What I Would Buy

My boss at the library I intern at has been giving me old auction catalogs lately, and while reading them, I can't help but wonder what kind of art I would collect if I had scads of money. Here are a few thoughts I had:

Francis Bacon: His large paintings are really expensive, and I personally think they should be in public collections. If given the chance, it would be nice to have one of his small triptych self-portraits.

Balthus: Unless it was a small piece like a drawing, I'd probably buy it and give it to a museum -- Balthus wasn't particularly prolific, and I think his work deserves to be more widely seen.

On Kawara: It would be awesome to have Kawara's date paintings for important events in my life (birthdays, etc).

Jean Fautrier: I love the "Hostages" series of paintings he did after WWII.

Henri Michaux: I'm not a huge fan of abstract work, but I appreciate its place in history and some of the formal elements, like the caligraphic brushwork in some of Michaux's ink drawings.

Gregory Crewdson: I love his large-format photos, but I'm not a huge fan of the "gritty Americana" look some of his work has, so I'd have to be selective.

Gerhard Richter: I don't like his abstractions much, but I love the blurred photographic paintings, so I'd try to get one of those.

I actually have an opprotunity to buy some Araki poloroids for $300 each... I'm still toying with the idea of buying one.

My art collection is already off to a great start! I have a Jacob Hashimoto (one little kite), a Jerome Witkin (an unsigned in-class painting demo he was going to throw away), some Joshua Kaplan pieces, and an early Bradley LaMere I rescued from the garbage. And, of course, my own paintings that take up most of my studio space...