Or: I’m so bad at juggling.

To many people it has come as a surprise that I have decided to sell my record collection. But considering how much time I have spent in the last few years listening to records or buying vinyl compared to collecting SF literature and contemporary art, the vinyl loses.

First up is a batch of 46 Frank Zappa Vinyls. There is also someone interested in buying the batch, including duplicates. Yes, that’s right. Collecting records means that you have can afford duplicate copies of some. Up to three, in fact. Try that in contemporary art and see where it gets you. (To the negative side of your bank account and wall storage space, I guess.)

Next batch will be all of Bob Dylan’s studio albums, most offical live albums and some compilations. There will also be some “appropriation pressings” in there. Called “bootlegs” in the music business, in case you didn’t know. And no, bootlegs didn’t kill the music industry.

Speaking of killing, I’m also willing to part with the classic “Buggles” Single “Video Killed The Radio Star”. There really should be a contemporary version: “Video Art Killed The Fine Artist”. But there isn’t.

Let’s stop this garage sale rant and return to the headline of the post.

My personality always gets me into situations, where I have to face consequences. When I started collecting records I had to give up collecting Matchbox cars. Now that I have started collecting contemporary art, I have to give up collecting records. Then, I replaced a “no budget” hobby with an expensive one. This time, I’m replacing a dead hobby consisting of potential budget with a very much alive passion that craves for budget. 1+1=2. (Or rather 1+1=-2, as it happens to be.)

In my twisted version of the universe, this is a logical progression. Seen from the universe of my parents for example, it is just another one of the illogical phenomena of the illogical universe their son has decided to live in.

But I bet that I’m not the only collector who finds it necessary to free one hand in order to be able to grab more art …

Or: I can read you but then I … Chrrr zzz …

Over in the discussion forums at Independent Collectors the topic of books about collecting art came up.

I still have this thing with books or magazines about art. I don’t understand them. Most is written in a manner that immediately transports me back to school. Then my brain freezes and my eyes refuse to focus. Especially when reading German books, which is my native tongue. It’s tough even when they’re well written. Is this just me or can you report a similar experience? And if so, what magazines are readable?

Last week I wanted to buy an art magazine. The kiosk at the train station is well equipped for such an adventure. I took one promising specimen from the shelf and filed through it from the start. After the eighth double page of some of the most random, horrible and lame advertising I have seen in a long time, I decided it’s not worth to spend the 8 Euros. I can’t even remember the name of the mag but it sure wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on ( … snip … )

–> This where I suddenly stop talking and abandon my line of thoughts to jump to more current affairs. Don’t worry, it happens at times and I think the proceedure should be enforced. <–

For the past 10 days I thought that my desire is just not urgent enough to make me go through all of this. But now I realized: I was wrong. The desire is urgent. Urgent enough to push me over the edge and to abandon another collecting habit I have been treasuring for 16 years:

I’m selling my record collection.

Or:  Why do I feel like I have to apologize to someone for not having a fresh story to tell about my art collecting?

The answer is easy. It’s because I would like to be able to collect more. Or at least do more connected to collecting. So I should apologize to myself. Sorry, Dude. In an earlier post I said that getting into contemporary art is like learning how to play the guitar (-> link). I was talking about knowledge, then. To stick with the metaphor, I now have the feeling that I should rehearse more.

DIY refuses to work

To be honest I have a hard time looking at art all by myself. I need someone there, with me, someone who is on my side. My level of autism is pretty high and I prefer to do a lot of things alone, like spending my evenings. When it comes to art, I seem to be dependent on having a second opinion with me in form of another collector or at least someone who is interested. (So much for “Independent Collectors” … just kidding.) It is essential for me to reflect and to feedback immediately with a person I can connect to.

Browsing websites and looking at artists’ work online equally doesn’t quite do the job for me. Not unless I surf with another collector close at hand. I found David Horvitz that way. Having commented links by other collectors I personally know is also a great inspiration and I hope that the respective section in the Independent Collectors Discussion Forums (-> link) will be a fruitful source for those.

On some very rare occasions I manage to get into an art viewing flow where I get carried away. But then I fail to mentally record the experience in a proper way …

Returning to the cold turkey: I guess my need for art is not big enough yet, otherwise I would discard my imagined autism and go out to hunt … let’s see when that happens.