For US writer and dealer, the business of art is very close to home

Private collecting has thrived on the Chinese mainland over the past 30 years. More people are buying artworks for cultural appreciation, to showcase their wealth and social rank, and as an investment.

However, there is another important role that art plays to which few collectors give attention: as a common language among family members and a glue that keeps them together.

"Art is beyond a thing to hang, but rather ... a shared physical and mental means of communications between us," says Kenny Schachter, a US art writer, dealer and collector.

"The family that arts together stays forever."

That is from a foreword that Schachter wrote for Nuclear Family, an show at ART021, a contemporary art fair in Shanghai, held from Nov 8 to 12.

On display were selected works from Schatchter's collection, which has accompanied him, his wife and their four sons for years. Featured artists included Vito Acconoci of the United States, Sigmar Polka of Germany and the Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid.

"I chose the artists that most prominently figured in my career, my life; art and artists that I have long studied, admired, loved, collected, written and taught about," Schachter says.

There were also works by family members. Schatchter's wife, Ilona, is an artist in her own right, and his two eldest boys study at the School of Visual Arts in New York; they all exhibit internationally.

The exhibition was to provide a sample of how a family collection could be built and expanded and gradually become the heart of a family's culture and legacy.

Schachter says he tries to buy works every few weeks or so, and at least every month, although he says he has not calculated for a long time how many works are in his family collection.

"Sure, I have inventories of my possessions, although even that is not complete. I can still tally up the beads of the abacus by looking at how much my storage has expanded versus the previous years."

For Schachter, collecting is not only a "materialistic compulsion" but also "a way to engage with the aesthetics of culture and partake in the creative society" of the time, he says.

His collection will be a legacy for his family, "not for any type of private museum or preservation of my participation in the art world and market, but it constitutes the majority of their inheritance from me".

Schachter compares his family life to "a built-in studio critique session in an art university". Members argue about everything, he says, but when it comes to art, they mostly come to the same conclusion.

"We criticize, question, debate, discuss all, and from time to time one member sways another member to adjust their position. Art is openended, constantly evolving, changing and transforming. Art is a window into conceptual thoughts and visualizations.

"We are all hyper-opinionated, but of course I am the only one constantly right! I am joking.

"Art is like living with books being read aloud each and every day. Art unifies and focuses us, it's a family enterprise inasmuch as a good portion of our assets are in art."

And those who decide to make art so integral to their life need to be prepared to invest in "decades of dedication, care and thought", Schatchter says, because art is "a slow burning".

"What I love most about the process is the fact that art is never ending, always evolving each day."

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(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/24/2017 page16)