{"id":3712,"date":"2025-03-11T18:43:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T18:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dartmagazine.com\/?p=3712"},"modified":"2025-03-11T18:43:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T18:43:26","slug":"steve-shane-living-to-have-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartmagazine.com\/?p=3712","title":{"rendered":"Steve Shane: Living to Have Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christopher Chambers Interviews Collector Steve Shane<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Republication of a dArt magazine Summer 2003 article.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Collector
Collector Steve Shane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Every Saturday art lover Steve Shane visits 30 galleries in New York City, where he resides. Sundays he goes to museums, or galleries outside Manhattan, All of his vacations are scheduled around art events. He has rarely missed a major international art fair in twenty years, He regularly sends out his art emails of his picks to over 500 fellow enthusiasts. Shane prefers to term himself an \u201cart lover,\u201d rather than a collector, stating that his \u201ccollection is only a little side effect of my passion,\u201d although he has amassed a collection of over 500 works of contemporary art to date. Shane has never sold any of his collection, which will one day be bequeathed to different museums.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Chambers:<\/strong> Would you say that collecting is your hobby?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Shane:<\/strong> Hobby is too little of a word. It\u2019s why I live. It\u2019s why I go to work. Its why I go to work. It\u2019s why I get up; it\u2019s my life. The art galleries, the art dealers, my art collection; talking about it, reading about I, reading art magazines\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> What inspires you to collect art?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS:<\/em> I\u2019m looking for a buzz. I don\u2019t drink alcohol. I don\u2019t do any drugs. I don\u2019t smoke. It\u2019s my buzz in life. And I\u2019m also looking for myself. My collection helps me understand who and what I am. I don\u2019t just let anyone into my collection \u2013 it really exposes who I am, it\u2019s like lying on a psychiatrist\u2019s couch. My collection is really personal. I think you come here and you might be able to figure out some aspects of my personality, and my identity, history.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC: <\/strong>What is art for?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS:<\/strong> I think it has different purposes for different people. For me it\u2019s for pleasure. I think it\u2019s to learn. I think one of the things it\u2019s for is: a talented artist was born in this world to help the viewers see what they didn\u2019t see before viewing the art. For example, the Beckers. They taught me how to look. I don\u2019t think I would have ever noticed urban landscapes if it wasn\u2019t for them, I would have never seen a water tower. Or, Marcel Duchamp has taught me to look at things I see in life as a sculpture.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> Why do you think people make art?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think they have a choice. They were born to do it. Hopefully a good artist does it because he has something to say about art history, our society, about politics\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> What is art?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS:<\/strong> Art is anything that an artist makes, that an artist has dedicated his life life to do. Anything that is shown in an art museum or an art gallery. I think it\u2019s creativity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> Have you ever seen magic?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS:<\/strong> Yes. It\u2019s all magical for me. My first experience of an artist. There\u2019s an artist I\u2019ve been crazy about for a while, I think it\u2019s a magical experience for me to see it: Neo Rauch. It\u2019s always a magical experience for me. It takes me to a different place. I think Kim Keever\u2019s magical. One of the things in my collection is a sense of place. I have this thing; I work in New Jersey, I\u2019m a doctor, and then I go through the Lincoln Tunnel and I\u2019m in the art world, New York. I\u2019m from Detroit. Kim Keever takes me to another place. I think that\u2019s magical. It\u2019s like a high. Art can be an escape in that sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> Do you think a work of art should transcend the picture plane?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS:<\/strong> I think it\u2019s more religious than spiritual. I don\u2019t go to synagogue or church. It\u2019s like a religious calling or religious experience for me. It\u2019s more exciting for me when I first see an artwork as opposed to possessing it. I end up looking like a squirrel, maybe, because I have a big collection, but the biggest thing for me is to see it, to discover it, than to possess it. I like to be a part of the whole situation. After I acquire a piece I like to meet the artist. I also like to consider myself an artist as curator. The work takes on a different meaning in the context of my collection. Because it\u2019s a curated show in my home.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> Is there any particular overriding theme or direction to your collecting?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS:<\/strong> Within my collection there is a strong sense of place \u2013 a longing or an imagining to be in another place \u2013 a different, better place. Other themes recurring throughout my collection include, art about art \u2013 art that alludes to or builds on the history of art. I am also attracted to art that exhibits a sense of humor; art that uses wit or irony to comment on historical art movements, artists and the creative process. Another key theme is the marriage of seduction and repulsion. In its physical presence and its emotional content, the work in my collection both attracts and repels the viewer. Contemporary art, as art throughout history, expresses the horror and the joy of the human condition. The artwork in my collection reflects this condition with assuredness, strength, and sincerity. Other themes that have subconsciously entered are: \u201cpainting without paint,\u201d \u201cphotography of invention,\u201d the element of the \u201cfake,\u201d \u201cthe dysfunctional family,\u201d \u201ccelebrity,\u201d and a sense of the theatrical.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> Did you collect other things as a child?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS:<\/strong> It was elephants. Elephants from all over the world made from all different materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> Do you collect artists in depth, or do you try to go across the board?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS:<\/strong> I used to only want to have one of each, but then, I was enamored by Cindy Sherman early on \u2013 in the early eighties \u2013 and I think I have twenty Shermans. Elliot Green, I have four or five and then Nina Bovasso\u2026 it\u2019s mostly one ofs, but there are certain artists I have multiple pieces by. \u00a0Condo (2), Dunham (2), Dzama (4), Glantzman (2), Deb Cass (2), Jonathan Tucker (9), Lasker (2), Simmons (6), Elizabeth Olbert (2), John Waters (2) John Waters is hilarious, Angela Wyman (4), Wojnarowicz (2).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> What is your favourite work in your collection?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS: <\/strong>The last piece I acquired always.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CC:<\/strong> Do you see any particular direction that you think art is heading in?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SS: Yes, I think it\u2019s heading way toward video. I went to the last Documenta. I don\u2019t have the patience to watch a video for forty-five minutes. In my opinion a good video is if you can jump in at any point and watch it for three minutes. That\u2019s Pipolitti Rist. I end up being mesmerized, maybe that\u2019s the magic you were talking about. Actually, I stay for a long time with her\u2019s. But, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be the end of painting, that\u2019s for sure. I am an individual. I go all over the place and and figure it out for myself. I search for what I think is a good painting, not what\u2019s going on now. That\u2019s looking at art with your ears. I think it\u2019s amazing what some dealers don\u2019t know about art history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Chambers Interviews Collector Steve Shane (Republication of a dArt magazine Summer 2003 article.) Every Saturday art lover Steve Shane visits 30 galleries in New York City, where he resides. Sundays he goes to museums, or galleries outside Manhattan, All of his vacations are scheduled around art events. He has rarely missed a major international … <\/p>\n

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