Interview conducted by Diana BADEA
Avi Cicirean is the founder and manager of Brand Minds, Brand Emotion, Digitalium and Bucharest Business Institute. He is also an artivist but, above all, a passionate collector. In what follows, you will read a sincere, demystifying dialogue, sometimes with humour, on what art and collecting mean and how to start a collection, seen not so much as possession or accumulation but above all as love for art, identity and form of expression.
What is the story behind your collection?
As a child, I grew up in the house with the catalogues of Tonitza, Grigorescu, Toulouse-Lautrec and what else was available at the time at the Meridiane publishing house. Being the only catalogues with color pictures and fascinated by their contents, I flipped through them almost daily. Moreover, my grandfather was an amateur painter and sculptor; it was a form of relaxation for him to sculpt and paint. I remember that my mother also engraved.
I grew up in this environment, surrounded by this artistic verve and expression. I started in the area of music; then, after finishing this chapter, I transferred the energy to the visual arts. This would be a little context. I started collecting art about 14 years ago, from 2010 to be exact, and the first work I bought was something for decoration because it looked good in the house. Then I said to myself: it is more than this.
When I was in Arad, at my mother, in the kitchen, I came across the works painted by my grandfather. I thought, wow, what would it be like to take them to Bucharest? And while my mother went to do more work around the house, I took the paintings, put them in the car and brought them to Bucharest. Here, I put them on the wall, but they did not match the house’s design, and again, it was a moment of reflection. Grandfather’s works did not match, but they contained a meaning of wanting to understand more about art. That is how my journey in the art world began: being passionate, going to exhibitions, art fairs, museums, and even antique shops. I remember that is how I made an impressive collection of art catalogues, and this was to understand it better.
I strongly believe that you cannot understand the contemporary if you do not have a basic understanding of art history. My first disruptive moment was when I got to MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in 2008, and there I came across three crumpled newspapers, a chair without a leg, and five shards; I said to myself: this is stupid, this is not art, but it intrigued me that I did not understand what it was about. And I went further in my exploration.
What is the primary motivation behind the act of collecting?
I think it is, first and foremost, a continuous discovery. Since I started collecting, I have migrated through several stages. Anyway, that is a lot to say collected. I do not necessarily consider myself a collector because I do not do this to have a collection. Still, when I have some money available, I try to put another brick to what I am: what represents me. I do not do it for the sake of owning a number of works in the collection, to show off, but simply, these works are part of my own journey. Since I started thirteen or fourteen years ago, I have consistently acquired one or two works a year. And then, it grows with every year. I could say that everything materializes in a collection, but I understand it more as a personal incursion. It is a matter of identity and form of expression.
This perspective on a collection is very interesting; it is or becomes a collection with a very personal imprint.
Exactly, I remember a work I took from Paris, I remember the gallery I went to. I asked them to reserve it for me, and I bought it when I had the money. I have always tried not to make collecting art an effort or a burden. I often could not afford certain works and often said: that’s okay. I am going to skip this. Other times, I had the understanding of the galleries and
artists, but I had more of the galleries because I rarely skip the galleries from the ecosystem. That seems fair to me, and somehow, I think this financial part also impacts the works you take or the agreement between galleries and artists.
How do you start a collection? What recommendations, suggestions, and ideas do you offer to possible future collectors?
I consider myself lucky that I first purchased two fake paintings; […]*
*The interview can be read in its entirety in the first printed issue of Empower Artists Magazine available for purchase online here or physically in Cărturești, La Două Bufnițe bookstores and during RAD ART FAIR 2024 (May 16-19).
Photo credit: Alex Gâlmeanu
