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How often do you look through your folios?
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16 posts in this topic

So I started (finally) listening to the Felix Art Podcast as my commute to work has become longer. Great podcast in case you haven't listened to it yet!

One interesting topic which has been brought up a few times, is that collectors do not break open their folios and look at their collections for quite some time in some cases. This was posed as a question regarding the necessity of Comic Art Fans, which is a great gathering place for our hobby. Since many people post their collections there, they can view them online, or in IG, Facebook etc rather than open folios.

But I have to say, looking at art on a small phone screen or even computer can't compare to seeing art in person. When I have some free time, I enjoy opening up the folios and look through certain pieces and sometimes reorganizing them. I would say this happens at least once a month. 

How often do you revisit your old friends and grails? 

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I try to look once every few weeks.  During periods when I'm acquiring new pieces it happens more often -- because I need to put them into the folios!

The one nice thing about not viewing all the time is that when you do get around to it, the best pieces can still pleasantly surprise you in a way that pics can't.

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I go long stretches without looking through them these days, like 6 months.  I think that is in large part to actually getting some stuff hanging.  I find every time I look through my folios I come away saying "I really need to get that framed" and on a few more pieces saying "I really should sell that".  Then I walk away doing neither ...  :sorry:

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I have one Itoya, that holds things I don't know what to do with. Mostly impulse buys, but also some pieces that I can't figure out a place to hang, and I can't quite make myself sell them off either. I rarely look in that Itoya. I also have another large art portfolio that houses some larger drawings and misc. things that I've hung onto for nostalgic reasons, I very rarely peek in it, if I'm honest.

Anything that really is worth a damn to me has ended up on the walls, so I can live with it every day. It took me a decade to pare down the collection to the point that it is, and it's almost been another one curating the rooms of the house into sets of work that feel relevant and hang well together. It's been life-changing to have finally gotten away from having multiple portfolios of work that I rarely ever looked at. I sold some truly amazing work by some artists that are really important to me. I still have fond memories of acquiring those pieces, and of owning them. But ultimately they were not "right" for the way the collection started to coalesce. That's when curating got ruthless (for feelings, nostalgia, etc.), tough, but it's made me happier ultimately.

 

 

 

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So I just started this passion just over a year ago... have around 15 pages. But I am compelled to frame and hang everything! How do you go from a hanger to a shelf collector? I assume as the pages increase in number but as it stands I always want to be looking at my art. 

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2 minutes ago, Blastaar said:

So I just started this passion just over a year ago... have around 15 pages. But I am compelled to frame and hang everything! How do you go from a hanger to a shelf collector? I assume as the pages increase in number but as it stands I always want to be looking at my art. 

To answer your question, I consider this “my” hobby which other people may not appreciate. Can you imagine what my place would look like with well over 50 Phantom Strangers, and assorted strays, over the place? Throw in the fact that the art is almost all black and white, no matter how it is framed, and it’s not great interior decorating even with normal things on the walls as well.  My “other half” loves to hang everything; I think it creates visual clutter,  and in this case, monotony. And, I cannot really examine the pieces when they are framed, I can just look at them.

Life needs balance. So do walls.

 

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That is a good set of points, and one definitely worth mentioning. It depends on WHAT you collect as much as how you treat it.

My all on the walls approach wouldn't really do it for me, if my collection was "50 Phantom Strangers, and assorted strays". I don't mean that as a dig, but as you point out, it's monotony. I certainly would be a portfolio collector if that was my collection method and interest.

In my case, I tend to have a much more painting based collection than comics-heavy. But there is a lot of overlap in the art and the philosophy, approach and attitude throughout. It keeps things quite cohesive, and still gives me variety.

My dining room for instance is all comics-based Sandman artwork. Some published pages, a published "ad" and a t-shirt piece that are both essentially textless pinups. All the art is black and white, and all hang on light moss-green colored walls. It doesn't look tacky at all. In fact, the whole room exudes a level of class that has received many compliments over the years. It helps that the frames are black, the mats are white with a 1/4" of accent mat in gray or black around each piece. So the colors in the room (bronze and black hardware) wispy mesh copper curtains. It all just looks "right". nothing looks weird or out of place. Nothing seems infantile or cheesy. And the pages themselves are nice little standalone moments from the series that can be read, are artistically engaging and as non-offensive as can be. I have the added bonus of the fact that my wife loves Sandman as much as I do, as it the case with most of our art. We are who we are. We have most rooms that have no comic art in them. But all have art in them.

Our house looks like the home of many Art collectors. Not comic art collectors, but Art collectors. Which is to say, it's all about balance and creating a space that is pleasing overall. A bit like a gallery, and less like the random suburban house. But most importantly it's pleasing to us. I certainly wouldn't urge anyone to adopt my philosophy. It took me going on 3 decades to get where I am. Including a phase with of tons of portfolios and framing nothing. A phase of having a very character-centric collection. A phase of having a bit of art by all my favorite artists, etc. It took me a long long time, and I have always counted myself more as an art collector that enjoys comic art, as opposed to the more typical comic art collector.


I agree with Rick2you2. Life definitely needs balance!

 

Edited by ESeffinga
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1 hour ago, Blastaar said:

So I just started this passion just over a year ago... have around 15 pages. But I am compelled to frame and hang everything! How do you go from a hanger to a shelf collector? I assume as the pages increase in number but as it stands I always want to be looking at my art. 

I started out over 30 years ago collecting and was living at home for college so I had limited space to hang art. Portfolios are the cheapest way to display and store art. I only put art on the walls that I really like and won't be trading or selling.

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Brian, I like the idea of keeping art in a large drafting table with drawers. It would definitely make it easier to pull pieces out of there than handling giant portfolios. Might have to look into getting one. While I have many pieces framed, things do still end up being sold or traded and need to be removed from the frame. 

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12 minutes ago, AnkurJ said:

Brian, I like the idea of keeping art in a large drafting table with drawers. It would definitely make it easier to pull pieces out of there than handling giant portfolios. Might have to look into getting one. While I have many pieces framed, things do still end up being sold or traded and need to be removed from the frame. 

I got my 10 drawer for $100 about twenty years back. Made of metal and last a lifetime. Unfortunately most places use computer these days harder to find used blueprint drawers.

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I know we've touched on this in past threads, but I remember someone had a picture of a short flat file they used for their coffee table with a piece of glass over it. Cool idea. (Although I'm eternally clumsy and would spill something all over my art. So maybe not for me.)

I was saying recently that I LIKE not having every art buy decision turn into a decorative decision as well. Perfectly happy throwing most things into a portfolio.

Edited by BCarter27
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