Who here are art collectors?

[El Presidente]

I remember a decade ago when a good local cigar mate of mine showed me his art collection. It dawned on me that the bloke I had known for at that point 5 years was one of Australia's largest private modern art collectors. If you sat down over a cigar with him today...you would have never guessed that multiple pieces travel the world and have been shown in such places as the National Gallery, Guggenhime and Louvre.

He is a good mate of Kens as well. Blow and behold I discovered around the same time that Ken is a lover of art with a significant collection of beautiful pieces (and you guys thought he was only into carboard box art!). Another mate Des same.....serious lovers (and buyers) of great art.

Ken has more than once described me as being a "Cultural Vacuum" .....having absolutely no real understanding of art or art history. I like what I like. However again over the years I have realised how intrinsically art is connected to the lives of many of my Habanos loving friends.

So my question to forum members is are you lovers/collectors of art? big or small no mater. What are your favourite artists, pieces, styles? What resonates with you?

[brazoseagle]

I am , but really only Scenic works and western works, like from Thomas Kinkade and G. Harvey.

[Puros Y Vino]

I've been artistically inclined since I was a kid and took interest in art ever since. I don't go out and collect art per se. I have an original sketch from a comic book artist and the odd print. I frequent art galleries a few times per year. I've been to the Louvre, the Picasso museum in Barcelona, marvelled at the masterworks throughout Italy and even sat in on auctions on cruise ships.

I've got a love for all styles as I have learned what makes them work. Though, I've been very critical of what most would call "modern" art as to me it does not adhere to some very basic art tenets. Amongst my favourites are the great Italian masters, DaVince Michaelangelo, etc. Picasso's cubist works always interested me. I absolutely love Salvador Dali's works because they're just so brilliantly laid out and memorable. I hope to someday own an original HR Giger because his visions are so maddening and haunting at the same time. Recently I've grown to appreciate Jackson Pollack's work as being more than random paint drippings and brush swipes. There is order in that chaos!! I myself have been absent for 20 years when it comes to art. A few watercolours here and there as gifts, maybe the odd sketch while on vacation. Nonetheless, I still enjoy Art as a pastime whether creating or viewing (more the latter)

[Colt45]

I'm no collector, but am certainly an appreciator. I'm very partial to my wife's work and that of many of her colleagues. Renoir, Fantin-Latour,

Victor Manuel Garcia, Hollis Dunlap, Edward Hopper, early to mid 1900s fashion photographers - the list of artists or paintings or photographs

I like is too long and I'd surely leave out a fave or three.

There's nothing wrong with simply liking what you like.....

[Guest rob]

Some may scoff and roll their eyes... but I collect original comic art.

I have done so for about 20 years and absolutely love it.

My level of appreciation, passion and devotion to the art is somewhat akin to that of MrGlass from the movie Unbreakable. Some of the dialouge from the movie really mirrors my thoughts on the art.

If you think collecting cigars is expensive.... dont get into comic art!

[matt14]

Dali.....Lobster phone......brilliant

[bacalao]

When ever we entertain people comment on our art work we have on display at home. I have several original Cuban pieces, mostly Alberto Godoy lives here in Houston. Some Obey Giant and Mike Giant prints framed. And about 15 skateboards hung up in some rooms which remind me of my youth. My favorite is from an artist in Naples, Fl that painted a portrait of my wife which came out beautiful.

[Fuzz AI]

Some may scoff and roll their eyes... but I collect original comic art.

I have done so for about 20 years and absolutely love it.

My level of appreciation, passion and devotion to the art is somewhat akin to that of MrGlass from the movie Unbreakable. Some of the dialouge from the movie really mirrors my thoughts on the art.

If you think collecting cigars is expensive.... dont get into comic art!

Scoff if they like, but there is nothing wrong with collecting comic artwork. I've bought and sold a few pieces of signed comic artworks myself. I used to have a number of drawings by Adam Hughes (for those in the know, just say AH!) that I wish I hadn't sold off, but right now I'm more into collecting comic statues.

And Rob, you are right. Collecting this comic art stuff (whether it be drawings, statues, gyclees, lithographs, etc) sucks money faster than a government run space program!!

[CigarmanTim]

Blow and behold I discovered around the same time that Ken is a lover of art with a significant collection of beautiful pieces (and you guys thought he was only into carboard box art!).

A velvet Elvis or Bruce no doubt

[headstand]

Small time collector. Regardless of its primary use, either decorative or statement, I limit myself to one criterion (two if you include price)and that is whether I think the work has the potential to sustain my interest for the longterm. I've got my eye on a beauty hanging in a Canmore, AB gallery - too bad my eye is bigger than my wallet!

[CaptainQuintero]

I think Van Gogh resonates with me the most, you can see the journey his life took with his paintings but some of them are just too beautiful for words to even begin to describe, Starry Night just sums up everything for me.

[Rushman]

I have always been interested in all kinds of art, and thouroughly enjoy museums and private shows, but have never had the bankroll or interest to collect. However, I seem to collect motorcycles and tools, and scotch, wine and port. Dont forget cigars. Now that I think bout it, if I gave up bikes, tools, smoking and drinking, I might be able to afford art. Sheesh.

[Puros Y Vino]

Comic art is fantastic. No scoffing from me. I've often looked into it but never really followed it through.

[docbp87]

Have a ton of art, mostly from friends who are artists, though about 1/3 of the art on my walls is my own. I spent a stint in a fairly well regarded Art school, but the experience, and deadlines pretty much made me start to hate creating, so I left. I am lucky to know some of my favorite artists personally, and to have had to opportunity to create with some of them even. I tend to prefer Pop Surrealism, Lowbrow, and other similar styles of visual art. I have a definite interest and appreciation for transgressive art work.

[Ken Gargett]

I remember a decade ago when a good local cigar mate of mine showed me his art collection. It dawned on me that the bloke I had known for at that point 5 years was one of Australia's largest private modern art collectors. If you sat down over a cigar with him today...you would have never guessed that multiple pieces travel the world and have been shown in such places as the National Gallery, Guggenhime and Louvre.

He is a good mate of Kens as well. Blow and behold I discovered around the same time that Ken is a lover of art with a significant collection of beautiful pieces (and you guys thought he was only into carboard box art!). Another mate Des same.....serious lovers (and buyers) of great art.

Ken has more than once described me as being a "Cultural Vacuum" .....having absolutely no real understanding of art or art history. I like what I like. However again over the years I have realised how intrinsically art is connected to the lives of many of my Habanos loving friends.

So my question to forum members is are you lovers/collectors of art? big or small no mater. What are your favourite artists, pieces, styles? What resonates with you?

sadly mine are the equivalent of p;ostcards compared to our mates.

[Ken Gargett]

[really hoping to get back to the prado tomorrow but timing might be tough.

love that place.

[NJP]

My tastes are a little of normal but Mark Ryden,Luke Chueh and Banksy prints are my favorites with a few young Japanese artists thrown in. Like butcher25 I have a few Nos decks that are to cool not to keep. Add a couple of 100year old wanted posters to balls the modern look right up and I'm done.

[Stalebread]

Art lover, yes. Art buyer, yes. Art collector, no.

Favorite artists include Giorgio Morandi, Fancis Bacon, Joseph Cornell, Mark Rothko but there are many, many more.

A couple of contemporary collage artists that I've been looking at recently are Jonathan Talbot and Donna Watson.

My wife and I keep an eye out for art that doesn’t know it’s art yet. A large board of patterns for decorative architectural iron work that we found in a fleamarket became art once it was matted and framed. (It sounds a little too Martha Stewart-ish now that I've written it but it's a strong piece, nonetheless.) The problem is that the framing costs about ten times more than the piece itself.

.

[CBL]

I do enjoy owning art that sparks my emotions or makes me think. I don't really have the funds to collect art but I am on the lookout for any artist whose style I like.

I'm a big fan of street art, both traditional street artists and the "illegal" kind with my all time favorite being Banksy. My biggest wish is to one day own a piece that Banksy did, but seeing as he doesn't sell anything for a profit I either have to print out his work myself or hope that he tags my wall some day

The only paintings I own are bought from street artists during trips abroad. Right now I have one from Cuba, Prague and Bali that's I'm pretty proud of owning

My girlfriend has a pretty good knowledge of art as her high school was one of Taiwan's best art schools, so she'll probably make sure our place is filled with some nice pieces in the future!

I still love this piece that I bought on the Prado in Havana:

I think art is a lot like cigars. Some pieces are rare, well-known and expensive but the real value is what the owner perceives it to be and relatively cheap pieces by unknown artists can be worth as much to the owner as a any piece that hangs in a national museum.

[Strada]

I also been collecting for a while now. Vintage posters and modern art. My girlfriend is a museum curator so the last few years I have learned a great deal about contemporary art and especially the 60-70's movement we had here in Quebec with Lemoyne, Hurtubise, Lemieux... A great piece resonate and stays With you

I also collect furniture, I think it is another great form of art. I usually stay in the 50's style or sometime art deco but newest possession is a 19th century marble lined table humidor

[Figaro]

I am a lover/collector of abstract painting. My wife and I have buy art as we travel and visit galleries. We tend to argue about colors a lot: she loves dark colors, I like light colors. The beauty of Art is that it's relative to each and every single one of us. Abstract art looks simple yet is very complex. I cannot really explain why I like it, I just do. It awakens my senses and it makes me think. A painting is a novel that tells a story. I don't buy art based on who the artist is, I buy when it strikes me.