Modern Art

My parents used to love classical art like nothing else. When I was growing up, there were art posters all over the wall featuring some of the greatest artworks of our civilization. Because I grew up in New York, we had access to some of the best museums in the world. My parents were particularly big fans of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I used to love it as well. I loved looking at oil paintings best of all, but the sculpture garden, medieval armor, and everything else appealed to me too.

The first time I went to the Museum of Modern Art, however, I was absolutely blown away. My parents were not modern art fans. They did not like anything abstract. The closest they got to abstract art was Impressionism, and that wasn't very close. For me, however, it was different. From the first time I realized that you could make art that wasn't realistic, I wanted to be an artist. I loved the idea of getting to play with color, line, and texture without worrying about making things look like something out of the real world. For me, that was the appeal of modern artworks, and I was quick to start exploring.

At the time I ran an office, and soon I was putting up modern are posters on the wall. Modern art – just like anything else – varies a lot in quality. The difference is that with modern paintings, quality is much more subjective. Some people like simple, straightforward modern art pieces done with pastels and wavy lines. Others like prints that are intense and dark. For me, chaos is what is the most appealing. I love modern artists who confront chaos, making their pieces daring and a bit threatening at times. I don't like any art that is too safe, no matter what it is.

I decided to open a modern art gallery by myself, and it was a lot of fun to do. Of course, there are quite a few art galleries in the city already, but it wasn't too hard to open one out of my house in my spare-time. It is always easy to get people to come to an art show in New York – particularly if you don't charge anything and offer some wine and cheese. I would not say that I make a lot of money off of selling modern art, but it is a nice sideline.