24 Feb Art Collection in Germany Needs Urgent Attention.
Sam Peacock Visits Germany to Meet Art Collector
The weekend of the 22nd Of February took a surprising turn when early Saturday morning, I received an email from a collector who had recently acquired work which had been damaged in transit to no fault of anyone. So having spoken to gallery involved in the transaction, It was decided that I would go and visit the collector in question and carry out the minor repairs on the work as well as see some of the collection of mine that she was building.
Going to Germany has always filled me with excitement, so it was an absolute pleasure to return to a country in which I have sold to many collectors and solo shown in on a couple of occasions. The culture is something that I enjoy and the friendliness of the population always amazes me. It also gives me a chance to visit some of the Kunsthalle’s locally and spy on some of the collections that are on display. I think the root to my love of German art maybe lies in the art studies I undertook as a student in the 90’s. Possibly the most recognisable of the modern painters who I respect is Turner Prize winner, Tomma Abts who won the award in 2006, but further back, the artist who most inspired me as a student was Hanoverian born artist Kurt Schwitters who’s Merzbau collections made me think more critically on the materials which I utilise in the work.
Fixing a Painting
Arriving at the collectors home and viewing the damage, it became clear that this could be fixed by gently heating the steel and shaping the edge back into a flat formation which it was originally intended. Mild steel at 0.9 m is the standard steel I use in all the works as it holds the test of time and is not too heavy for the sizes that I work to. It is also an amazing receptor of heat and does not bend out of shape as easy as other metals.
Working in the collectors home
The painting was soon fixed and added back to the rest of the collection on the wall. In most instances paintings can be fixed onsite and its always nice to see a happy owner of the work once again enjoying the collection as its curated to view.
Some of the work hanging in the collectors home.
