Collector's Corner: A Look At What Art Collectors Are Shopping For

For this article we ask art collectors to look through new work posted on the Community tab of PoetsArtists platform. The art collectors remain anonymous and give feedback on the works they like from the selections. Please keep in mind that this platform centers on Figurative artworks. In some cases the same artwork was chosen more than once since all the collectors participating were selecting from the same works.

Collector #1 | California

Collector #1 selected works by Judith Peck, Lesley Thiel and Anna Wypych.

Judith Peck

Expecting Magic | oil and plaster on board | 11x14 inches

Judith Peck’s little portrait titled Expecting Magic offers some things we love in a portrait. First, it captures an intimate mood and a feeling of atmosphere beyond simply recording a portrait. The heavy attention to interesting texture makes this a painting about painting, and the balance between accuracy and loose paint demonstrates the kind of fun you can have when you aren’t a slave to realism.

Lesley Thiel

Winds Of Change | oil on canvas | 39x 32 inches

Lesly Thiel operates at the border of realism and whimsy. This particular pose in Winds Of Change is extremely contemporary, unclassical, and kind of crazy. Rembrandt would have been mystified by the pose, and that’s why it is good for us now.

Anna Wypych

Paradox Boson 5 | oil on canvas | 39.5x27.5 | 2017

Anna Wypych’s Paradox is high-level realism and most interesting for the honest capture of a particular real life, right now. This is a painter (in this case) just painting their exact reality as they are experiencing it. A treat for anybody that appreciates realism.

The Collector Couple | Midwest

Our collector couple selected works by Daggi Wallace, Agnieszka Nienartowicz, and Anna Wypych.

Daggi Wallace

Quiet Beauty IV | pastel and acrylic | 12x12

Quiet Beauty III | pastel and acrylic | 12x12

These small portraits capture the personalities of the subjects very effectively. One feels as if they know the individuals. Also, both subjects reflect a significant degree of emotion which the viewer can feel.

Agnieszka Nienartowicz

Portrait of a young woman | oil on canvas | 31.5 x 21.7

This work shows excellent attention to detail and good painterly skills. The light is quite capably rendered and appropriately directional. Extraordinary detail in the silk wrap and hand.

Anna Wypych

Paradox Boson 5 | oil on canvas | 39.5x27.5 | 2017

Obviously the painter and her child. Very photographic and technically capable with special emphasis on details in both the subjects and the background. The resemblance between mother and child is extraordinary and the obvious point of the work.

Collector #3 | North America

Our collector based in North America suggests works by Susannah Martin, Erin Milan, Lis Pardoe,Claudia Kaak, Cheney Lansard, and Thom Priemon.

Susannah Martin

Helium (cropped) | oil on linen | 80 cm x 150

A composition that’s sumptuous in its conception. The helium-filled balloons reflect a serpentine allure in the Eden-like setting.

Lis Pardoe

Anxiety | oil on panel | 22x 29 inches

A formal composition that, in all its structure, manages to keep the viewer off-balance. The subjects surround themselves with the familiar and comforting, but are not comforted.

Erin Milan

All the wanting in the world | oil on linen | 26x38 inches

A striking piece, with the barren branches reflecting perhaps the desperation of childlessness? And yet her wanting may yet flower, as buds begin to break on the boughs.

Claudia Kaak

Untitled | charcoal on paper | 21 x 28 cm

A masterful piece of storytelling in charcoal, with the claustrophobic walls and angled light forcing the perspective from the shadowy central figure to the young child, innocent on a tricycle.

Cheney Lansard

A Quiet Suburban Ending | acrylic on hardboard | 24 x 36 inches

Beautifully executed, with the old woman’s fall softened by the patterned carpet, her repose fading from reflected light into a quiet darkness.

Thom Priemon

A Portrait of Epilepsy With Jessica Lynne Stewart | Encaustic on panel

The texture on the subject’s skin evokes a papyrus fragility, as the eye seeks to find other metaphors in the work – her veins, the bones framing her shoulders, the way she bites her lip, he hair’s uneven cut.

Claudia Kaak

Untitled (Series 3, Nr. 16) | oil on canvas | 40 x 60 cm

A breathtaking play of light and shadow, with the entire expressiveness of the subject captured in the open eye.