The Contemporary Collectors Club - Art and Travel

So it was a great talk! What more can I say? Mr Wall kept us all on the edges of our seats with his fascinating insight into both his works and his personality.

Possibly my most favorite part was when Jeff Wall said that he’s not a student of art history… he said that he has studied art history to learn what he can from the past and what is it Mr Wall said he has learnt? He has learnt that there are Standards. I loved it. It’s not about doing something new and finding the next big thing or phase. It’s not about being purely innovative. It’s about being good at what you do and meeting the standards set by ones predecessors. Just Great.

After a very flattering and well constructed introduction by K. Bartel from the Vancouver Art Gallery, Jeff talked for about an hour and a half and then opened the floor to questions. 4 questions to be precise. One was asked by the wonderful Chris Gergley and one by a prominant member of the ADAC.

My one thought….. they had a sold out auditorium….. a sold out secondary video projection room….. so why oh why did no one think about opening this up to the 21st century? This would have been a fantastic podcast! The Tate have mastered it, the MoMA have mastered it…. why haven’t the VAG embraced the new technology? To have podcast this lecture would have been a positive stride into the 21st century and proved that the VAG can maximise the use of new media in the art market.

That aside, it was a great turn out by Vancouver with a good cross section of collectors, ADAC members (who flew in from across Canada for the talk), members of the VAG and students in the audience.