The Collector's Search: Honing Your Vision
On November 19 at 1 PM, we sat down for a virtual lunch and learn with collector Demetrio Kerrison; Pérez Art Museum Miami curator Maritza Lacayo; collector Dr. Joy Simmons; and advisor Inez Suen for The Collector’s Search, for a talk moderated by connector and Yard Concepts founder Tiana Webb Evans of ESP Group. The central questions: how do you know what to collect and where do you find value?
In this dynamic 60-minute conversation, we hear about our speakers’ journeys and get their pro tips for collecting art with lasting power.
Key takeaways:
When you see a work that you like, ask yourself “Is it good, or is it good for me?” The only opinion that matters is your own, so if it’s good for you, what does it matter if it’s good for anyone else?
Joining a museum’s or public institution’s acquisition committee offers a chance to shape our public dialogue, and more profoundly, to reimagine the cannon. Curators such as Maritza from PAMM are constantly thinking about how the museum’s collection is in conversation with our local community. Helping the museum identify and acquire works plays an important role in driving the narrative.
Ecosystems are everything. Galleries, curators, creative workers, funders, advisors, viewers and institutions each play an important role in presenting, exhibiting and supporting artists. Develop relationships with experts whose opinions, aesthetics and vision you believe in, and lean on your braintrust to make important and expensive decisions.
Make a budget. There’s work that’s accessible at every price point.
Instagram can be a great research tool, and an even better place to connect with artists directly.
Ask yourself, “Who gets to ascribe value to something?” YOU DO. If care about the work, it has intrinsic value.
More about our speakers
Maritza Lacayo is Curatorial Assistant and Publications Coordinator at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) since March 2017. At PAMM she has organized George Segal: Abraham’s Farewell to Ishmael (2019), Polyphonic: Celebrating PAMM’s Fund for African American Art (2020, co-organized with René Morales), and The Artist as Poet: Selections from PAMM’s Collection (2021), and has numerous forthcoming exhibition projects. She has also assisted in the coordination and production of dozens of exhibitions at PAMM. Maritza has contributed writing to numerous platforms and most recently, her essay, The Haziness of Memory, was published on the event of artist Vaughn Spann’s first monograph and exhibition at Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels.
Dee Kerrison
From Cultured magazine: “Based in Newport Beach, collector Demetrio “Dee” Kerrison has made a career of cultivating relationships with artists and galleries. He and his wife Gianna—both executives in the financial services sector—grew up immersed in art and music, joined a non-profit photography collective called SF Camerawork, and quickly became advocates for emerging Black contemporary artists. An acclaimed collector, Dee’s first purchase dates to 2001, when—on a trip back to his native New York—he attended a show at the Studio Museum in Harlem, entitled “Freestyle” and curated by Thelma Golden and Christine Y. Kim. The show displayed the works of 28 cutting-edge artists like Mark Bradford and Julie Mehretu, and, in Dee’s words, blew his mind. He returned to California, immediately connected with a dealer and laid the foundation for his art collection.” Suggested resources from Dee: A Guide to Art Collecting “The Black Art Market”, and Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum.
Dr. Joy Simmons
V. Joy Simmons, MD is a collector and philanthropist who for more than three decades has collected the work of artists of African descent and more broadly, of artists whose work is informed and inspired by Black culture. Championing artists at critical moments in their careers, Dr. Simmons’s collection includes early works by David Hammons, John Outterbridge, Betye Saar, Mark Bradford, Kara Walker, Henry Taylor and Mickalene Thomas that are in conversation with works and site-specific commissions by a new generation of practitioners including Genevieve Gaignard, Lauren Halsey, Deborah Roberts, and Devan Shimoyama amongst others. In addition to supporting artists, Dr. Simmons has played a vital role in the establishment and growth of various small to mid-size institutions that now help define Los Angeles’s vibrant cultural landscape as well as art councils at her alma mater, Stanford University. She is currently a Commissioner for the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is also Sr. Art and Exhibition Advisor for Destination Crenshaw, a 1.3mile public art corridor along Crenshaw Blvd in Los Angeles. With artists Kehinde Wiley and Alison Saar, this project debuts in 2022. Learn more about Dr. Simmons in the Financial Times (July 24, 2021).
Inez Suen is a Taipei born, Chicago raised international arts consultant, curator, and world traveler who is passionate about sustainability, migration, and diaspora in the arts. With over 20 years of international creative industry experience, Inez has cultivated a network of resources for a range of aspects in the art world–from 501(C)3 non-profit International Chinese Fine Arts Council (ICFAC) supporting Chinese diaspora creatives, to startup financial company Aktual supporting artists and art professionals.
Tiana Webb Evans is the Founder ESP Group LLC, a brand strategy and communications consultancy supporting international clients across art, design, and hospitality industries. She is also the founder and creative director of Yard Concept, a cultural platform comprised of a digital journal, gallery, and ‘happenings’ dedicated to fostering consciousness through the engagement of art, design, and community; and most recently the founder of Jamaica Art Society an initiative designed to support Jamaican art professional and celebrate its visual arts legacy. In addition to her professional endeavors Tiana, writes about culture, advises and supports emerging artists, and shares her expertise by serving on the boards of Project for Empty Space, the Female Design Council, Laundromat Project’s National Advisory Board, and BRIC’s Chair’s Council.
Special thanks to media partner Sugarcane Magazine for their important work in arts journalism and for supporting this program.
Thumbnail: Romare Bearden, In the Garden (from the Portfolio: Prevalence of Ritual), 1974