Gaurav Kapadia: evaluation

Transcript context

…What to you think is special about the work of Rashid Johnson? Rashid is a really incredible person. I know there’re a lot of questions about art. Maybe I’d just clarify a little bit about my approach to art collecting because I want to make sure people understand. I certainly try not to be the cliche of the finance guy who gets into art. I actually fell in love with art before I fell in love with investing. I have been collecting since I was broke, very early. When I got serious about collecting, I was 29 years old. I made a really specific decision. The number one thing I identify is as an American, and I wanted to collect American art. The second thing I did was I wanted to collect artists of my generation. When I was 29 years old, when I started really collecting, I decided I’m going to have a really specific collection. That collection is going to be artists my age — 29 at the time, 44 today — plus or minus 20 years. I wasn’t collecting any nine-year-olds, but I wanted to keep that criteria going all the way through. Rashid obviously fits really squarely within that. We’ve been very lucky to become really good friends over time. One of the most amazing things about his work is that, in addition to being visually arresting, it is so intellectually complex that it stays with you. It is a portrait of a lot of feelings, a lot of anxiety, a lot of insecurities that I think we all have. Then it keeps coming back to you. There’re so many things I love about him as an artist and as a person, but I think his ability to take risks and exploit the really uncomfortable, rise to the top. Talking about someone who could coast — Rashid could just make anxious audience paintings for the rest of his life and live a very comfortable living. He’s decided not to do that. Myself and a few of our friends, went to see — he put on a production of The Dutchman in a sauna in New York City. He directed a play, amazing. That’s a real risk for an artist that’s a painter. He’s making these really complicated installations. That’s also a real risk. He’s making movies. He’s pushing his practice. He’s making himself uncomfortable, and as a viewer of the art, you also feel a lot of that energy. Does buying art and evaluating art make you a better investor in companies?…

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