In
May 2012 the
Creators
Project,
the lovechild of VICE media and Intel, took over San Francisco’s Fort Mason
with an epic celebration of art and technology. The two-day event, which
featured monumental interactive art installations, hackathons, and an
appearance by the city’s mayor, seemed to herald the future convergence of
art and tech in San Francisco, and
highlighted the way digital artists are capitalizing on groundbreaking new
forms of technology.
Several
articles last year suggested the wealth coming from San Francisco’s second-wave tech
boom is driving a new collector base among tech workers that museums and
galleries alike are vigorously courting. Within the city, there have been
murmurs from galleries that this patronage has yet to be seen. We caught up
with Sabrina Buell—a San Francisco-based art advisor at
Zlot Buell + Associates and Stanford alum (a
university with close ties to Google and Silicon Valley), to shed some light on
San Francisco’s hotly debated art world, as well as her own collection.
Artsy:
There have been mixed reports about whether a
new tech-world collector base is emerging alongside the boom in San
Francisco—have you seen evidence of such a base?
Sabrina Buell: Absolutely. When you think about contemporary
culture on a global scale, so much of it is defined by new technology,
specifically by the work being done at many of the companies here in the Bay
Area. The founders of these companies are all extremely creative thinkers, and
there is a resonance between their thinking and what contemporary artists are
thinking about. Many of these founders, and their employees, are starting not
only to acquire art, but also to get engaged on a civic level with art and
culture. It’s very exciting.
Artsy: Can you give examples of the tech community’s
engagement with culture in the city?
SB: Two recent examples are
Leo Villareal’s
Bay Lights public art project, which received a lot of
support from the tech community, and SFMOMA’s current off-site project in Los
Altos, with site-specific installations by artists such as
Chris Johanson,
Jeremy Blake, and
Spencer Finch. It’s been
a great way for the museum to connect with the Silicon Valley community, and it
received generous financial support from Los Altos locals.
Artsy: What are tech-world collectors buying? Do certain
artists appeal to them?
SB: One trend that is commonly assumed, but is wrong, is that
people in the tech world like to collect “tech art”—new media or art with
screens, or that incorporates computer technology into the work. That’s not the
case. Tech-world collectors are interested in smart, new ideas. But this can be
new ideas in painting, sculpture, or new media. People in the tech world are
nonconformists as a rule. So the great thing is that their collections tend to
be highly personal. There isn’t an overarching trend or artist they are all
going after.
Artsy: Do you feel that living in San Francisco has shaped
your own collection? You own works by Barry McGee—do you
collect other San Francisco-based artists? SB: My collection is almost entirely made up of works by
artists, or sold by dealers, with whom I have a close personal relationship.
Because I’m based in San Francisco I’m close with many of the great artists and
dealers in this community, so yes, we have Barry McGee’s work, and on the
opposite side of the spectrum we have
Robert Bechtle’s work.
Artsy: What would you love to acquire for your collection?
SB: In terms of San Francisco artists, I’d love to have a
Vincent Fecteau sculpture or something by
Bruce Conner.
Artsy: Where do you go to look at art locally? How do you
discover local artists?
Artsy: What makes San Francisco a distinct arts scene and how
do you see it developing over the coming years?
SB: San Francisco has long been a vibrant collecting
community, with incredible patronage, and SFMOMA, one of the very best
institutions in this country. I think this will all be strengthened and
reinforced in the years to come as the collecting base gets larger and the
museum expands. It’s also important to note the other great things happening in
the Bay Area now such as the new expanded home for the
Wattis Institute at CCA, and
the new building for the
Berkeley Art Museum by Diller
Scofidio + Renfro set to open next year.
Sabrina
Buell with her collection of surfboards by Barry McGee. Photo by Winni
Wintermeyer.