← Collectors Gene Radio
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- [00:01]
A
When I give up on the hunt, then the thing appears so. The hunt has never really served me very well. I feel like if I try not to hunt for things, they find themselves to me in a much easier way than if I'm looking sometimes.
- [00:15]
B
What's going on, everybody? And welcome to Collector's Gene Radio. This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the collector's gene. If you have the time, please subscribe and leave a review. It truly helps. Thanks a bunch for listening and please enjoy. Today's guest on Collector's Dream radio. Artist Michael McGregor joined me today right on the heels of launching his new book, Room Service, a collection of still life drawings on hotel stationery. We spoke about soaking up inspiration from everyday objects and why it's okay to reinvent yourself in your 30s. Michael's a collector of many things, but nothing sits on a pedestal. In fact, a lot of what he collects shows up in his work. We chat about his other book, the Grease Notebook, and how he manages to tell a story through the things that most of the world disregards. Cool, calm, collected, and a knack for finding the moment in the mundane is MacGregor's M.O. and we're here for it. So without further ado, this is Michael McGregor for Collector's Dream Radio. Michael McGregor, welcome to Collector's Dream Radio.
- [01:24]
A
Thanks for having me.
- [01:26]
B
I just have to say Room Service is easily one of my favorite books in my collection. It never gets old, and we'll definitely talk about it more, but I haven't stopped looking through it. It's so great.
- [01:37]
A
Oh, I'm happy to hear. It's good that it's not old yet. It's only like six months out. Hopefully it ends up being a little bit more timeless.
- [01:46]
B
I think it will for sure. And for those that haven't picked up a copy of Michael's book, Room Service, it's a compilation of drawings on hotel stationery, like the notep pads that hotels usually have in the room on the writing desk next to the phone. And it's what I would consider, and maybe I'm wrong, but modern day still.
- [02:05]
A
Life, yeah, I would agree with that.
- [02:08]
B
And so growing up, you worked at a flower shop and you've talked about it before. You didn't really like it. But I'm curious to know now that you're a bit older and wiser, what you actually took away from that as a collector and an artist.
- [02:22]
A
The flower shop.
- [02:24]
B
Yeah.
- [02:24]
A
Oh, no, I did like the flower shop. Probably the best job I've ever had, really, besides being an artist, which is like, kind of like a double edged sword. But the flower shop was always chill. My first job there, I worked in the back with my mom and we were like doing preparations for arrangements. So there was kind of like a front of like, house, kind of like a restaurant. There was like people who dealt with customers, but we were like in the back in the, I guess, like flower studio. And it was like, you know, pretty dirty with just like cut flowers everywhere. And it's kind of chaotic, but super colorful and a good chaotic energy that maybe stuck with me a little bit.
- [03:09]
B
Yeah, I mean, I'm assuming seeing colors and different arrangements and putting things together in different ways probably gave you that sense in your mind that, oh, you know, it doesn't all have to be, you know, one color or symmetrical and all those things, Right?
- [03:24]
A
For sure. Yeah. And the vibe was like. It was me and my mom and then my sisters worked there too. And then eventually my brother also worked there, but. And then also this old Italian woman named Irma, who. She was so tiny and such a sweetheart. So, yeah, the vibe was like, I was a teenager. My mom was like, probably like in her mid-40s. And then Irma was probably like 78.
- [03:53]
B
What a group.
- [03:54]
A
Yeah, it was like a sitcom, basically.
- [04:00]
B
I love it. And so time goes on. You know, you have corporate America and all the other things that happen in your life, but in your 30s, you kind of go back to your roots of painting and you kind of like reinvented yourself, which is not something that most folks would do or think is possible at that age. And collecting is often about reinventing yourself and the evolution of the things that you collect. Do you think being a collector and a creative helped you take that leap in your 30s?
- [04:32]
A
Well, I guess I always really liked different facets of culture, like a lot. And at a certain point, I guess I was kind of thinking like, well, like, am I actually gonna. And I had, you know, by all measures, I had a very like, chill and like, semi creative office job. But it was. I was just like, am I gonna really spend my life sending emails and like being on slack or something? Like, no way. Like, you know, you make all this money or like, whatever, you have a good job and it's like, you have money, but then you have no time to enjoy yourself.
- [05:09]
B
Right. You kind of end up having nothing.
- [05:10]
A
Yeah, I'm like, so what's the point of all this? You know? So I kind of. I knew I Was gonna try to do a bunch of other things, but I didn't really know what they were. When I got to Mexico, I was making music. I was still DJing. I was. Made some furniture objects and some home goods with my friend Lucille Wagner, and was just drawing and painting a lot because I had the time, which I guess. I mean, time is the greatest luxury, really.
- [05:39]
B
Yeah, for sure.
- [05:40]
A
But being a collector, I guess I was always like, there's a. There's a lot of things in my orbit that I kind of obsess over. And they're very specific.
- [05:49]
B
Well, let's talk about that. Because, you know, you're a. You're an artist at heart, but at the end of the day, a lot of the things that you collect are also a lot of the things that sometimes are involved in your art. You know, matchbooks and lighters.
- [06:03]
A
Big time, big time.
- [06:04]
B
Striped shirts, records books, and of course, art as well. But, you know, there's this. This juxtaposition of collecting these things but also using them as objects in your work.
- [06:16]
A
Yeah, I'm not really a collector who puts things on a pedestal or in a box. I'm like a functionality collector, I guess. I mean, I collect books and I collect records and have for a long time, but they, you know, they're just like in my orbit all the time. So they wind up in paintings. The same with matchbooks and old lighters. My mom's tennis racket. Like, there's probably. There's a painting I'm actually looking at right now that has like three different L.L. bean tote bags in it. But also amongst watches and old tennis balls and my mom's old racket and tons of stuff, my racket, like shoes that I've collected over time that just become objects. And also I still wear them.
- [07:04]
B
Yeah, for sure. And talking about these items, you know, do you find that collecting them maybe brings you closer to them in a sense of your art? You know, things that you're interested in, but some things that you can also depict on paper or canvas.
- [07:20]
A
Yeah, maybe. I think I'm kind of. I want to say nostalgic, because I think nostalgic is kind of a lazy word, but I am kind of nostalgic. And the stuff I collect is usually tied to some sort of memory I have or some person I have. So sometimes I feel like through those objects, I have closer relationships with certain people in my life and also myself, like you. You develop a relationship with those things where over time they change. And then like, you're kind of like Intertwined.
- [07:51]
B
Yeah. And I. I find it interesting because your art is also kind of all about the things that you interact with. Right. Whether it be with your eyes or your hands. Right. So would you say that that's probably what drew you to collect the things that you do? You know, books and records and matchbooks that they all sit on a table or shelf until you decide to use it?
- [08:11]
A
I always kind of think that there's always a reason for. For everything, but you're not. Whatever you think it is when you start doing something is probably not what it is. So I feel like I've had a lot of these objects for a really long time and things that I've collected for a long time and, you know, they played roles in my life, whatever, as things in my home or, you know, music to listen to, or maybe some shoes or some, like, fashion things that you equate with your personal identity. And then I guess that there was a point where I thought that they were all significant for some reason and that they would be. They would work well in paintings.
- [08:51]
B
Well, I think room service is a testament to that.
- [08:55]
A
Yeah, I mean, I collected those. I've been collecting those papers for 10 years, I guess, and, like, really started making those drawings, I think, in 2015 or 2016. But I have boxes, I don't know, probably thousands sitting on the shelf behind me in my studio.
- [09:16]
B
Amazing. And you've exhibited at galleries all over the world, and I'm curious to know, do you have to prep differently to show a collection of your work based on the city and. Or gallery?
- [09:29]
A
I don't know. I mean, I think about it, but usually there's, you know, either it's whatever you're working on at the moment, or you have a relationship with the gallery or curator that, you know, that they're interested in, maybe a particular aspect of your art, or maybe they, you know, ask about a body of work. I usually just think about it as an exhibition and how I want the exhibition to be, and try not to think too much about the city. Except in la. I always wanted to make them really LA for some reason.
- [10:04]
B
Well, I feel like that's kind of part of the whole deal. Right?
- [10:08]
A
Yeah. I mean, I like living here and I love the sky in la.
- [10:13]
B
Do you find, though, that when doing a show in LA that there's almost an expectation?
- [10:20]
A
I don't know. I usually give people, like, a decent little hint of, like, what direction I'm going to. And ultimately, I think it all kind of is like this own world where a lot of different things can enter. But there is some sort of, I guess, chemistry between all of them. For instance, I had a show a couple of years ago in LA called Private Party and there was a lot of objects in there. There was a lot of still lifes. There was pianos and Gucci loafers with tennis balls and cigarettes and. And there was also a disco ball. Like they didn't feel to me. They were all kind of very different paintings because the way that they presented objects, but together, I guess there was a narrative through line between them that makes them feel that they're all loosely cohesive, like cousins instead of maybe like identical twins or, you know, siblings for sure.
- [11:18]
B
And travel is objectively a big part of your work in your books, your drawings, your influence. And I think since we've linked up, we've spoken in from three different countries.
- [11:29]
A
Yeah, that is true. I've texted you during some weird time zones, shifts and I feel like oddly.
- [11:36]
B
I've answered too for whatever odd reason I've been awake at whatever weird times you're in Greece or Paris or whatever. But I'm curious to know, you know, when you're creating a collection of work, is traveling somewhere, you know, the first place that your mind goes, if maybe you're feeling a little stale, is it one of these pack your bags and go somewhere sort of things?
- [11:56]
A
Not really. I usually just have the itch every three months and just kind of act on it. And I have a small apartment in Athens and. But also it's a great jumping off point to other places in Greece. So usually I go with a semi specific plan or to see somebody and then post up in a specific place and just kind of see what happens. Usually sometimes you end up working on things from another city or a place that you just were when you're in a new place because it gives you like new eyes or a new way of seeing something. Like a lot of times I've made LA drawings and LA paintings. While in the south of France last year, I did that a bunch and I don't know if it was like a homesickness. I was listening to a bunch of like Hank Williams and like old country music. Well, in Nice and Antiv, like the Cult d'azur. So I was like, this is fucking strange.
- [12:59]
B
It's pretty easy to be inspired there though.
- [13:02]
A
Yeah, no, for sure. But then I think I come back to LA and I make like these French Riviera paintings, so.
- [13:09]
B
Right.
- [13:11]
A
So I don't know, maybe it's like it's easier to try to Absorb all of the visual stimuli when you're in a place, but when you're kind of reflecting on it and abstracting it a little bit, that's kind of the. I guess more of the place that I'm interested in.
- [13:27]
B
Makes sense.
- [13:27]
A
Yeah. I don't. I don't like, go out and do and plein air painting and try to make something that I'm looking at directly. I usually like when it's kind of mangled a little by memory and time.
- [13:39]
B
Well, yeah, I would have to assume that the ideas have to marinate a little bit. And then, you know, even if you're painting something from LA and you're in the south of France, it kind of reignites maybe a little bit of that inspiration.
- [13:51]
A
Totally. And I think it's also one of those things. Maybe it's like, you know, why French things look so great to Americans? And like, if you go to France, like so many, all the vintage stores are just like old American stuff and. Or that type of vintage, not like couture vintage. But I don't think it's fetidization, but it's also. It's the unfamiliar. And things just take on a different. Like they don't. They lose their context. Seeing people wearing like a Green Bay packers sweatshirts in the south of France, like younger kids, is a very different thing than when you're. You see that like in the airport in Chicago, right?
- [14:32]
B
Yeah, it's almost, you know, there's almost like this sense of inspiration almost that you can feel from people when you see them in foreign countries wearing things from the States. You know, it's like this dream.
- [14:46]
A
Oh, I love it. I'm like, oh, it's so decontextualized. I'm like, you're not a part of the Cheese Head nation.
- [14:53]
B
Right.
- [14:55]
A
And then the logos and the colors kind of come alive and I'm like, oh, yeah, that dark green and that yellow is really good. I never really thought about it, which.
- [15:02]
B
Is so funny because, like, you know, French short coats and work jackets are such a big thing, especially in the US right now.
- [15:09]
A
Completely. And in la, it's like ridiculous, you know?
- [15:13]
B
Yeah, yeah. You basically have to have one.
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A
And I'm guilty. I have like, four.
- [15:18]
B
Well, they're great. They're great. But it's just so funny that you go to France and they have access to the best of the best of the best stuff and they're wearing Green Bay Packer sweatshirts.
- [15:30]
A
Yeah. It's always like this kind of like Americana thing, like this old Americana like vision that still exists in Europe in some degree, particularly for collectors and vintage store owners. In Japan, obviously, it's even crazier. The Coca Cola signs and the Levi's and the Champion sweatshirts and all these things that, I don't know, were just kind of facets of my everyday life as a kid, like in the 80s.
- [16:00]
B
I want to talk about another collection of work that you did, which was the Grease notebook. And what I love about this is that it is of the most simple drawings. You know, some prawns on a plate with a lemon, maybe an umbrella on one page. But it tells a story. And it tells a story of not just Grease, but of the objects that nearly, I'm gonna say probably 90% of the people there will pass by and probably don't think twice about, but it's amongst probably 90% of the items that really make up the country. Not from a historical standpoint, of course, but from a design and culture aspect.
- [16:35]
A
Yeah. Yeah. It's totally kind of like, off of the radar. And I think. Well, one of the reasons I was, like, pretty much by myself in Greece for three months, and I would see people occasionally, friends of friends, and I would meet people, but mostly I was by myself. So I'm just looking at everything at a certain point. All these things that I just think are really interesting. And I remember talking to my friend Yorgos Mavropoulos. He's a photographer in Athens. He's probably, like, maybe in his early 50s, lived in Athens his whole life. He was saying to me, he was like, man, like, there's a bunch of things in this book that are so deeply ingrained in my life that I've never looked at them.
- [17:16]
B
Right.
- [17:17]
A
And for some reason in this book, they feel significant to me. And he was like, this was, like, the greatest compliment. He just said, like, you made me see these things for the first time.
- [17:30]
B
Yeah.
- [17:30]
A
Something like the. Like the old olive oil can, tomato can with the plants coming out of it, you know, shit like that. That is just, like, so common in Greece that people just kind of forget about it.
- [17:42]
B
Yeah. It has this innate beauty to it. In an odd way, it's so relaxed and unkept that it's cool.
- [17:51]
A
They were pretty much all made in situ, which is not something I normally do.
- [17:57]
B
Sure.
- [17:58]
A
And that is. Well, the original book was chronological order, like, one page wide. One page. And when we did the publication, we changed it a little bit to be not so, like, monotonous, but.
- [18:13]
B
Right.
- [18:14]
A
It is like, yeah. Just 90 days in Greece, traveling around, looking Around.
- [18:19]
B
Yeah, it's. It's pretty impressive because I think you could probably replicate something like that in just about any city in any state.
- [18:29]
A
Yeah, there's another one that's going to come out next year, which is, like, also Greece. And it's like, just a Hijra book.
- [18:37]
B
Very cool.
- [18:37]
A
It's a little bit smaller, but it's just Hydra. And then there's, like. I'm working on a couple of other places that I think I'm gonna do a very extended stay in France, starting maybe in January, and it might be, like, for a year or two and do the French book next.
- [18:59]
B
How does something like that work? I mean, do you have to ship a bunch of paintings there? Do you have to find a studio when you go there? How does that work?
- [19:08]
A
Kind of depends. When I was living in Greece that first time, when I was making a Greek book, I rented a flat from a friend of mine who's a collector, and she. It was in Corfu, and it had two bedrooms, and the living room was big enough, sizable enough that I could work in it. But I had to bring canvas from the mainland and bring in a bunch of supplies. And then I found a decent art store who could order stuff for me. But usually I try to not do too much work when I'm traveling. I'll bring a notebook, and if I start to get, like, a thing going on, then I'll work through it. But I usually like to take the time away from the studio, from painting specifically, to kind of get some new visual stimulus that I think will end up going into the paintings. But sometimes you just gotta go out there and see what's sticking at this.
- [20:07]
B
Stage in your career. Do you ever think about the idea that you're a collector yourself, but there's people out there that are collecting your work?
- [20:16]
A
You know, that's weird because I don't actually think about it, but then sometimes I do, because I know people have multiple pieces and sometimes I forget and I go to their house and I'm like, oh, right.
- [20:30]
B
Fuck, this is where it is.
- [20:32]
A
I mean, it's a great privilege and very humbling that anybody would ever want to buy your work. So if somebody wants to get your work twice or three or four times, it's, you know, it's kind of bewildering and amazing.
- [20:47]
B
You said in an article with Drakes that some may think your paintings are unfinished, but you consider them to be more al dente. And I'd love for you to touch on that a bit and relate it to how you approach the things that you love to collect?
- [21:02]
A
Well, yeah, the al dente thing, I kind of just like came up with that one point because I was like, that's actually kind of right, because you don't want to overdo it. You have to, like, it's almost better to slightly underdo it. And there's nothing worse than, you know, overcooked pasta.
- [21:16]
B
I'm sure Irma would tell you that too.
- [21:19]
A
So. Yeah, I guess with the painting, it's kind of the same thing. Half of the battle is kind of like embracing that sort of Wu Wei feeling and seeing feeling naturally like you can stop and not wanting to overdo it.
- [21:40]
B
Sure.
- [21:41]
A
Some sense of restraint, you know, because I think the mark making is hectic enough usually that, like, restraint and negative space help create maybe a greater harmony or tensions.
- [21:55]
B
And how about in the things that you collect? You know, is it fine if, you know, some of these matchbooks that you're looking after looking for, these lighters are slightly used? Is it fine if they've had a little bit of love?
- [22:08]
A
Yeah. I buy stuff on ebay all the time. I'm like an ebay junkie, and I have my saved searches and there's things that I look at, like, you know, every couple of months. There's a swatch that swatch made in the 80s, that's called McGregor, that has, like, the McGregor clan tartan on it. So I'm always scooping those up.
- [22:31]
B
Yeah, you kind of need all of them, don't you? Yeah.
- [22:34]
A
And I'm like, I want one for. I want everyone in my family to have one. So I'm just always kind of keeping my eyes peeled for that. And they come in, you know, usually they're pretty good because swatch collectors, I think, were pretty responsible people who really bought, like, all the swatches. Kept the original packaging and everything. But I don't know if they're used. It's fine, right? For books, I think it's, like, totally fine. Like, you know, I'm always. I'd rather just. I'm there for the content.
- [23:01]
B
I love when I'm looking for a book on ebay, for example, and it's like, so cheap because the dust jacket is all ripped up, but the actual linen cover is mint. That's perfect because I'm throwing out the dust jacket anyway.
- [23:15]
A
Completely. Completely. And I love when there's like, an inscription from somebody in the past or, you know, maybe you find a weird bookmark or a note that somebody left in there that the reseller, like, just didn't find. And it feels like it's a different. Like you're already in a book, you're inside of a different world and now there's like another world. That kind of opened it up too.
- [23:40]
B
I also love when I discover later on some of these inscriptions that were written. So I recently bought a book called Bronzes of the American west because I was at an antique store here locally to me and they had this book and it's like this massive, really, really heavy book. And they wanted like $80 for it. And I was like, I know that this is like $10 on eBay. And so I went on ebay and I found it, of course, for like 10 bucks. And I was going through my books the other day and I was looking at this one and I opened it up and someone had written a note to their friends who were soon to be collectors of these bronze figures, statues, and they were like, hope this kick starts your journey to collecting. And I was like, this is like the most incredible thing ever.
- [24:23]
A
Wow, that's so funny.
- [24:25]
B
Yeah, it was pretty epic. You also just did some work with Matt Raneck from W.M. brown, who's a recent, not a recent guest. He was actually the first guest I ever had on the show here. And I would love for you to tell everyone how that went and what you guys did and that little write up you did on you.
- [24:43]
A
Well, it's funny because I just got back to LA yesterday, so there's like a bunch of stuff in my house, like packages waiting for me and two copies of that were there. And I hadn't, I'd seen it online but I hadn't seen the magazine yet when I was like, oh, this is grand. It looks really good.
- [24:58]
B
Yeah, Matt's, Matt's great. Matt and Yolanda are awesome.
- [25:01]
A
Yeah, in there, there's a, there's a photograph of. I don't know who's suitcase it is, but it's covered in amazing stickers.
- [25:09]
B
Yeah, it might be Matt's.
- [25:11]
A
I think it is. I think it is. And I made a painting like that similar that was in my last show and I was looking at this with my housemate and he was like, oh, this, that's fucking good. Like, are you going to paint that? And I had already was like, yeah, I'm definitely going to make that.
- [25:30]
B
Have to, have to do it. I love it.
- [25:33]
A
It's fun exercise for sure.
- [25:37]
B
Before we wrap it up with the collector's dream rundown, I have gone ahead and picked three of my favorite drawings from room service. And I Would love it if you could tell me something about that moment. Maybe why it was so special, or maybe it's unrelated to the thing, but something memorable from that trip. Sound okay with you?
- [25:54]
A
Yeah.
- [25:55]
B
All right, so on page 49, there's a bowl of fruit from the Hotel de la Poste. And it's in. I couldn't quite tell if it was like a chimoiserie bowl, but it looks like just like a bowl of oranges or maybe even nectarines or something.
- [26:08]
A
Is it blue and white? Yeah, that's my mom's orange dish.
- [26:15]
B
I love it.
- [26:15]
A
And I've painted it and drawn it many times and different sizes, different materials. I don't know. Probably like 20 times.
- [26:27]
B
Amazing.
- [26:28]
A
Yeah. Sometimes I just do it because I really like the. I took this one photo, like, five or six years ago, maybe longer, and I just kind of keep going back to this one because I really like the way that the oranges are composed in it. Yeah. Maybe it's like a homesickness thing that's usually around on the kitchen island table around Christmas, like when it's citrus season.
- [26:48]
B
Love that. And how about on page 94 from the Madonna Innovation, a beautiful stack of blueberry pancakes that made me super hungry.
- [27:00]
A
Those are the blueberry pancakes at. Ironically, at the. Not the Madonna. And at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
- [27:10]
B
I was just there.
- [27:12]
A
Which are insane. Have you had them?
- [27:15]
B
No, I was there for, like, 11pm cocktail and smarter Move. Oh, I probably should have had them. Whip up some pancakes, too. Probably would have helped how I felt the next day.
- [27:25]
A
But, yeah, it's like a lemon blueberry. There's like some sort of lemon sauce that they pour on it. I don't know. It's like they're like $40 pancakes. But. Yeah, honestly.
- [27:37]
B
Which is probably the cheapest thing on the menu.
- [27:39]
A
Yeah, they might be. I think they're famous for them. I don't know, but I've had them, and they're very good. You got to split it with somebody. It's too much pancake.
- [27:50]
B
You got to bring that back to the Madonna and be like, see, this is how you're supposed to make.
- [27:54]
A
Well, we had been. I think it was an ex girlfriend, and it was her birthday, and we had been at the Madonna Inn and we were coming. I can't remember if we left, went up to Big Sur from the Beverly Hills Hotel or if we went on the way back, but either way, it was like we stayed at the Madonna in the night before or the night after. Love it.
- [28:17]
B
Last one is on page 110 at the hotel Concord. It's this piano, and it's all black. And I loved it because after looking at your work and for so long, black isn't. And all black isn't really something you do too often.
- [28:34]
A
No, it's pretty rare. Yeah. And I was being self conscious about that one, too, because I was like, oh, shit, it's too black. That's actually the piano in my friend Joe Bird's apartment in Paris. Yeah, I was just there a bunch on that trip to France, and I was hanging out at his house a lot. And I really like pianos. I like the shape of pianos. And it's a series that I've kind of always come back to.
- [29:01]
B
When you go to these hotels, are you asking them sometimes for, like, extra stacks of these paper to go home with?
- [29:07]
A
It depends if they have really nice ones or not. Or if I end up, like, actually working in the room a bunch, which sometimes happens, but sometimes I'm usually, You know, you never know when you're gonna get new paper from a specific place. So sometimes I'm like, you know, maybe I'll do, like, one or two drawings and then keep the rest for later when I had better ideas about maybe what they should be or just keeping it so I just have an archive.
- [29:37]
B
All right, Michael, let's wrap it up with the collector's dream rundown. As you know, you can answer these questions based on your art. You can answer them based on matchbooks or lighters or any of the things that you collect. Sound good?
- [29:49]
A
Yeah.
- [29:50]
B
All right. What's the one that got away?
- [29:53]
A
I just recently, like, six months ago, got this amazing gold Hydra lighter cover that had the island engraved in it, and it was beautiful. And I thought that I was never going to lose a lighter again because this thing was so good. And I had it. And I was in Hydra at a party at the old carpet factory, and I bent over to grab something, and it fell out of my shirt pocket into this, like, rock pile. And a friend and I spent, like, 25 minutes pulling rocks up trying to find this lighter with this beautiful gold, like. Anyway, that's gone.
- [30:39]
B
It'll turn up.
- [30:40]
A
Well, I'm like, it's on the island. I feel like it got sucked in by, like, some Greek God who was like, no, that's for here.
- [30:47]
B
This belongs here.
- [30:49]
A
And I got over it quickly, but I'm still really bummed about it.
- [30:53]
B
How about the on deck circle? So this is something that's either next for you and something you're hunting after for your collection or. Or a piece of work that you're excited to get going on.
- [31:04]
A
There's an artist named Sam Keller who I love, and I've been in some shows with him before. He makes these crystallized can painting sculptures, and I love them, and I've wanted one for years. And he has a new show opening soon, and I asked him. I was like, I'm ready. Send me the preview. And he just sent it to me this morning. And I'm really hoping that this. There's one of the cans that's covered in Swarovski crystals, is a. Is a cherry Coke can. And I'm really hoping that that becomes available to me.
- [31:47]
B
You gotta be the first in line.
- [31:49]
A
I'm in striking distance.
- [31:52]
B
The unobtainable. So this is something that's just too expensive. Maybe it's in a museum or private collection. Just complete unobtainium.
- [32:00]
A
There's a Matisse painting called Still Life with Pomegranates that I love. I always liked it. And then I saw it a year ago at the Matisse Museum in Nice. And usually I don't have to, like, I'll move on, you know, from a painting. Like, you know, whatever. A minute or two, maybe you go back and keep looking at one you really like. This one I was just glued to, and I was getting kind of emotional. I don't really know why, because it's not a very emotional painting, but it's something about it. So I would probably try to. That would be the unattainable. Unless I do some sort of art heist. Like, I don't know if that's possible.
- [32:48]
B
They may prefer that than throwing a can of tomato soup at it.
- [32:51]
A
So that is true. And this was definitely, like, unguarded.
- [32:57]
B
How about the page one rewrite? So if money was no object and you could collect anything else besides your current.
- [33:04]
A
What would it be like a whole new.
- [33:07]
B
Whole new. Whole new sector.
- [33:09]
A
Whole new sector.
- [33:12]
B
Or you could always, you know, redo the things that you do collect in a different way. But if money was absolutely no object.
- [33:21]
A
I mean, I would probably collect sailboats.
- [33:24]
B
Not a bad one. That might be a fir. That might be a first on here.
- [33:27]
A
Really?
- [33:28]
B
Yep.
- [33:29]
A
Oh, I love it. That's totally. I mean, wooden sailboat, specifically. You know, if money's really no option, like, let's go. Let's go to Maine and go get some old boats. Let's.
- [33:41]
B
Let's get the real deal. How about the goat? Who do you look up to in the collecting world either as inspiration or just as a great collector.
- [33:50]
A
Do you know who Trevor Jackson is?
- [33:53]
B
I don't think so.
- [33:54]
A
He's a British guy, I believe. Or he's. He's a London long term guy, graphic designer, dj, makes music as well. Did a lot of the record covers for a lot of, I guess like UK techno warp adjacent stuff. I remember seeing some interview with him in his house and thought it was beautiful. And he's a great collector of things for decades and I feel like doesn't probably isn't going to buy super expensive things but has such good taste and a knack for keeping things in good shape that his collection is probably psychotic. And when you see all the different objects and art in his house and books like all together, it really formulates a vision of a person who I think is like very sophisticated and smart and also like really cares about these things. Like they're not just on the bookshelf to be design objects.
- [35:05]
B
The hunt or the ownership. Which one do you enjoy more?
- [35:08]
A
I hate hunting, but I also kind of think that things come and go. So ownership is like, oh, I have something in like this Hydra letter. I was like, oh, I'm the possessor of this now. And then it got taken from me, but not by another person by like some who knows what metaphysical thing.
- [35:26]
B
Right.
- [35:27]
A
So I always kind of. I mean I love getting something and living with it for a long time and usually when I give up on the hunt, then the thing appears. So the hunt has never really served me very well. I feel like if I. If I try not to hunt for things, they, they find themselves to me in a much easier way than if I'm looking sometimes.
- [35:49]
B
Love it. Most importantly, do you feel that you were born with the collector's gene?
- [35:54]
A
I guess I must be. I mean I've collected like music since I was a kid and I wouldn't have like moved all these boxes of records to many different countries if I didn't just deep down think that I needed them and that they said something about me. Or like even now I still try to get rid of records and I'm like, oh, I can't. Like this one's too special. I remember exactly where I was when I bought this and who I was with and etc.
- [36:30]
B
Amazing. Michael, thank you so much for coming on to Collector's Dream Radio today. Everyone go get a copy of Room Service right now. It'll be the best book that you buy maybe this year. So go check it out.
- [36:41]
A
Thank you. Talk to you soon.
- [36:46]
B
All right, that does it for, for this episode. Thank you all for listening to Collector's Dream Radio.