a series of synapses Steve and Chiara Rosenblum In the far corner of Paris’s 13th arrondissement, close to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, is the Rosenblum Collection and Friends. Myrna Ayad meets Steve and Chiara Rosenblum, who turned their Contemporary art collection into a public space. art patron H elmeted with hardhats, Steve and Chiara Rosen- blum took one look at each other in their 1394-square-metre space in Paris and understood perfectly. It was that non-verbal language be- tween a couple that confirmed to them that this – the transformation of their photo-finishing labo- ratory into what Steve termed as a “storage-plus” facility for the couple’s collection – was not going according to plan. And neither was their original budget. Later at home, the couple discussed what they had each privately known all along but had thought would never materialise: that the space was actually turning into a gallery. And as they regale me with the story, both grin and giggle as they recount issues over light fixtures, cabling and how their budget literally tripled. “The only unfortu- nate thing was that all that money couldn’t go into buying new artworks,” says Steve, whose foray into the art world had begun a few years earlier with African art. Opening spread, left: Aleksandra Mir. (Detail) It’s Mine. 2007. Marker on paper. 190 x 300 cm; June 2010 marked the couple’s decision to share their collection with the public. It was five Aleksandra Mir. Marilyn’s Dresses Ripped Off. 2007. Marker on paper. 190 x 300 cm; Mark months into reconstruction, managed by French architect Joseph Dirand, and three months away Handforth. Sinking Star. 2004. Fluorescent from FIAC, which Steve and Chiara had set as a target. “The artists would be in Paris for the fair and lights, coloured gels and fixtures. 240 x 343 cm. Photography by Myrna Ayad. we simply had to display their work,” admits Steve. It is this attitude of unwavering support to artists Right: Chiara and Steve Rosenblum at the and adherence to the adage ‘art for art’s sake’ that frames the couple’s collecting (and exhibiting) Rosenblum Collection and Friends, Paris. methodology. The renovation of the space, and the many constructional challenges that ensued, Facing page above: A view of the interior of the Rosenblum Collection and Friends, Paris. were not the only issues with which the Rosenblums had to deal: overnight, they became curators of Centre: Matthew Day Jackson. Second Home. Born in Dystopia, the premiere exhibition at what became, on 17 October 2010, the Rosenblum Col- 2010. Glass, wood, formica, veneer, wool felt, steel, paint, silver, fluorescent lamps, neon lection and Friends (RCF), a public space showcasing Contemporary works from their collection. “To asphalt, concrete and oil and sand from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. 440 x 420 x 850 cm. tell you the truth, it was all quite natural and came very easily to us,” admits Chiara, “it was almost like Right: Nick Van Woert. Return to Nature. 2011. Fibreglass statue made with packing peanuts, we had been working on this show since we started collecting.” One may wonder why they opted polyurethane, steel and polyurethane adhesive. to include the word ‘Friends’ in the naming of their space. In a techno-crazed age where ‘friend’ can 237 x 124 x 187 cm. denote a virtual acquaintance, the collective networks that ensue are of course the reason for the Below: An interior view of Matthew Day Jackson’s Second Home. success of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. ‘Friends’ in this instance, however, is 122 “We enjoy finding new artists. The discovery, the hunt, is such fun, and when we find a young artist whose works we like, we buy his or her works in depth and keep following their career.” Chiara Rosenblum 123 art patron a synonym for ‘connections’ and that is precisely Novel Prospects what Steve, an Internet entrepreneur, wanted to While the creation of RCF was a twist of artistic communicate through RCF. It is a space open to fate, its roots stem from a vision Steve had of all Contemporary art aficionados who are con- devoting the photo-finishing laboratory on 183 nected by the artists exhibited at RCF. Essen- rue de Chevaleret into an artist residency where tially, the gallery serves as a home from home “six artists – Germans, Iraqis, Americans and others, – it houses the couple’s collection and acts as a for example, can live together and produce work meeting place for friends through its ground- which Chiara and I would then curate into an ex- floor kitchen, rooftop children’s playroom and hibition at the space.” The Rosenblums, who have a library of books, magazines and DVDs that is been collecting Contemporary art for five years, ‘curated’ by exhibiting artists. had seen their fair share of shoebox artist studios all over the world and were keen on offering art- “We like having regular ists an opportunity. “Artist studios in New York and Berlin don’t have enough light or space, paints are commissions, mainly as they’re piled up and you wonder how they produce such incredible work!” laughs Steve. Moreover, the cou- a great way of working with ple’s collecting has taken them to various cities in Europe and the USA where they have met gifted, the artist because discussions emerging artists who were unknown in France. These studio visits drove the Rosenblums’ desire are involved.” Steve Rosenblum to promote these artists in Paris, especially as their collecting strategy has, and is, solely focused on 124 Facing page: thew Day Jackson’s Second Home, an 18-tonne the Present by Loris Gréaud. It is a work which at Rokni Haerizadeh. Alas, That our Love Song was Your Unfaithful Soldiers’ Serenade Returning from Their fallout shelter, which Steve says would cost first startles but then demands closer inspec- Conquest of the Prostitutes’ Fort. 2008. Oil on canvas. 300 x 600 cm. Image courtesy Rosenblum Collection about $133,000 – “without shipping” – to tion. One may be forgiven for assuming that the and Friends, Paris. Below: Matthias Bitzer. (Detail) de-assemble and re-assemble should it be four vertically hanging life-size rhinoceroses are And I, I am Truly (Nothingness). 2010. Steel and lacquer. 200 x 45 x 50 cm. exhibited elsewhere. Inspired by 1950s bunkers, taxidermies; even in the dark room in which they Above: Andrei Molodkin. G8. 2007. Photograph the cube’s mirror-like glass exterior blends in are placed, their hides are clearly defined. Ironic mounted on canvas with an acrylic block and plastic hoses filled with crude oil. 300 x 400 cm. seamlessly with the minimalist surroundings. perhaps, but the rhinoceroses seemingly march Photography by Myrna Ayad. It houses shelter paraphernalia created in Jack- hopefully into a dark abyss. Steve and Chiara are son’s trademark use of materials which resonate used to astonished reactions to this work and, budding talent. “We enjoy finding new artists,” with symbolism – sculptures of human internal as I move hesitatingly around the enormous adds Chiara, “the discovery, the hunt, is such fun, organs made from crude oil taken from the Gulf installation, they discuss how the French artist and when we find a young artist whose works we of Mexico spill, for example. It was during ARCO had presented them with a sketch, followed by like, we buy his or her works in depth and keep in 2010 that the Rosenblums had approached three-dimensional computer drawings. following their career.” Unfortunately, 183 rue de Jackson for a commission. He, in turn, came Chevaleret is not registered as a residential plot back with some drawings of a bunker that he and no permit could be obtained for on-site ac- had long wanted to do, but which no one would Sliding Doors commodation. But in a sense, RCF’s establishment finance. The couple gave the American artist the Works by 20 artists constituted Born in Dystopia, served as an ‘in-between’ – although artists can- go-ahead and when Jackson faced production which ran from October 2010 until July 2011. Its not reside in the space, they are commissioned problems in the USA, Steve found an architect vernissage was marked by a panel discussion for site-specific works. “We like having regular in Paris who was able to meet the work’s spe- between Jackson and Gréaud, moderated by commissions, mainly as they’re a great way of cific requirements. Second Home was one of American conceptual artist Allen Ruppersberg, working with the artist because discussions are two specially commissioned works for Born in whose work The Singing Posters Part I, II and II involved,” adds Steve. Dystopia; the other was Nonexistence of the Past, was also exhibited at RCF and which is a sug- One of the first such commissions was Mat- Death of the Future and the Infinite Possibilities of gested modernisation of Allen Ginsburg’s epic 125 art patron Facing page, left: poem Howl. In another twist of artistic fate, a Foreground: Duane Hanson. Housepainter II. 1984. Mixed media on bronze. 80.3 x 68 x 45.7 verse from Howl – Be Crowned With Laurels in Ob- cm. Background, left to right: Lili Reynaud-Dewar. livion – was the name of the group show staged Interpretation Drawing (The Language Of The Gods). 2010. Red pencil on cardboard. 290 x 240 at Paris’s Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in June 2010 cm.; Lili Reynaud-Dewar. (Detail) Interpretation Drawing (I Don’t Give A Hoot). 2010. Grey pencil on and which comprised works by Iranian artists cardboard. 270 x 240 cm. Photography by Myrna Ayad. Bita Fayyazi and brothers Rokni and Ramin Haer- Right: Sterling Ruby. Trophy Hunter. 2011. PVC pipe, aluminium, aerosol paint, formica, wood and izadeh. It was at this exhibition that the Rosen- polyurethane. 282 x 241 x 429 cm. blums encountered, and then acquired works by Below: Tala Madani. Piss Rainbow. 2008. Oil on the Haerizadehs. “We had been to see the Bacon linen. 250 x 195 cm. Image courtesy Rosenblum Collection and Friends, Paris. retrospective at the Tate the year before and had All photography by Tony El-Hage unless otherwise specified. become enamoured with his work,” explains Chiara, “Thaddaeus is a good friend, we like his gallery and although we’re not ‘gallery-goers’, we went anyway, not knowing what was on show; and then Steve saw Rokni’s triptych and said ‘there is Bacon in there’.” Steve is not the first to have likened Rokni’s work to that of Bacon – dur- ing the first Guggenheim Abu Dhabi talks held in the Emirati capital in 2009, Rokni presented a slideshow of his pieces and renowned curator Sir Norman Rosenthal noted that the works paid homage to the British figurative painter. Such were the thematic connections which bound the works in Born in Dystopia. ‘Born in’ is an intentional address on the couple’s part to frame the time reflected in a ‘dystopian’ post- war era characterised by contemporary soci- ety’s inheritance of the failures of its previous generation, brought about by greed and the false visions of a progressive world. Hence the exhibition of works such as Andrei Molodkin’s G8, a loaded installation featuring an image of leaders of the world’s most powerful economies, each plugged with an umbilical pipe coursing with crude oil and linked to the ‘mother’ base: a sculpture which spells out G8 also filled with the flammable liquid. And hence Ramin Haeri- zadeh’s We Choose to go to the Moon, a col- lage work from a series which sees the artist superimpose his face in a show of disdain to- wards the current Iranian regime. Other works in the series illustrate images of the last Shah of Iran, his wife and the anti-imperialist Prime Min- ister Mohammed Mossadegh, who sought to nationalise Iran’s oil industry. The Rosenblums don’t acquire art based on “We’ll continue to do this for more so when running a successful Internet business, being parents to three young girls as long as we can.” Chiara Rosenblum and keeping up-to-date with Contemporary art’s ever-evolving character. Yet somehow, the Rosenblums seem unfazed. “We’ll continue to nationality – it’s more a question of the “concept ing as it is being made. The Rosenblums, how- do this for as long as we can,” asserts Chiara, who and idea rather than the work itself” for Steve, ever, altered the acronym – what you(ng) see is project-managed the three-kilogramme crystal- who Chiara credits for his immaculate organi- what you get – to hit home the message that cased Born in Dystopia pop-up book, authored sation: in his computer are individual folders this exhibition, currently on show until July this by the couple and edited by French photogra- replete with artist CVs, exhibition histories, art- year, is a showcase of the younger artists in their pher Adrien Dirand. Steve and Chiara prefer art work images and press articles. Steve laughs, collection. Where Born in Dystopia bore artistic fairs to gallery vernissages, where “an hour is “Well, it helps gain insight into an artist’s oeuvre, renderings of 20th-century disappointments, spent on hellos and 10 minutes are dedicated to how they evolved or if they got stuck doing the WYSIWYG explores how the exhibited artists actually viewing the art,” adds Chiara. She laughs, same thing.” It is largely thanks to his folders and have re-appropriated the past and the con- but has sworn not to attend the opening week thorough Internet searches that the couple have temporary into abstract forms. And among the of future Venice Biennales following their experi- come to discover artists. After buying paintings works by the 17 participating artists are commis- ence at the last, which, she says “was about eve- by Iraqi artist Ahmed Alsoudani, Steve surfed the sioned pieces by three – Sterling Ruby, Andrew rything but art”. Steve, however, recommends net, found connections, created new folders and Dadson and Aaron Curry. For both shows, Steve reading Seven Days in the Art World and “avoiding the couple went on to purchase works by Iranian and Chiara wore many hats – from conceiving all parties”. Their attitude is almost akin to that Tala Madani and Moroccan Mounir Fatmi. the exhibitions, commissioning and curating to of art collector extraordinaire Charles Saatchi, installing and writing the shows’ theoretical texts who wrote The Hideousness of the Art World, an and press material. “We’re not writers trained in amusing article for The Guardian last December. Web Masters the field, but this is part of the journey,” explains Indeed, to compare the Rosenblums to Saatchi Steve’s line of business yielded the name of the Steve; “You collect the piece, you want to show is not so farfetched – both have opened their couple’s next exhibition: WYSIWYG, an acronym it to someone, you have to explain it yourself in collections to the public and strive to avoid for ‘what you see is what you get’, but also a term your own words.” the glamour and glitz of the Contemporary art in computer speak, which allows users to view It is an incredible undertaking to manage, world in favour of art for art’s sake. And that’s an almost mirror-image of what they’re creat- curate and acquire works for RCF and all the something to be commended. 127
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