IN THE NEWS PursuitsInc. itsInc.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Pursuits Inc. is an internationally focused art advisory firm headed by Marla Wasser that guides private and corporate clients through each step of the collecting process with transparency and discretion. Our vision extends beyond merely brokering art. We are committed to reflecting the unique interests and personality of the collector, working closely with them to facilitate a deeper appreciation of the art world.
What Sets Pursuits Inc. Art Advisory Apart?
Curating and research are the foundation of Pursuits consulting practice. Support of major national museums around Marla’s award winning exhibitions creates a level of confidence unique to her advisory practice. Marla’s depth of knowledge in working within museum environments extends to all aspects of the collection process, from intellectual dialogues to logistic details.
The professional relationships Marla has built over 30 years with international art galleries, foundations and institutions facilitate exclusive opportunities for Pursuits clients, providing collectors with unparalleled access to works of the highest caliber.
We view art collecting as an emotional and intellectual investment, as well as a financial one.
At Pursuits, we collaborate with clients to develop informed, customized and innovative collections. We believe in an enhanced experience: the advisory manages all areas of the collecting process to make it seamless and fun. We work solely for the client, offering impartial advice and complete transparency. Our services inspire confidence and trust.
For more information visit: www.pursuitsinc.com
PURSUITS AGENCY
In 2023, Pursuits expanded its expertise with our newest division, Pursuits Beyond, which focuses on the intersections of art, culture, business and technology - forging impactful experiences that build lasting connections and brand loyalty.
As a fully integrated art advisory, we are a cultural bridge, creating opportunities for meaningful relationship and community building through artistic collaboration and storytelling.
Our agency services extend the same curatorial, installation, and exhibition skills that have successfully served our art advisory for the last 18 years.
We are passionate about digital innovation and deeply immersed in all aspects of the development from Web2 to Web3. Through diverse technology resources – by owning our own metaverse space, interactive online project space, and NFT artwork collection – we are fully engaged and educated in the global art world. Committed to staying at the forefront of this evolving industry, we are ready to drive your story forward.
For more information visit: www.pursuitsinc.com/agency
PURSUITS PRIORITIZES
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
SupportingtheArts
Dedicated to both the local and international art communities, Marla has supported the Art Gallery of Ontario’s smART Women initiative, as well as the National Gallery of Canada. She has also held positions with the Canadian Art Foundation’s Art Advisory Committee and the North American Acquisitions Committee for the Tate Museum in London. Marla is an executive member of the Association of Professional Art Advisors (APAA).
The Pursuits Salon
“The Pursuits Salon” brings together like-minded individuals in the local arts community through a series of educational and inspiring events. Mentoring young professional women in the arts, celebrating community leaders, and fostering meaningful new professional relationships are the foundation of our Salon events. Previous events have included mentoring sessions created for young professional women in the arts with visiting international artists and curators; examples include - a dinner to introduce Julian Cox, Deputy Director & Chief Curator at the AGO, to the Toronto Art Dealer tour of theAndyWarhol:StarsoftheSilverScreen TIFF exhibition with past Director of Exhibitions Laurel MacMillian.
Arts Contributor & Media Features
As an Arts Contributor, Marla has shared her art market expertise in Canadian publications theBayStreetBull and DresstoKillMagazine, and has been featured in the recently launched “Ask The Experts” series byOneArtNation, an online platform sharing art education, market news, trends and events from art experts around the world.
Top Media Features: Pursuits was honoured to have a vip client project published in the global luxury company Beyond Black Books edition “Designscapes” and BNN has invited Marla to step in as an art advisor to discuss transparency in the global art market.
MARLA WASSER & TEAM
MARLA WASSER President and Chief Creative Officer
Marla is an independent museum curator, art consultant, and founder of Pursuits Inc., an internationally focused art advisory and curatorial firm. With over three decades of collecting experience, Marla is passionate about its rewards and sensitive to its complexities. Compelled by art’s unique ability to impact the many layers of
today’s culture, Marla believes that art's crossovers with technology, fashion, design, and politics create a stage of opportunity and conversation. As an art specialist, her expertise is wide-ranging, with projects from Pop to contemporary and new media art, including the creation of award-winning museum exhibitions in Canada. Pursuits Inc. combines Marla’s business savvy with her intellectual perspective. Marla has written on the business of collecting, sharing her insight and in-depth analysis of contemporary art, events, and trends; featured in national publications, such as Bay Street Bull, Dress to Kill Magazine , One Art Nation , and BNN (Business News Network).
SARAH ZIPPEL Director
New York, USA
Sarah oversees local and international acquisitions for Pursuits' US-based clients. She has 10 years of experience working in museums, art galleries, art advisory, consulting and investor relations. She has in-depth knowledge of exhibition development and collection management. Sarah received her MA in Art Business from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London, UK
ASTRID KWOK
Senior Project Manager
Toronto, Canada
Astrid is an art advisor and researcher specializing in building and managing private collections. Astrid’s expertise in research, curation, and organizing significant art exhibitions and experience working in the Asian market brings valuable insights to the Pursuits team. She holds an MA in Art History and a BSocSc in Art History and Politics from the University of Hong Kong.
CINDY TIBAZARWA
Art Partnerships & Strategy
Toronto, Canada
Cindy is an art advisor, curator, and researcher with a focus on contemporary African art and global market dynamics. She brings curatorial insight and market intelligence to shape meaningful collaborations between artists, brands, and institutions at Pursuits. Cindy holds an MA in Visual Arts Administration from New York University.
Corporate Live Wire Canada Prestige Award: Boutique Advisory Firm of the Year, 2020/21
The Corporate Livewire Canada Prestige Awards 2020/21 recognize small and medium-sized businesses that have proven to be the best in their market over the past year.
LuxLife Global Excellence Award:
Art Curation and Advisory, 2020
Pursuits is very proud to announce that it has received the 2020 Global Excellence Award for Art Curation and Advisory.
The annual Global Excellence Awards are hosted by LUX Life, a UK-based magazine that celebrates business leaders in different fields of expertise in the international luxury lifestyle marketplace.
We are grateful to be working with such amazing clients and global art colleagues who continue to inspire us to raise the bar.
PANELS & SYMPOSIUM
Krista Kim
The Art of Collecting in a Digital Age Special
Event and Panel Discussion
MAY 14, 2025
32 Lisgar Street, Unit 4 & 5, Toronto, ON M6J 0C7
Pursuits Inc. co-hosted a special event with InterAccess(TO), bringing together artists, curators, and cultural leaders from across Toronto's vibrant art ecosystem for an evening dedicated to The Art of Collecting in a Digital Age.
The evening was a living expression of what we care deeply about at Pursuits: building bridges between communities, creating space for meaningful dialogue, and shaping the future of art and innovation through shared experience and education.
Marla Wasser (Pursuits Art Advisory), Malcolm Levy (RefractionDAO), Mitchell F. Chan (Artist) and Shannon Linde (EQ Bank) led a riveting panel discussion focused on Toronto’s art ecology and insights from global perspectives, tracing how value, ownership, and intimacy are being redefined in our current times.
MALCOLM LEVY
MARLA WASSER
SHANNONLINDE
MITCHELLF.CHAN
THE ART OF COLLECTING:
Marla & Larry Wasser in Conversation with Warhol Expert Eric Shiner
NOVEMBER 17TH, 2023
6:00 PM PANEL DISCUSSION 153YORKVILLE AVENUE TORONTO, ON ON VIEW: HIGHLIGHTS FROM HEFFEL'S FALL AUCTION OF POST-WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART
MARLA WASSER
MEDIA COVERAGE
One Art Nation:
Toronto's Top Art Advisors: The Experts Shaping Collections and Legacies, 2025
One Art Nation:
5 Questions with Founder of Pursuits Inc., Marla Wasser, 2025
Art Gallery of Ontario:
The Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery, 2023
Celebrating our client's donation to the Art Gallery of Ontario, which will increase the museum's gallery space by 40,000 square feet, with at least 13 new galleries across five floors- increasing AGO's total space available to display art by 30%.
Thanks to a monumental lead gift of $35 million from Dani Reiss, the AGO is launching an expansion project to significantly increase gallery space for its growing collection of modern and contemporary art.
Dani is the Chairman and CEO of Canada Goose, member of the Order of Canada and an art collector. His generous donation is among the largest gifts in the AGO’s history and helps the AGO plan for this expansion with confidence.
The Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery team is comprised of Diamond Schmitt, Selldorf Architects and Two Row Architect.
Inside the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery, galleries of various scale and ceiling height will be united by their beautiful proportions and consistency of clean and durable finishes. Spaces will allow for visitors to have intellectually and emotionally intimate experiences, and connect, convene, sit and relax. The new column-free galleries will be highly-functional and highly flexible -- dynamic enough to display the works of today’s great modern and contemporary artists, and adaptable to the needs of future generations of artists working across all media. Galleries will be designed to adjust to the needs of the program -- as large open spaces, or divided into a series of more intimate galleries. These spaces for displaying great art will be robust in their structural capacity, making complex immersive installations easier to install and more accessible to the public.
Thanks to an investment of $25 million from the Government of Canada, the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery is being designed to operate without burning fossil fuel. The all-electric mechanical plant will use no operational carbon and create no emissions, while seeking CAGBC Zero Carbon Building certification -- making it one of a very small number of museum spaces to accomplish this. It will also be built to Passive House standards, with exceptional insulation for maximum heating and cooling efficiency.
From the exterior, the expansion will quietly complement the AGO’s existing built environment, respecting the scale of the surrounding neighbourhood. An outdoor terrace will have deliberate connections between the interior and exterior of the building. The Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery will expand the museum to the east, and sit one story above the existing loading dock, nestled between the AGO and the Ontario College of Art and Design University. It will seamlessly connect to, and be accessed by, a number of galleries in the AGO’s existing galleries from four locations, increasing visitor circulation.
This will be the seventh expansion that the AGO has undertaken since it was founded in 1900. The project is currently engaged in a municipal and public review process.
Galerie Magazine: Go Inside a Moody West Village Pied-à-Terre, 2022
Works by Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, and Ed Ruscha enliven the artfully re-imagined Manhattan apartment.
Kazuo Shiraga
Anish Kapoor
Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Ed Ruscha
Joan Miró and Andy Warhol
One Art Nation: Ask the Experts Series, 2021
February25, 2021
To start off our Art Advisory series, we askedthe experts: how can a collector find an art advisor to work with and what should they be looking for? There are many reasons, as you'll find out below. The art market is opaque and partnering with a knowledgeable professional will help you enjoy the art collectingexperience and build a meaningful collection.
Art as a Luxury INVESTMENT
An interview with advisor Marla Wasser
Art and fashion have always evolved side by side, for fashion, like art, gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo commissioned designs for advertisements from futuristic painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists like Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
By Angelic Vendette
While the relationship between art and fashion has always existed, the luxury goods market for art has been on an upward climb over the past decade. In large part due to globalization and an increased demand for one-of-a-kind creations, art—much like designer clothing—is now synonymous with status and disposable income. In a market where every piece is unique, and thus highly coveted, it is that much more important to be knowledgeable and informed about a purchase. DTK sat down with Marla Wasser, art advisor and independent museum curator, to discuss the importance of being informed in today’s luxury art world.
As an avid art aficionado herself, Wasser established her own boutique advisory and curatorial firm, Pursuits Inc., in 2007. With over three decades of experience in collecting, Wasser has not only curated critically acclaimed art exhibitions here in Canada—most notably an original Andy Warhol exhibit (pieces of which are thoughtfully scattered across her office), as well as the award-winning RAM: Rethinking Art and Machine—but she has also built up a high society client base for her advisory business. As an art advisor, Wasser acts as an independent third party that works directly for her clients providing well-researched, unbiased expertise.
“Collecting art is very personal, so I act as an extension to my client’s vision. With their guidance I am the eyes and ears behind the scenes with highly covetable international relationships that have taken many years to develop,” Wasser explains. “I am the facilitator and connector, working with their direction to develop people’s dream collections–finding the art they love in a highly personal and confidential manner.”
As the art world has exploded over the last decade, an advisor is considered an important part of a client’s trusted circle of experts, along with their lawyers and financial advisor.
“Over the past three decades I have built longstanding relationships with galleries, artists, dealers, and collectors on the foundation of our shared passion for art.
These relationships have allowed me to understand the intricacies of how the art market operates; have first access to newly available works; obtain gallery discounts, and learn who is involved and at what level. Access is essential to sourcing high quality artworks but in addition to that, navigating a world with limited transparency successfully only comes with experience. It is very important in my job as an advisor to mitigate risk for clients, and through the years I have learned the ins and outs of the art world and how to navigate it both personally and professionally.”
“
ARTWORK
“ THERE is NO STATUS QUO FROM ONE PERSON to ANOTHER ON HOW YOU PUT VALUE ON an
In fact, a large part of Wasser’s work at Pursuits Inc. revolves around mitigating risk for her VIP clientele and protecting them throughout their luxury purchase. By providing transparency about the buy and the process of acquiring the work itself, she ensures her clients get the best access and financial guidance: Are they buying from an honest gallery? Will the artist’s market be manipulated? Will the artist’s work have value in 10 years? She asks the tough questions so they don’t have to.
Equally important is the origin and validity of the artwork itself. Much like knockoff designer handbags, the art industry faces widespread counterfeit issues. Just this year Sotheby’s in London was forced to take back a forged £8.4 million Frans Hals. An art advisor will not only include in-depth market research by meticulously analyzing auction databases, monitoring market trends, and consulting a widerange of private sector sales, but they will also work very closely with independent certified conservators worldwide to
ensure the validity of the artwork under consideration.
“The art world is a tricky place. In today’s market, where art is so highly coveted, the role of the advisor is to have the established relationships to get the right discounts and most importantly, the right works. On so many levels a collector faces potential issues. A new art collector will often not get a discount because the gallery doesn’t know them and doesn’t feel obligated. A collector has to be protected and know they’re acquiring the works intelligently. There is no status quo from one person to another on how you put value on an artwork; a new buyer won’t be privy to the information and access, and won’t be protected in a world without transparency.”
In addition to procuring exquisite art for her clients, Wasser also offers an enhanced art experience, where she encourages her clients to join her in exploring select museums and gallery exhibitions to help inspire and focus the foundation of their collecting philosophy. “As an extension of the art advisor services, I help extend a client’s relationship with art in the real world in a number of ways: I will alert them to upcoming exhibitions in cities they’re travelling to; connect them with gallery owners abroad; and introduce them to artists they’re keen to meet. Pursuits Inc. is more than an art advisory; my clients mean a lot to me and I want to inspire a love of art in them.”
Wasser’s passion for the industry runs so deep that she also mentors young professionals and artists in both art advisory, exhibition production, and career development. She also created Women Connecting Around Art, a lunch-and-learn series for young professional women to connect through an open forum discussion. Whether you believe in hanging art on your walls and in your closet—because of course, fashion is art—or whether you simply believe that art is a great investment, get in touch with Marla Wasser and her team Pursuits Inc. by visiting www. pursuitsinc.com or on social media @ pursuitsinc.
DESIGNSCAPES
This Beyond Black Books edition was conceived of as a pictorial ‘walkabout’ through the rich architecture and design landscape world, hence its title, DESIGNSCAPES. In as much as architecture is an art form in its own right, and given its continual and collaborative interaction with other art forms, BB Publications has included profiles of a selection of international art advisories.
April 15, 2016
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSj2xGZWjno&feature=emb_logo
New research from the University of Luxembourg says the international art market is in danger of overheating. The university examined more than a million art auction records, determining the demand for alternative assets is pushing many pieces into deeply overvalued territory. To find out if the bubble is set to burst, BNN's Kristina Partsinevelos caught up with art advisor Marla Wasser.
ARTS CONTRIBUTOR
Marla sharing her art expertise on the global art world
MUSEUM PROJECTS
Marla’sexpertiseiswide-ranging,withprojectsinvolvingdifferent genresandmediumsofart.HersavvywithPopandnewmediaarthas beenrefinedthroughpersonalinterestandthecreationoftwo museumexhibitions.
Marlapresentedtheoriginalartandtechnologyexhibition“RAM: RethinkingArt&Machine”atTHEMUSEUM.Theshowwasawarded theWaterlooRegion“ArtEventoftheYear."RAMthentraveledtothe ArtGalleryofNovaScotiainHalifax,wheretheexhibitiontiedforbest attendancerecordintheMuseum's108-yearhistory.RAMcontinues toevolve.Futureexhibitionopportunitiestobeannounced.
"TheArt,Inspiration,andAppropriationofAndyWarhol”at THEMUSEUM,Kitchener,Canadawascreatedasanoriginal exhibitionincollaborationwiththeAndyWarholMuseuminPittsburgh andtheAndyWarholFoundationinNewYork.
James Turrell
RAM: Rethinking Art & Machine
Art & Technology Museum Exhibition
RAM: Rethinking Art & Machine is an exhibition that embraces the heart of technology. It explores the humanization of machines and celebrates the deeply personal visions of the artists who work with them. Showcasing pioneering artists who use technology as an extension of their practice, RAM tells the stories of their mentors, muses, life experiences, and passions. Continuing to push the boundaries of their time, the RAM artists have been fascinated by the ability to fuse these two complementary practices, art and technology, to create unique and innovative works of art.
Moving through mini-surveys of each artist's practice, you will find historical works of art dating back to the 70s, culminating in the debut of the artists' most technologically-advanced projects. Audiences will learn how uniquely these artists use technology to integrate their personal life experiences. Bridging the traditional gap between artistic and technological disciplines, each of these innovators shows how computers can translate human expression.
Awards & Recognition
Waterloo Region “Art Event of the Year" Award 2011
Tied for best attendance record at the 2015 Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax b
MAGAZINE ART WORLD ARTISTS GALLERIES LEARN FOUNDATION ABOUT
HOME SEE IT RETHINKING ART & MACHINE: A SECOND TAKE ON TECHNOLOGY
Rethinking
Art
By Richard Rhodes
& Machine: A Second Take on Technology
POSTED: DECEMBER 8, 2011
Two years ago, curator Marla Wasser put together a rich exhibition that focused on popular appropriations of the work of Andy Warhol. It was an exhibition that turned the tables on pop art to show an art shaping a culture, instead of the reverse. This fall, Wasser brings a similarly wide perspective to a new group exhibition designed to raise questions about the aesthetic purposes of fusing art with experimental technology.
Jim Campbell ExplodedView2010 / photo Derek Weidl
In the show, Canadians David Rokeby and George Legrady join international artists Jim Campbell, Manfred Mohr, Alan Rath, Daniel Rozin and Peter Vogel in an entertainingly interactive venture. It all starts in the lobby with a large piece by Legrady that features a Flickr-like assemblage of web and cellphone photos generated by audience participants; the photos are shaped and sorted by a program designed by the artist. This interdependency between art and audience is one of the main themes of the show and is a metaphor for our cultural dependency on technology.
In the hands of Rokeby—shown in a darkened, lower-level space—a riff on this theme can be a dance of black-light-lit visitor bodies learning to “play” the musical, sound-generating elements of the work. Or in the hands of pioneers like Manfred Mohr, who has been creating mechanical paintings since the 1960s, it can be a mysterious lesson in how hidden algorithmic programs can play out dramas of pictorial evolution and change. Rath, Rozin and Vogel each bring a physical dynamism to their object-making, where technological innovation blurs with aesthetic innovation. What one comes to reflect upon is a kind of meta art-making, where the machine represents our understanding of how objects make meaning.
In the case of San Francisco–based artist Jim Campbell, Wasser’s exhibition rises to a whole new level; this is an artist who also brings a rich emotional dimension to the experience of his work. Campbell (who will be leading a public tour of the show on December 11 at 11:30am) finds new ways to strip and reassemble video images to create haunting three-dimensional experiences. In these works, any notion of image-making is held in a physical suspension that underscores its difference from perception, as Campbell takes recording technology and attenuates it into moments of developing consciousness or epiphanies. His work can seem full of fleeting ghost images—but he makes it clear that these “ghosts in the machine” are the shadow of a human mind at work.
The Art, Inspiration and Appropriation of Andy Warhol
Museum Exhibition
In creating The Art, Inspiration and Appropriation of Andy Warhol, my first step was to look back into ‘Warhol’ history. Did a similar exhibition already exist? Would I, in fact, become an appropriator? That idea in itself was not a problem but an opportunity, perhaps the same opportunity the appropriation artists in this exhibit took when they put their artistic stamp on Warhol’s vision. To my surprise this exhibit is an ‘original’, the first time Warhol and appropriations of his work will hang side by side. This show explores one of the 20th century’s greatest artists and his historical relationships with the artists that came before him, his relationships with artists during his lifetime and his continuing relevance to contemporary artists.
–Marla Wasser, Exhibition Curator Catalogue Essay Introduction
This project was in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and the Andy Warhol Foundation in New York.
INDEX Awards
Corporate Live Wire Canada Prestige Award: Boutique Advisory Firm of the Year, 2020/21
LuxLife Global Excellence Award: Art Curation and Advisory, 2020 Panels&Symposiums
Pursuits and InterAccess Co-Present: The Art of Collecting in a Digital Age, 2025
Heffel Presents: The Art of Collecting: Marla & Larry Wasser in Conversation with Warhol Expert Eric Shiner, 2023
Millie’s Guide to Fine Art Careers, 2023
One Art Nation: Toronto’s Top Art Advisors: The Experts Shaping Collections and Legacies, 2025
One Art Nation: 5 Questions with Founder of Pursuits inc., Marla Wasser, 2025 Kabin Magazine: Art Appreciation 101, 2024
Art Gallery of Ontario: The Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery, 2023
Galerie Magazine: Go Inside a Moody West Village Pied-à-Terre, 2022
One Art Nation : Ask the Experts Series, 2021
Dress to Kill Magazine: Art as a Luxury Investment: An Interview with advisor Marla Wasser Bay Street Bull: Art Mogul
Designscapes: Pursuits, Toronto, Canada
Bay Street Bull: How to Buy Art (That You’ll Actually Care About)
BNN Interview with Marla Wasser: Tax Evasion in the Overheated Market ArtsContributor
Dress to Kill Magazine: Today’s Tech Savvy Collector
Bay Street Bull: So You Want to Be An Art Collector?
Bay Street Bull: Buying Art Without the Jet Lag MuseumProjects
RAM: Rethinking Art & Machine
The Art, Inspiration, and Appropriation of Andy Warhol
