The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 50

RP: There is a distinct look to the collection.

Did you work towards a specific theme?
SH: When you look at all the work that we have here,

there is a common theme. I remember one curator
saying, “We can really tell this is the Hootkin collection.”
The end result wasn’t done consciously, but it’s true,
everything seems to fit together: the figurative nature of
the work and the emotional and psychological content
in the pieces. Again, this wasn’t a conscious thing,
but looking at it historically, this is what happened.
PH: It’s a very holistic and personal view because we

never chose to listen to person A first, then person
B, and then person C next. It was something that we
undertook ourselves and we undertook it just for the
purpose of living with wonderful art that we absolutely
love. We didn’t set out to build a collection around a
theme, an aesthetic development or define a historic
period. Yes, in one sense the collection can be said
to represent what was happening in the ceramic arts
during the twenty-five to thirty years that we were avidly
collecting, but more importantly for us, it is about what
was happening in our lives and what our values were.
RP: You have definitely created a unique and rich

environment. But you still have more art than you can
easily keep in your loft. Your living space is very intense,
very full of art. How important is this density to you and
why is it so important?

Robert Brady, Alto Mask, 1980.

SH: We’re immersed in our own world. Every day I

get up and walk around and look at all the amazing
artists, the ideas that they are trying to get across,
and the environment that we are living in—the
collection has become an integral part of our life.
A number of years ago someone who worked with
Marcia Tucker, the head of the New Museum, knew us
and suggested to her that she visit us. In those years
we were living in a small apartment on the Upper
East Side—not a large downtown loft. She came and
thought our work was very interesting and ultimately
requested some of our pieces for an exhibition called
A Labor of Love that she was organizing at the New
Museum. Before the exhibition opened she called and
asked, “Would you mind if I modeled the show after
your apartment? I thought the way you’ve integrated
your collection into your living space and made it an
integral part of your life and personal environment
to be amazing.” Receiving our endorsement, Marcia
Tucker simulated domestic living spaces created
throughout the galleries in the New Museum. The art
objects comprising the exhibition were displayed within

PH: Let’s put it this way, our home isn’t minimalist!

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or in relation to those spaces. It was a far cry from