift, but always hungry to accumulate and build some areas and rest others.

As I trawl and cherry pick a Fair I am searching for about 10-15 lines for others and about 20-30 for my own collections.

I’ve always had an anal retention issue and desire to keep all the Great stuff, which is totally counterproductive and I fully realise is steeped in insecurity and detachment issues.

However I am evolving with maturity (though my wife would add ‘not quickly enough’) and starting to realise that I am not always actually the best custodian for all of these rare items.

You asked me once about the items which I regret selling, and there are many. The best items have only been released to raise funds for something even better, more appropriate or where ‘one off’ opportunities are ‘essential’ to not turn down.

So I now see the new objects which I should not really be able to acquire.

During the early nineties I had a strong collection of about 40 rare Tin Robots, a couple of which I had as a child in the early seventies. To supplement raising a young family, and thinking I had achieved something, I sold them all over 6 weeks.

Ten years later I met an interesting guy who was buying Robots in America taking advantage of the exchange rate. I had simultaneously become aware of Paolozzi’s V&A  Krazy Kat collection of Robots and ephemera, so within four months I had re-built my old collection and tripled it mostly from the States. I will just keep them now, I don’t want to have to do it a third time !

FLYING THE NEST

GB: I am very passionate about Modern British Art and Design and have collected within this broad area for more than three decades.

I recall selling you a rare Forrest Modern lamp about 10 years ago which I had purchased from Tennants in North Yorkshire, and sat really well within my own diverse post war collection.

However I felt absolutely no seller’s remorse or a need to replace it, as I knew it was perfect product placement and a joy to see it returned to the most appropriate place and custodian in the UK. (PWB: that’s very kind :)

I used to drive classic cars and had a few vintage motorbikes and scooters. I have no motor mechanical knowledge and have never sat my motorbike test, so could only ride the 125 Bantam.

Due to poor and negligent care I blew the engines of a Mk. 2 Jag and three others and kept the bikes in storage, so even I rarely saw them.

Following a moment of self realisation I sold them all and gained an enhanced, enlightened pleasure from seeing all the vehicles fully restored and back on the public roads giving true experiential pleasure to many.

There is a very fine line between Loving objects and Killing them.

VINYL VENDETTAS

GB: I know we both share a love of Vinyl, and my own interest stemmed from the Covers rather than the Music, but as a consequence of collecting it reignited and broadened my listening, knowledge and appreciation of diverse genres.

My obsession began with an unusual catalyst… Sunday B Morning Warhols..

About 15 years ago I met an Art Dealer from Holland who was selling his collection of Sunday B Morning first edition Prints purchased from Sotheby’s in the early nineties.

It was a one off opportunity and over three meetings (due to the cost)  I bought all 75 prints.

I had never seen or knew about the numbered edition (first 250 with black stamp) and never thought I would ever be able to afford them.

However by enthusiastically selling the initial regular batches of Marilyns and Flowers to all my friends and acquaintances at small profits, I ended up acquiring the complete sets of both series for my own collection.

Unfortunately, something which was rarely seen in Working Class Yorkshire Homes, quickly became the norm amongst all my friends.

Everywhere I visited now had a Mao, Flowers or Marilyn, so I ended up with Warhol nausea and had to take my rare full sets down and place in storage !

However during this period I became interested in Warhol’s graphic and commercial work and bought a copy of Sticky Fingers by the Stones from a musician friend of a friend, It was rough, torn, stained and scratched beyond playable.  It’s dilapidated state and real Zip hanging by a thread didn’t bother me, it added to the history and narrative, I just loved the image, concept and ingenuity, and never really wanted to play it anyway.

Unlike normal enthusiasts, I wondered what 9 versions in a square would like all in various forms of natural atrophy.

That single thought would be my most financially expensive decision I have ever made.

For the next 24 months during my initial quest to find the other 8 Fingers, I totally changed my behaviours, methods, techniques and motivations.

Whilst I am usually fairly successful at Antique fairs and car boot sales buying decorative arts, design, furniture and Art works, my head was now stuck in a card board box, speed flicking through a million crap records, whilst all my competitors were walking away with rare and quality items I would normally have bagged in the early morning.

The truth is I had become totally blinkered and not really bothered about losing out financially, my mission was looking for covers designed by the best fine and commercial artists.

I could only see the opportunity to acquire an original, period, artwork for a fraction of it’s real historical value by the best creatives at the vanguard of modern art history.

I originally became enthused by music after an older cousin took me and my brother to Bridlington Spa to see Tom Robinson and Ian Dury in 1978.

I was 13 and was already stimulated and excited by Punk, but was  too young to appreciate the revolutionary political and cultural impact.

GB: So here I was now buying all the original collaged Punk, Psyche, Jazz, Prog, New Wave and Kitsch covers, which had passed me by decades earlier. I was also focused on those banned or withdrawn examples which pushed the boundaries of taste too far.

Buying chairs, lamps and sideboards you get a buzz a few times a day, however looking through original art, in boxes of hundreds, the rushes are far more frequent and that was the drive to continue, which became an very real addiction.

My Antique friends thought I had experienced a breakdown, but were happy I was distracted and no longer competition.

My new Record Collecting friends also enjoyed having some gullible who would pay over the odds for a great cover with cracked or heavily distressed vinyl, which was unique for them where Mint is King.

They were genuine Music lovers who chased rarity and condition with interesting graphics, whereas I was a discerning Art collector buying period images at the vanguard of the visual Arts, illustrating the development and progression of decades and change… which just happened to make a sound.

GB: So for two years I was financially impoverished, yet after quickly acquiring the other 8 Sticky Fingers which then became 36 versions, I had also began listening to some of the covers which did educate and totally enrich my life. So I bought a Zappa then had to get and listen to them all, a Floyd, a Clash, a Hendrix now I was also hearing things properly for the first time.

I learned so much about music, social history and counter culture which helped underpin and contextualise my Art historical knowledge and sensory experience, so the financial cost of not selling for 24 months was worth the investment in illumination and engagement.

As I escalated to chasing the very rare I eventually realised it was totally unsustainable had to go cold turkey and be happy with the collection already amassed.

I still buy the odd record as I become aware of a new graphic or fine artist working on a cover, but need to fight the impulsive magnetism a box of records in a field can induce.

–

The most powerful discovery from my Vinyl obsession which initially shocked me was occasionally coming across a box full placed on the grass by a female. Delving in and observing that every record had a slash across the face of every cover.

The first time I witnessed this I didn’t catch on immediately, yet following later reflection I felt the power of the act of vandalism as vendetta.

Most collectors can focus on collecting a range of objects around a particular subject area or theme, however a few ‘rock and rollers’ who have loyally and diligently built collections of irreverent vinyl also relive their youth and rebellion collecting other behavioural and emotional experiences with disastrous consequences and results, offering a vicarious target for painful revenge.

SUNDAY BM NOTES

PWB: I know a little bit about Warhol, but not the fine details. Did the SBM editions come after the numbered edition of 250 (?) that were signed by Warhol?

And were the SBM editions printed using the same screens from The Factory?

GB: There are a couple of stories which about the evolution of the SM prints, and I am not certain which is most reliable, however I believe a combination of both is most likely.

One states that Warhol himself instigated the reprints through a Belgian source to make them more accessible to the masses, and the other is that he had a falling out with his assistants and they took all the stencils, inks, presses and papers to Switzerland and began the SM editions.

Either way, the initial concept was to run a new edition of 250 Marilyns stamped on the reverse with the SM monogram, edition number and ‘Fill in your own Signature’ stamp, all in Black Ink.

They are aesthetically identical to the official initial authenticated signed versions, of which sets of 10 sell for millions.

They proved so successful the printing continued without edition numbers in Blue then Red ink.

Some very rare prints are signed by Warhol, often stating ‘this is not by me’, so prove he was supportive of the editions.

The first run of 250 numbered are the only version accepted into the official cat rais.

All the ones I had were in black ink, so were the early version.

Part 3 contiues here…