The Art Counselor Blog

Art collecting as self help

Posted on 07.23.08 12:55AM under Art Collecting

I’ve been collecting art since 1982 and nearly the entire collection was purchased right here in Portland. The fact that I was born in Portland and have lived here all but one year of my life is a primary reason why I started collecting. This is also a major factor in the remarkable quality and depth of the collection. I have been telling people for at least the mid-90s that Portland is the best place in the country to buy art.

At first I said this because I wanted to believe that I was building an important collection. I wanted to feel like I was creating something great and lasting; a body of work that would be coveted by people of greater means and importance than me. I wanted to use collecting as a vehicle for pumping up my ego, building a sense self importance, and carving out a persona. Some of that did happen, but during my first years of collecting I got so wrapped up in this shallow obsession that I didn’t see what was really happening.

Much of the obsession was due to several decades of undiagnosed clinical depression. I was using art as a means of coping with the emotionally crippling affects of the disease by literally diverting my attention from nagging internal pain. This unconscious form of self therapy started just after I first moved in with the woman I eventually married. Up to that point in my life I had managed my emotions with and an addiction to pot and alcohol.

When I started going to galleries and buying art my wife Linda was growing weary of the mood swings that accompanied drug use. My obsession began to shift from pot and fine wines to attending gallery show openings and just plain loitering in galleries on weekends. The day came when one of my drug induced anger attacks upset Linda to the point where she gave me the “me or the drugs but you can’t have both” ultimatum. I loved her, so the choice was easy; a choice unconsciously made easier by the fact that I was already channeling my addiction into art.

The art was certainly much healthier, and the money I put into buying pieces didn’t just disappear, it got installed somewhere in the house. Ironically, without drugs and alcohol, the depression got noticeably worse. The up side was that the process of seeking and selecting high quality art work that met my aesthetic and emotional needs diverted my attention away from my disease enough to make my life more enjoyable and meaningful. I truly believe that it was more effective and far more affordable than sessions with a mental health professional.

Read Comments

Posted by Cialis Generico on 08.05.08 3:27 am

Excellent post. good luck.