Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Up Close and Personal With Stefan Edlis’s Art

December 11, 2015 by Marion Maneker

Twombly Bolsena Edlis donation

Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson’s gift to The Art Institute of Chicago of 44 works opens this weekend. During the publicity walk through, Edlis showed a reporter what it means to be an owner instead of a spectator:

But the Twombly, a work of about 50 square feet, came into Edlis’ home with something missing. “I looked at it. It was about 10 o’clock at night,” he recalls. “I said, ‘Guess what? Home Depot is open 24/7.’ By 1 o’clock in the morning I went in there and got these frame pieces and framed it myself,” nailing off-the-shelf wooden trim pieces directly into the wooden stretcher to which the multimillion-dollar canvas was affixed. “That was my midnight framing caper.”

At the Damien Hirst “Still,” a careful and borderline sinister arrangement of medical instruments in a full-wall glass case, Edlis tells of unscrewing the acorn nuts holding the cabinet’s glass walls in place: “They come apart, and I’ve been in there cleaning things up myself. because I love to do that. That’s part of it.”

At the large-scale Takashi Murakami canvas, “Mr. Pointy,” he is explaining the extraordinary silk-screening technique used by the Japanese artist, getting closer and closer to the colorful image of a buddha. And then, boom, Edlis’ index finger is on the painting as he explains that what looks like plastic, perhaps, is actually canvas densely layered with paint.

Two publicists and a reporter trade wide-eyed glances. Edlis doesn’t even bat an eye. He, after all, has lived with these works in his apartment further up Michigan Avenue, putting together what experts have called one of the greatest collections of pop art in the world. He should know whether a touch is OK.

Massive art gift transforms Art Institute (Chicago Tribune)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Christie’s Scores By Just Getting It DoneChristie’s Scores By Just Getting It Done
  • Jerry Saltz Answers the Eternal Question: Why Go to an Art Fair?Jerry Saltz Answers the Eternal Question: Why Go to an Art Fair?
  • A Tale of Two MarketsA Tale of Two Markets
  • London Property Attracts Safe Haven Investors, Many of Whom Are Art BuyersLondon Property Attracts Safe Haven Investors, Many of Whom Are Art Buyers
  • Philip Johnson’s Lost Giacometti Surfaces at FoundationPhilip Johnson’s Lost Giacometti Surfaces at Foundation
  • Two Ways of Seeing Oliver Stone's HK Art SaleTwo Ways of Seeing Oliver Stone's HK Art Sale

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

LiveArt

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor
 

Loading Comments...