If some of this art is not for you, that's fine. Art appreciation is a subjective matter, and we each bring our own experience, knowledge and taste to the party.
I buy based on emotion, because I am fascinated with an object that I simply cannot live without. Although I often end up acquiring two or three works by an artist who particularly interests me, it's more for fear that a single one might get too lonely.
I started collecting art... simply because I wanted pictures to hang on the wall. I noticed what a difference a picture could make to the ambience of a room, and indeed how shifting work around could change a room's whole feeling.
I buy art in order to live with it at home or in the office, never to store it away in a vault. In fact, living with art has been one of the great joys of my life. It is a private pleasure, however, and not one that I have an urge to inflict on other people.
The Arts Council of England, in a 1998 report on 11 countries, found that Germany spent $85 per capita on the arts. The United States spent a shocking $6. And Canada, in its stubborn balance, spent $46... It's the Canadian way to be halfway between the Old and New worlds.
I was not, though, born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Despite what people seem to think.
