The Sexy Idealist: The Collection Is Me, I Am the Collection

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“Valuable things are born in silence” as Michał Borowik explains why he is constantly enchanted by emerging artists. He set up the publicly accessible Borowik Collection in 2005, which was ranked as one of the “fifty most interesting collections assembled by people under fifty” in American magazine <<Modern Painters>>. If collecting is one form of creation as Michał Borowiks sees it, then his stylish and attractive Instagram profile is probably another.

Michał Borowik holding a piece by Witek Orski. Courtesy of Michał Borowik.
Michał Borowik holding a piece by Witek Orski. Courtesy of Michał Borowik.
Instagram photo @michalborowik. Courtesy of Michał Borowik.
Instagram photo @michalborowik. Courtesy of Michał Borowik.

 

Collecting

What made you want to start collecting art?
Idealists are always sexier than realistic cynics – they want something, fight for something instead of sitting on the couch and complaining. Nine years ago, I did not expect that the collection would attract any interest at all. It is a real privilege for me to show others that anyone can collect and that collecting is sexy. Art is one of the directions on my compass –there is north, south, east and art. I breathe with art. You do not become an artist overnight and similarly, it takes some time and maturity to become a collector. Actually, this process is still going on.

Home interior with works (left to right) by Michal Smandek, Cyryl Polaczek, Pawel Eibel and Mateusz Sadowski. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.
Home interior with works (left to right) by Michal Smandek, Cyryl Polaczek, Pawel Eibel and Mateusz Sadowski. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.

 

What is the main motivation behind your collecting?
Pleasure is the most important reason for collecting. Paraphrasing: “The goal of a collection would be fulfilled if watching it with comprehension evoked pleasure”. Then, there is helping and promoting artists. We are at a moment when the promotional activities are to be performed by galleries, artists, institutions… but also primarily by collectors. The power of collectors lies in the fact that they risk – in fact financially – the most; the gesture of purchasing is the gesture of promotion due to this very reason. The economic activity in the art environment today is perhaps not stronger in itself than ever before, but more visible.

Artists from the Borowik Collection: (left to right) Mateusz Sadowski, Looking to the end (diptych), 2011; Michal Gayer, Krwawa Julka (broken neon), 2009; and Cyryl Polaczek, Altar, 2014. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.
Artists from the Borowik Collection: (left to right) Mateusz Sadowski, Looking to the end (diptych), 2011; Michal Gayer, Krwawa Julka (broken neon), 2009; and Cyryl Polaczek, Altar, 2014. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.

 

Why are you specifically interested in emerging artists and decided to focus on them?My collection focuses on young, emerging Polish art – it is a matter of personal sensibility and taste, not a program. The art is primarily a performance scene in which full colours, bold forms, shapes take place at fleeting moments. The artists are often still unknown. I found most of them when they were students, or fresh graduates. Young artists are innocent. When I buy their works, I experience their self-esteem and identity being created and reinforced. It is not just about purchasing the artworks, but also about getting involved with someone’s life and where it is heading. This is a mutual and quite intense relationship. Unlike other industries, where buyers are anonymous and replaceable, here the artist’s reputation is either enhanced or tarnished by those who own his/her work.

Any stories or experiences to share about these emerging artists you follow?
For example, in case of Michał Gayer from Katowice, I bought his diploma work and got a Warsaw gallery interested in it. It did come off and the artist had an exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art at Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw. It is wonderful to see the development of the artist that you somewhere, somehow discovered. Valuable things are born in silence, so I reach to the “hidden” artists working in quietness, away from the media.

Bedroom interior with artworks: (from the left) Michal Gayer, Krwawa Julka (broken neon), 2009 and Witek Orski, Earthhole #2, 2015. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.
Bedroom interior with artworks: (from the left) Michal Gayer, Krwawa Julka (broken neon), 2009 and Witek Orski, Earthhole #2, 2015. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.

 

Instagram photo @michalborowik.
Instagram photo @michalborowik.

 

Is there any particular type of art that has consistently attracted you, or anything that unites all the works you have acquired?
My selection criteria are very intimate. Choosing specific works is a way of recording my emotions materialized by someone else’s hands.
Twenty-five years ago, most collections were national. In this day and age, it is hard to find a recognized collection that would showcase only the works by the artist-compatriots. This would mean it is provincial and limited. My collection is based on very subjective and personal criteria. It is like a social chronicle, a box full of souvenirs, my personal journey through Poland in search of interesting art, my memories of meetings with artists, talks and exhibitions. In our littered, multimedia culture, a significant collection is not only being compiled, it is being created. Among all the works, there is a common thread that I have been spinning for many years. All moments important in my life, both dramatic and joyful, are there. This collection is more than the sum of all parts – it is a special quest for coherence between the work and the artists. The next step is to open up to the work of foreign artists, e.g. from Romania.

What was the first artwork you purchased?
What is probably more important than the name of the very first artwork I purchased is the fact that the artwork still at the heart of my collection today. I have started buying art in 2005, mostly contemporary art with a focus on artworks by young Polish artists. The collection has been open to the public since 2011 and comprises videos, photographs, paintings and sculptures.

Michal Smandek, Unnatural I, 2010. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.
Michal Smandek, Unnatural I, 2010. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.


What considerations guide you to make a purchase?
The most important criterion for selecting an artwork for the collection is not only its medium, but also the high standard of its form and execution as well as its contents. I really dislike empty shells – aesthetically satisfying works without any message. The artworks I prefer combine aesthetics with a message. Another thing I consider when choosing a piece of art is whether the medium used by the artist is the best vehicle for the message and vice versa. I believe that the message or meaning of an artwork should not have only one abstract layer. In order to establish a meaningful relationship with its viewer, it is essential, in my opinion, for the artwork to trigger in him/her a whole chain of personal, intimate associations. And in order to do that, an artwork should be invested with some sort of a message or a story.
The ability to add new elements to the collection puzzle is just as important as skillful subtracting. I get rid of those works that start to annoy me, no longer fit into the emerging whole; the ones that in time become redundant, semantically exhausted and empty. I do not have a long-term goal but I am constantly refining my collection and hope it will stand the test of time.

Pieces by Cyryl Polaczek, Zofia Nierodzinska, Pawel Eibel and Iza Tarasewicz fill up the sun-lit corner of the interior. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.
Pieces by Cyryl Polaczek, Zofia Nierodzinska, Pawel Eibel and Iza Tarasewicz fill up the sun-lit corner of the interior. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.

 

A Publicly Accessible Collection

What do you think about the value in building up an art collection?
A collection is a set of items being gathered and selected according to a particular design. In the light of such a definition a randomly, chosen set of books, pieces of art, stamps, sabres, porcelain pieces, coins or even postcards cannot be regarded a collection yet as it lacks a more precise denotation indicating a narrower specialisation or – in different words – a profile of the given set. Only when its nature has been pinpointed, can we talk about a collection of, for example, nature books, stamps issued by the Republic of San Marino or Polish modern art. Possessing a collection is not the effectof a one-time decision but the result of a long-term process during which the knowledge on one’s collecting field and the related market is continuously broadened, which in turn allows more effective modifications in the assets. The value of a collection is therefore calculated with regards to both the outlay of the means directed to its compiling and the skill of taking apt decisions resulting from the growing experience.

Instagram photo: #here vs. #there @michalborowik. Courtesy of Michał Borowik.
Instagram photo: #here vs. #there @michalborowik. Courtesy of Michał Borowik.


Why did you decide to open your collection to the public?
For me, the most important thing is not only possessing the art pieces, but making them public and helping artists out. My collection is a kind of platform or stage on which young, not yet widely known artists may come out. Its publicizing has a dual purpose – to promote the artists and to educate the public. Art should be accessible to everyone, even if not as exclusive property. The very existence of my collection, acquired thanks to the passion rather than billions of Swiss francs, only confirms this.

Do you have any strategies of presenting your collection?
Key areas of focus include presenting academic analyses of the content of the works, highlighting art-historical references within the collection and revealing connections among individual works. In addition to presenting artworks from the collection, the collection’s programme also includes cooperative projects with other international institutions, curators and artists.

Which other publicly accessible private collectionswould you put on our watch list?Sammlung Boros in Berlin, Zabludowicz Collection, The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Rubell Family, Saatchi Gallery.

Marcin Kowalik, Landscape elements, 2007 (installation view). Courtesy of Borowik Collection.
Marcin Kowalik, Landscape elements, 2007 installation view). Courtesy of Borowik Collection.

 

The Art World

Why has art become important in your life? Is it a passion or an obsession or both?
It is a matter of addiction. You cannot hide it – the art is addictive and T-shirts with the inscription “Buy art, not cocaine” tell the honest truth.
If you are fascinated with art, but consciously give up the AFA (Academy of Fine Arts) and painting, because you realize that what you are doing is not exactly what you were looking for, then you face a classic gap between your desires and possibilities of their implementation, which causes severe alienation. You go through all the symptoms of withdrawal and art craving – you are missing turpentine and art matter, you realize that you need some sort of expression. At one point, it came to me that collecting, exploring the field of art, and picking out pieces from all this enormity of existing art is a form of creation, too; that it can leave a mark or stamp undeniably yours. The collection is me, I am the collection – I fully identify with it.

Gregor Rozanski, What is art for you (Poll), 2009-2010. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.
Gregor Rozanski, What is art for you (Poll), 2009-2010. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.

 

Witek Orski, Stones (triptych), 2012. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.
Witek Orski, Stones (triptych), 2012. Courtesy of Borowik Collection.

Can you name three emerging artists who should be on our radar?
Cyryl Polaczek, Paweł Matyszewski, Witek Orski

What do you think about the current art scene or art collecting in Poland?
Recent years have brought significant changes in the Polish art market. Due to social, cultural and economic changes, the market has undergone a positive transformation. Nowadays, collecting has been acquiring a new meaning and has become sexy thanks to young people. These are very fastidious and very conscious consumers who have been shaped by the capitalism diversifying in specialist niches. It is the generation of hunters who know that they want something unique and authentic. Among all what the culture produces, only pieces of art fulfill these requirements. The previous generation used to collect cartoons from chewing gums, then notebook pages, sticker tags, matchboxes. Now, inspired by the way of thinking about art and achievements of the older generations, the new generation build their first designed collections. Our culture has created an inexhaustible field to be explored and it is a gold mine. Thriving polish designers and fashion designers are another sign of such transformation.

Michał Borowik. Courtesy of Michał Borowik.
Michał Borowik. Courtesy of Michał Borowik.

 

Related: Borowik Collection
Instagram: @michalborowik

A selection of artists Michał collects:
Gregor Rozanski
Michał Gayer
Michał Smandek
Witek Orski

Ricko Leung

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