AUS $17.50 NZ $25.00
Australasian Art & Culture
ISSU E 21 · F EBRUA RY to A PR IL 2018
Steven Claydon, Michelle Grabner, Liz Ham, Rem Koolhaas, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Amanda Lear, Marimekko, Louise Paramor, Steaphan Paton, Jason Phu, Patricia Piccinini, Pipilotti Rist, Collector Profile: Danny Goldberg, Amy Winehouse & more
M A RG I N S · CO LLE C T O R P RO F I LE Top to bottom, left to right Danny Goldberg in studio Camille Henrot, Retreat From Investment, 2015 Opposite Sterling Ruby, Scale (5400) DC33, 2015 Laura Owens, Untitled, 2016 Katherine Bernhardt, Reclining Nude, 2016 Sterling Ruby, Scale (5400) DC33, 2015 Photos: Penny Clay
Danny Goldberg OAM
Danny Goldberg’s expansive, star-studded collection is the result of a central mission – to better acquaint Australians with the breadth of global contemporary art. W R I T T E N b y E L L I WA L S H
Danny Goldberg OAM is a man on a mission. The Sydney-based collector, who is the executive chairman of private equity firm Dakota Capital, began buying art in his teens. Today, he is the only Australian on Artnews’s annual list of the world’s top 200 collectors of contemporary art, his holdings steeped in shiny names like Anish Kapoor, Wolfgang Tillmans, Helen Marten, Antony Gormley and Rachel Whiteread. Goldberg’s approach to collecting is singular and deliberate, pivoted on the unwavering vision of exposing significant international art to the Australian public. Earlier this year, 60 of his works were on display in Eurovisions at Sydney’s National Art School Gallery (travelling next to Lismore Regional Gallery, Melbourne’s Heide Museum of Modern Art, the Canberra Museum and Gallery, and Bathurst Regional Art Gallery); however, Goldberg has discovered that loaning work to public museums is a fraught and challenging process.
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As best I could tell, it was largely budget reasons, but also the smaller size of our museums. So I thought, if I’m going to make a difference in my life at some point, it might be that I can provide that art to the museums. It was a hypothesis; it was an experiment, and I think I failed. Museums don’t seem particularly keen on borrowing and displaying art owned by Australians. My concern is that they are compromising the quality of exhibitions and art seen by their constituents.
Let’s start at the start. What sparked your collecting bug? There’s a huge difference between a collector and a normal person. A normal person’s art is defined by the number of walls they have to hang their art: a collector’s isn’t. I only became a collector six years ago. Before that I had an interest in art, but would only buy when I had additional walls – if I moved to a bigger house or bigger office. I purchased my first work when I was about 15, from the proceeds of a holiday job. I had one wall in my bedroom and that’s where the painting went. It was a Robert Juniper. The second one was a Tim Storrier three years later, and when I was about 24, I bought a Brett Whiteley ink. My parents weren’t that affluent, but art was a family activity we engaged in regularly. The first international work I acquired when I was about 28 was a work on paper by Gerhard Richter. Was that a fluke? Did I just get lucky? This prompted a game I began playing six years ago, where I decided to buy ten works by emerging artists and in ten years’ time judge whether I’m able to spot someone with real talent. So six years ago I became a collector, partly because I enjoyed buying, partly because I wanted to test my eye. But most importantly, I decided that I would try to make a difference in Australia. Over the last few years you’ve gravitated away from Australian art into the international orbit. I don’t buy Australian art anymore. Until six years ago, maybe 20 percent of my art was purchased overseas and 80 percent Australian. Now I only collect American and European art (I don’t do China because Judith Neilson does such a good job!) This isn’t because I don’t admire Australian art, but rather due to an objective that I might enable Australians to see international art to a greater extent than they are currently able to. When I started going overseas more regularly for business, I would spend my weekends in galleries and museums. I was disappointed that Australians weren’t getting to experience international contemporary art.
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You said you’ve ‘failed’. Does this mean you’re not going to collect anymore? I will still collect but at a slower rate. I came to this conclusion around June. I bought [far fewer] works in the first six months of this financial year than previous periods. I judge my success by how many works get seen in museums, so the Eurovisions exhibition was a high point in my collecting career. I’ll stop buying art if Australian museums don’t want to display it. I enjoy art, I love to be surrounded by it, but I’ve got more than enough for myself, for my children and grandchildren. I don’t need more art. Would you consider going down the David Walsh road, packaging your collection into its own museum? Absolutely not. I don’t want that sort of headache. It would be fun for a while, but I’m also not in that league of wealth – I would rather put my money into some other endeavour. From your collection of over 600 works, just 30 percent is displayed in your home and office. Do you regularly rotate the works, or are there favourites that remain? I rotate my collection, but it’s a challenging exercise. I start by putting large coloured photocopies on the wall to see how the various works will look together – a strategy John Kaldor suggested. But that doesn’t always work. The only artworks that remained in the latest rehang were a number of heavy sculptures and one work by David Hammons. He’s probably the most revered of the artists in my collection. I enjoy these works because my friends look at them and think I’m totally nuts. Why is it art? It’s the educational factor that art is more
than a pretty picture. In fact, a friend of mine who is knowledgeable about art went to my home and said, “You know, there’s nothing that’s simply beautiful here. It’s all tough.” She may be right! Is it important for you to meet the artists you collect? I generally only meet an artist once. Meeting an artist once helps me to understand their work more, but not to love their work more. Meeting them more than once might confuse what I think of the artist with what I think of their art. I don’t want to like an artist so much that I’m embarrassed not to buy. Does your wife Lisa play a part in your acquisitions? Not really. She has her own journey relating to writing cookbooks and she’s happy to let me go on my journey. I discuss it with her from time to time and she generally says, “Whatever.” I have a rule that unless she really objects (which has happened once), I can bring whatever I want into the house. If after three months she prefers not to live with the work, I’ll rotate it. There have been cases where she initially thought a work was not to her liking and has grown to love it.
Top to bottom, left to right Ruairiadh O’Connell, Caesars Palace, 2014 Oliver Laric, The Hunter and the Dog, 2014 Israel Lund, Untitled, 2014 Aleksandra Domanovic, Votive: Pomegranate, 2016 Opposite Danny Goldberg in studio Katherine Bernhardt, Reclining Nude, 2016 Sterling Ruby, Scale (5400) DC33, 2015 Photos: Penny Clay
There are two Australian works Lisa has insisted be on display in our home. One is a Vince Vozzo, and the other one is a Danie Mellor, which I put at the front door, because I don’t want people to think I’m above Australian art – I want it to be the first thing people see. I actually had two Mellors, one for the office and one for home, but my wife stole the one from my office so both could be at home! Have you ever dabbled in art yourself? No. I remember being chastised in grade five for not trying hard enough in art class. The reality was I did try hard; I’m just not a talented artist. I think I have a good eye, but I’m not particularly creative. To me, if someone is creative, by definition, their talent overwhelms logic. I’m more logical. What’s on the horizon? What I’d like to do next [involves] ‘artist’s rooms’. This is something Anthony d’Offay did with his collection so that the public can see works by an artist in depth. If I can agree with the museums – and I’m not sure I can – which artists they might be, I’ll collect them in-depth. I’ve got a list of ten who I would continue to collect, but I want some sort of commitment. Top tips to start for burgeoning collectors? Get multiple opinions and if you’re spending a lot of money and you are inexperienced, use a consultant. I didn’t do that as I thought it took the fun away, but 20 percent of what I bought in year one was not great art. I was too anxious and I wasn’t discerning enough, so I would have benefited then from some professional guidance. Eurovisions: Contemporary Art from the Goldberg Collection shows at the Lismore Regional Gallery until February 26, 2018. lismoregallery.org
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