Owning art the affordable way: join forces with a collective
|
Version 0 of 1. In the living room of Chetan and Theresa Patel’s home in Bromley, south-east London, standing by the sofa is the figure of a woman. Well, half a woman: a pair of slender legs taper into pointy grey boots, while her top half curls round on itself, ending in what looks distinctly like … “A penis,” Theresa supplies, as we stand admiring the sculpture. “That’s probably one of the most challenging works of art we’ve had in the house. And it’s certainly difficult to hoover around.” The Patels have been displaying works of contemporary art – some challenging, some beautiful, many both those things – in their home for more than a decade. They are one of seven London families behind the founding group of The Collective, a pioneering scheme that enables ordinary people, without the bank balance of a Russian oligarch, to acquire works of contemporary art, becoming curators of their own homes. Aside from the hermaphrodite figure, then – a 2011 sculpture called Headless Woman, by Jemima Brown – the Patels’ house currently contains a stunning, primary-coloured painting by the emerging London artist Bobby Dowler, and a delicate Tracey Emin drawing of a squirrel, purchased about 10 years ago for £200. The Collective was formed by a loose group of art-loving friends and relatives – some working in the arts, others, like the Patels (Chetan is a civil servant, Theresa a nurse) just interested in them – and has since spawned several others around the country, in Bristol, Birmingham and Cambridge. A group is also being set up in Scotland. A legal dossier drawn up by the first group, with the help of Arts Council England funding, sets out the terms under which each collective operates: the works must be purchased for quality, not potential profit; and none can be sold on without the permission of every member. “It’s absolutely not about buying art as an investment,” Chetan says. “When we originally formed the group, we were all visiting galleries together, and wondering how we could afford to buy the works we loved, and support the artists who had made them. We came up with the idea of clubbing together to do it.” Each collective sets its own monthly subscription: the families in the Patels’ London group put in £50, while members of the Birmingham group, founded five years ago by the theatre producer Sarah Allen, pay £20. A couple of times a year, a rotating buying committee uses the group’s funds – topped up occasionally with a booster fund, to which all members must agree – to purchase as many works of art as they like and can afford. These new pieces, and the others in the collection (the Patels’ group now owns around 70 works), are then swapped between households every three months, so that everyone gets a chance to display, and live with, each one. In practice, of course, this means that members are sometimes forced to live with art they don’t care for, or that they even actively dislike. Allen admits that this can sometimes be difficult. “There have been a few pieces that I’ve taken an instant dislike to,” she says. “There was one I couldn’t bring myself to put up on the wall at first. But over time, it grew on me. That’s part of what makes The Collective so interesting: it raises questions about what art is, and how it makes you feel.” For the Patels, a work by Martin Creed, in which the words “fuck you” hover starkly on a sheet of paper, posed a particular problem some years back for their two daughters, then teenagers. “I just don’t think they could see why it was considered art,” Theresa says. “In the beginning, I felt the same way about some of the works, but over time my feelings about contemporary art have changed completely. I’ve actually started making art myself.” For anyone keen to form their own art-buying collective, Chetan has this advice: “Just do it. Get in touch with us – we’ll send you the materials you need to get started. Go into it with an open mind. Be prepared to be challenged – and to have fun.” |