A Kick-Start on Collecting
Reggie’s background had prepared him to become a collector, but it was a sudden change in the global financial climate that kick-started the process. We dove into that story, and then discussed how his collecting took an equally sudden turn and set him on a course of personal engagement with the visual arts.
“So fast forward. I moved to New York to be with my wife, a doctor and a Temple graduate. She attended medical school on Long Island and I went to live with her. We , nine and ten came, and all of a sudden the world fell apart. No one had money, institutions didn’t have money, and I started to buy art.
So I was buying significant objects that became available at a fraction of the day’s cost. I was buying modern American Masters who happened to be African American artists. (Henry Ossawa) Tanner, Hughie Lee-Smith, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett. You name it, I was buying it.”
I mentioned to Reggie that it was striking that while ‘everything was falling apart’ he had https://heartbrides.com/blog/custo-de-noivas-filipinas/ the discipline to know that the crisis was actually a buying opportunity and that he didn’t fall into the cycle of fear that seemed to wash over everyone else.
“I saw it as relative value. The world was falling apart. So here is where my profession kicks in. I’m thinking about an asset class… art. I’m looking at objects that I think are significant and they’re within reach. But even then discipline did come in. I mean I have to tell you the number of objects I should have bought that I didn’t because of the number (price) that was attached to them. Now they’re twenty times what they were in 2010.”
Evolution to Deeper Engagement
As our discussion progressed, Reggie started to stake out what art means to him and how he progressed from simply buying art to a deeper, more personal engagement in the art ecosystem. He began this part of the story by tracing back to his first exposure to art in the black community.
“I think my family always placed an emphasis on identity…who you are. Their homes always had identity art. There was a sculpture of Ira Aldridge, the black Othello. It was passed down to me and I still have it. It was a signifier of who you are in the world. If you look at any black home in the 1960s, there were two photographs on the wall. There was a picture of JFK and a picture of Martin Luther King.
So I started to buy art, but I began to see that they were trophies. And then I met Laura Lee Brown, the owner of 21c Museums. Her message was buy art, but only buy art of living artists; artists that I get to meet. I was like…that’s it! Contemporary art. I wanted to start meeting people and connecting the human side of this equation. So I pivoted… probably 2012.
It was really about understanding who I was and elements of my character; and what I wanted to display to anyone walking into my private spaces. Here I am… a twenty something Wall Streeter, making a little money. I was exposed to really wealthy people and how they were living. And that (art as an expression of self) was what was impressed upon me.
I think anyone who has a deep passion for the arts wants that engagement; wants that expression of who you are as a person. You want to be exposed to storytelling and you want to retell that story through personal objects. And that’s the case for anyone no matter who you are, whether you’re a dog owner, or whether you love plants. You’re creating a space that says who you truly are in your being. Whether you’re having Sunday dinner with your family, or having friends over Friday night, everyone wants to create an environment that welcomes people into their life. So I chose art. I love to cook.