The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 16

self-interest on both sides. From day one a conversation

THE COLLECTORS

began that continues to this day. It was challenging,
boundaries were ignored, and we shared a dark outré humor
that gave permission for brutal truth and much hilarity.

Before I move into discussing the artwork, a few
caveats. There are two kinds of collections. There are
those that are a group of exceptional things, already

While we went to the theater and danced together,

accepted as masterworks, and the collector is merely an

attended museum and gallery openings, late-night

acquirer and guardian. Of course the collector’s taste

dance clubs and, once a year, a raunchy Broadway

and investment brought these things together, but the

strip show to benefit AIDS research, there was also a

collector’s vision is not needed to enjoy the work.

more serious, private side to our socializing. Several
times a year we would meet at the Hootkins' home for
cocktails. If we were lucky, afterwards Pam would cook

Then there are those collectors who compile a collective
artwork, where the aesthetic value is more than the sum

dinner, and if not, we would be off to a restaurant.

of its parts. The best collectors transfer their personal

The hospitality was part of it, but not the only goal.

journeys and their visual and conceptual perceptions into
the assembly of art, creating a web of interconnecting

At these gatherings we would look at their newest
acquisitions and the art chat would take a serious
turn, becoming intensely critical and conceptual. If we
thought a new acquisition was less than stellar, we said

clues, bridges, links, and truths. These are the collections
I love. This does not make the artworks themselves
greater or lesser, but it greatly enriches the context in
which they are appreciated. It provides a theater.

so and respectfully backed our denouement with a
semi-formal analysis of why we felt that way. And the

I learned this early on through Betty Asher in Los Angeles.

same seriousness was given to celebrating the arrival

As with the Hootkins, I met Betty as her dealer and we

of an unquestioned masterpiece. This provided an

became fast friends. Betty was already a world-famous

intellectual arena in wh ich to analyze and contextualize

collector, a renowned curator, and a dealer. She was

the adrenaline-surging rush of collection building.

particularly known for her cup collection (by everyone

My friendship with the Hootkins has given me
intimacy with the objects in this exhibition. Over
the past four months I poured over the checklist
struggling for a little distance, even if a little blurry

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from Ken Price to Claes Oldenburg and Jasper Johns).
She was America’s first Pop collector, via the dealer Irving
Blum, acquiring Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Claes
Oldenburg before the term “Pop” was in the art lexicon.

at the edges, and some perspective arrived. I

However, Betty strayed from the white cube. She

began to see things I did not see before and find

could go to a flea market and pick up something that

themes I did not know were being explored.

most people would not consider art, place it in the