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Show and tell

We asked Blood members and other collectors to show us a piece from their collection and tell us how and why they bought it.

Marie Elena Angulo

'I am its Secret', 1993, by Shirin Neshat
Photograph, 11" x 14", edition 8 of 10
Purchased from Annina Nosei Gallery in New York in 1999.

I have selected this piece because it was the first piece I bought. I saw it for the first time in 1997 when I randomly walked into a gallery in Soho. I was struck by the beauty of the photos shown in spite of their disturbing subject matter. I left New York in 1997. After my return in 1999, I asked an artist friend about "the photos of veiled women with Arabic stuff written on their hands"; I did not even know the name of the artist or gallerist. I eventually found Annina Nosei's gallery and bought the photo... against my friend's advice. A lot has changed in my collection and in Shirin's career since 1999 and my friend is very grateful that I did not listen to him. Nevertheless, in spite of its increase in value, this is the piece that I will never sell and which message means the most to me.

Todd Harding & David Lassiter

Transference in Aurora, IL (Black Painting), 2004, by Angelina Qualdoni
Acrylic on canvas, 28" x 60"

We first saw Angelina's work at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art. With Angelina's piece we were struck by her use of colour, painting style, mood, and subject matter - the ironic decay of Disney's Epcot Center Future Pavilion. It fit with several themes in our collection of contemporary landscapes.

Later we tracked down the gallery that represents her and saw pieces from her most recent show. Though the painting style and mood were consistent with what attracted us to her work, we were not 'wowed' by any of the pieces. Within the next few months we met Angelina in her studio to see works in progress, and to talk about her process. We found her to be confident, articulate and genuine. Over the course of a year we watched her progress, kept in contact and in a rare moment even met her father who is also a painter.

We finally found the piece that 'wowed' us.

Transference represents everything we like about Angelina's work. Its somber mood is substantiated by the depth of colour in the swampy area in the foreground. The protagonist, the empty retail space, appears melancholy and forlorn. She has depicted it in such a way that you are almost watching it decay in slow-motion - you can nearly see bits of stone or plaster crack and break away from the wall - movement that we haven't seen in other work.

Todd and David, ages 40 and 41 respectively, were introduced to the ins/outs of the British contemporary art scene with the help of the Contemporary Art Society and were founding members of blood before returning to Chicago in May 2003.

Nick Hackworth

The Bull, by Martha von Kohler
Sculpture

I first saw this piece when I was reviewing the Royal Academy School's
graduation show a couple of summers ago, I'd just moved into a new flat and
to be honest my first reaction on seeing it was atavistically acquisitive -
I just wanted it because I thought it would look cool in the living room,
especially because the bull is rather too large for a domestic setting and
so utterly dominates the space.

As a critic I obviously see a lot of people 'appreciating' art in public
galleries, but I'm never quite sure what people get out of that. To me the idea of living with works of art makes much more sense. The ritual and symbolism that has played such a part in human societies throughout history, has fallen out of society in 'the west'. Some art fills that gap. It helps to have physical representations of human ideals, be they beauty, humour, compassion or whatever.  If someone (wealthy enough) purchases a Gurksy, then they are taking part in the quest to find beauty in modernity.

The bull is a perfect example of this. For a start it's well modelled (it
was modelled in clay before being cast in carbon-fibre) and captures the
power and strength of a bull. This gives the work a disquieting quality, it
never seems domesticated, but always retains its powerful oddity given its
surroundings. And the idea to paint such an ancient symbol in fluorescent
neon yellow was a good one, combining signs associated with both past and
present. So to me it represents, in a non-literal sense, a cluster of ideas
that are important to me. Also I usually write at a desk facing the bull. It
encourages me to make my deadlines.

Nick is Contemporary Art Critic of the Evening Standard.

Christian Mathews

Ingrid Bergman The Nun, 1983, by Andy Warhol
Screenprint, 38” x 38” 66 of 250

I started collecting art in my mid 20s and wanted a Warhol picture to be my first piece as I’d always been attracted to Pop Art.

I nearly bought a signed poster at an Art Fair, but a gallery friend advised me to save up and invest in a print. I eventually bought one of Ingrid Bergman – one of Warhol’s lesser-known portraits. The colours are fantastic and I love the way Warhol’s captured her beauty in a very provocative way. Her stare is pretty vacant but the eyes seem to fix on you no matter where you stand – I don’t think I could ever sell it.

Since my first purchase I have continued to build my collection, which now includes several other Warhol prints as well as work by Roy Lichtenstein, Peter Blake and Julian Opie, but my initial Warhol purchase is still my favourite.