Hunting and gathering

Some gallery owners prefer to collect something completely different from what they sell. And others never sell what they collect

On September 21, a new art season starts - the oldest contemporary art fair "Art Moscow" opens in the Central House of Artists. "Art Moscow" - an indicator of the situation in the art market, it will show whether the market has woken up after the crisis. There will be new collectors - so woke up. But they will inevitably ask a familiar question: how to distinguish investment-attractive work from profanity?

In 2007, Moscow gallerist and American citizen Gary Tatintsyan found the best answer to this question. He opened the exhibition "Create your own museum!", where he showed his own collection - from icons to Tony Matelli's semi-decomposed silicone mannequin called Fuck'd. Thus, Tatintsyan tried to prove: he sells what he invests in himself.

In a good way, he had no choice. His gallery trades in Western stars whose names mean nothing to incredulous newcomers. Stars are ready to go to Russia if at least one guaranteed sale awaits them there. Usually this guarantor is a gallery owner.

This year, along with Art Moscow, Tatintsyan is showing an exhibition of abstract artist Peter Haley, whom he has been buying himself for a long time. From the side it seems: the blue chips of the art market are in the personal collections of art dealers, "look at the walls of their houses and buy the same thing." But in reality it turns out that art dealers have their own secret passions and not everyone is ready to share them with their clients.

The most bourgeois stand at Art Moscow is traditionally at the Triumph Gallery, which also has a luxurious room in a 19th-century mansion and half a floor in the Metropol Hotel. She also has the most expensive authors - from Damien Hirst to AES + F. Gallery co-owner Dmitry Khankin shows his own collection for the first time. It's all in bookcases.

He collects uncensored books: Moscow samizdat of the late 18th - early 19th centuries, Illuminati, Jacobin samizdat. “I love this genre. Here, for example, are the first editions of Herzen. The populists published a great deal. I am collecting the library of a young Marxist. It's not that I'm a fan of freedom of speech, but these manifestations are interesting to me, ”Khankin admires the collection. More than anything else, according to him, he loves the Russian 18th century, preferably the early one: “In the Russian 18th century, a certain finiteness of collection is always captivating - 4560 positions.”

To the question: “But what about contemporary art?” - he answers: “It is not necessary for the leading surgeon of a military hospital to operate on soldiers at home. We need to rest a little bit from our own greatness and from the fortitude of our own artists.

The traditional motif is that the gallery owner does not buy the artists of his gallery, because he does not have that kind of money. At Art Moscow, the Triumph Gallery exhibits a large sculpture by Alexei Morozov. According to Khankin, he would dream of buying it, but there are no available funds. Unlike a collector, a gallery owner will always prefer to invest in a business rather than a personal collection.

The owner of the oldest Moscow gallery XL, Elena Selina, recalls how one day at a fair in Basel she fell in love with a wonderful work by Warhol - kissing Mick Jagger and David Bowie. But I didn’t buy it: “The matter is more important than myself.” Her collection is gifts from artists and tokens of sympathy. For example, a painting by Avdey Ter-Oganyan was bought when the Orthodox community took up arms against him after the “Young Atheist” action, and the touching “Komariki” by artist Mareev was bought when he got bogged down in drug addiction. Since 2000, the principled Selina has been taking a "picture for an exhibition" - another popular way among gallery owners to create their own private collection.

Photo: Fedor Savintsev / specially for Russian Newsweek

Photo: Fedor Savintsev / specially for Russian NewsweekPhoto: Fedor Savintsev / specially for Russian Newsweek##### Elena Selina bought herself a painting by Avdey Ter-Oganyan (above) when the Orthodox community took up arms against him

Elena Selina bought herself a painting by Avdey Ter-Oganyan (above), when the Orthodox community took up arms against him Over the past five years, a different type of art dealers have appeared on the market: they first gathered a bright collection, and then got involved, and decided to trade in art themselves. Most often, these are the wives of wealthy husbands, like Maria Salina, director of the Proun gallery, and the wife of Sergei Krivosheev, co-owner of the 36.6 pharmacy empire. Larisa Grinberg, the owner of the Photographer.ru gallery, first collected photography in her native Krasnoyarsk, now she sells and exhibits her favorite authors in Moscow. Like Roger Ballen. Ballen's exhibition, which recently opened at the Greenberg Gallery, also features three works from her own collection. They are not for sale: “I do not sell from the walls. I still have no desire to give these children of mine into the wrong hands, I haven’t played enough with them yet. ”

Vladimir Ovcharenko, a former banker and gallery owner with twenty years of experience, believes that this is an unprofessional approach. Professionals sell everything and there is nothing sacred: “My attitude to this issue is this: if I really kept something for myself, then a conflict of interest with my collectors would begin. They will say that you keep the best for yourself, and give us some rubbish. I can keep a certain number of works for a long time, because I know that their prices will rise.”

Photo: Fedor Savintsev / specially for Russian Newsweek

Photo: Fedor Savintsev / specially for Russian NewsweekPhoto: Fedor Savintsev / specially for Russian Newsweek##### Vladimir Ovcharenko is going to live with the painting by Jonathan Meese until a generous buyer is found

Vladimir Ovcharenko is going to live with a painting by Jonathan Meese until a generous buyer is foundVladimir Ovcharenko is going to live with a painting by Jonathan Meese until a generous buyer is found Today, on the wall of the Regina Gallery, owned by Vladimir Ovcharenko, is a painting by Jonathan Meese. Ovcharenko is ready to live side by side with him until a generous buyer is found. Every gallery owner dreams that this buyer would be a museum, but not everyone is ready to give expensive gifts to museums. So, a few years ago, the greatest English gallery owner Anthony d'Offay donated his collection to the Tate Gallery. The museum was delighted. Marat Gelman tried to do something similar at the beginning of the 2000s, donating his collection to the Russian Museum. Ovcharenko comments on this gesture as follows: “Now Gelman is probably biting his elbows. He gave when there was no market yet, but now all these things cost money. Just think, they could sell well.