The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 17

right company within her large, elegant floor-through

not the end destination for the Hootkins; art for them

Beverly Hills apartment, and not only would it suddenly

is a verb not a noun. They frequently talk about what

blaze with life, but the fine-art objects around it would

an artwork does, what action is created or suggested,

reveal sides of their personalities not seen before.

and how this medium enables them to explore

After she died and her collection was, sadly,

cultural contexts and dramatize the theater of life.

dispersed, those objects lost their shared light, and

As they collected, their connoisseurship grew. Here is

lesser ones returned to anonymity. It was the context

where the specialist collector has an edge. They are able

she gave them, the true genius of an inspired

to spot the subtlest of nuances. Pale shadows easily missed,

collector, that liberated them from banality.

but once noted and understood, excite the chiaroscuro

The parallels between Betty Asher and the Hootkins
are not exact—each collected in different ways—

of art and take appreciation to a highly cultivated level.
These are moments of bliss denied the average viewer.

but the lesson of what happens when a theater for

A decade ago I would have felt impelled to make an

art is imaginative, intuitive, and well tended remains

argument for ceramics as art to sway the nonbelievers.

true. These works are a community, living together,

A decade later everything has changed. Ceramics

chattering, confiding, and providing collective context.

has crossed the river; finally it is part of the fine arts.

Next, one must ask and answer the question that no one
who collects ceramics will ever ask: “Why ceramics?”

Not all ceramics, but that which fits. It has become so
ubiquitous in the blue-chip contemporary galleries that
Roberta Smith, art critic of The New York Times, dubbed

The same question was asked of Ken Price about his

it “the new photography.” The Hootkins were simply

lifelong fascination with the cup. And his answer is as

ahead of the crowd. Last time I checked there were

good as any: “Why not cups?” If a collection is going

over fifteen exhibitions with ceramics in Chelsea and

to be personal and emotionally meaningful, it has to

Madison Avenue galleries including some of the most

come from the heart. There has to be a pulsing, beating

influential like the Gagosian and David Zwirner Galleries.

connection and this is often most intense with collections

This is not unusual; some months there are more.

that have a laser focus on one or another specialty.
That said, the Hootkins were drawn to ceramics by

THE COLLECTION

qualities that are native to the medium. Not the material

Now to the Hootkin collection itself. Making sense of it

itself, but its transformation, the plasticity, the way it

from an aesthetic point of view is daunting. At first glance

moves, its sensuality, its unique palette of color and

it is very eclectic. With just a few exceptions, its constant

texture, and finally the climactic trial by fire. But this is

is the figurative: human, animal, identifiable things. With

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