19 april 2021, Oscar van Gelderen & Manuela Klerkx
Ask an Art Collector... Jasper Henderson
In this section we let a selection of art lovers – from occasional buyers to art professionals – talk about their perception of art and preferences: where do they want to see art? Where do they purchase art, and above all: from which artists do they buy? Below, an interview with Jasper Henderson (Publisher at Thomas Rap, age 48)
What does art mean to you?
A fascination with the endless possibilities of the human mind. Whether it concerns books, music or visual art: what the products of that spirit can do to you is amazing.
Guy Vording, Black Pages - A hypothetical family, 2021, galerie dudokdegroot.
Were you exposed to art while growing up?
We did go to museums, but that was more of an outing than looking specifically at "art". My aunt, however, studied art history and is an avid collector of abstract expressionists from the fifties and sixties, such as Ger Lataster and Jan Sierhuis. The focused interest has only been there for a few years now, and that urge is only getting stronger, so that I am now exploring on my own.
Where do you read about the latest developments in the art world?
Mostly online, and through acquaintances who know more about it than I do. When I come across something in the newspaper I look it up immediately; which gallery is the artist at? What is the background of the artist? What do his/her works cost?
Where do you prefer to look at art?
In a museum I tend to get lost quite quickly; it is often too much. The pleasant thing about a gallery is that both the space and number of works on offer are limited, the clarity.
How often do you buy art each year?
It is becoming more common, about three or four times a year now. It started with editioned works, but it is shifting to unique work. Mainly because it is, well, unique, a one-off. So I collect little photography, but I am having trouble discovering a particular line in my collection ... Glad that the word "eclectic" exists.
Hidenori Mitsue, Bird's concert W, 2020, Janknegt Gallery.
Where do you do your buying: in a gallery, at an art fair, at an auction or online?
In a gallery or online. The latter is surprisingly nice, especially because so far it has never been disappointing upon delivery or collection. During the first lockdown, there were many great initiatives online. During that period, for example, I bought work from Soetkin Verslype and Koen Delaere. In normal life I would hardly be able to buy something of the latter, because of the special editions in that period I was able to.
Is it important that you and your partner always agree on a purchase?
I like that my wife likes it too, as it will be in our house. When I show her a work I'm considering buying, she can say "well, no," quite resolutely, and that's it.
Do you have a special relationship with any one gallery?
The last two works I bought were at Althuis Hofland and dudokdegroot, and they were both very pleasant experiences. Both galleries took ample time to inform me, I felt very at home there.
If you had an unlimited budget, who would you buy a work from?
A photo / still of Bas Jan Ader (eg Study for "I'm Too Sad to Tell You"); a just-abandoned room by Vilhelm Hammershøi; one of Salvo's "Primavera" paintings; a large canvas by Koen Delaere, for example "Ride That Dolphins and Emus Faster", if only because of the title; but I would also be very happy with a model painting by Sven Kroner.
Who are your favourite artists?
Guy Vording, because by removing something he adds an awful lot, shows a world that empathizes somewhere below us.
Hidenore Mitsue, it was simply my first unique work and because my kids still love to look at the fantastic bold colours.
Ronald Ophuis, because of his impressive and often fierce depictions of "Moments of History", but also because of the smaller, but no less impressive flower portraits, in which the colours literally emerge from the deep black.
Ronald Ophuis, Wildflowers, 2020, Upstream Gallery.
