The Financial Times’s Rachel Spence sat down with Dimitris Daskalopoulos on the occasion of his collection being shown in Bilbao. Calling him the quiet collector, Spence is very upbeat about the show:
“My collection is usually in dark crates,” he says sadly. Then he gives a beatific smile and tells me that, after the Guggenheim show and Keeping It Real, a four-part series of micro-exhibitions running at London’s Whitechapel Gallery until May, “almost a million and half people will have seen these works”. […]
The Luminous Interval is splendid. Unfolding over two floors of the museum’s asymmetric volumes, it is a snapshot of contemporary art at its provocative, demanding, poetic best. There are rewarding encounters between artists who are rarely shown in tandem. Close to Annette Messager’s oneiric waterfall entitled “Dependence/Independence” (1995), Matthew Barney’s brutal concrete-and-jelly automobile carcasses take on an unexpected tenderness. Established heavyweights abound yet rising stars, such as Nate Lowman and Paul Chan, also shine.
Most striking is the thematic coherence. From the poignant marble hands clasped within Louise Bourgeois’ “Cell IX” (1999) to the claret-soaked cavern that is Kenyan-born Wangechi Mutu’s spine-chilling critique of capitalism and the sculptural tribute to a fictional Lebanese bomb disposal hero by Walid Raad, a profound engagement with the human condition at its most visceral and intense sets the collection apart from other high-profile holdings.
The Power of Instinct (Financial Times)