#95 WALTER VANHAERENTS | Vanhaerents Art Collection | Brussels, Belgium

„Collecting with the female side“In this episode, I speak with Belgian art collector Walter Vanhaerents, who began collecting art in the mid-1970s and was named one of the top 200 collectors of our time by artnews. What started as a personal passion has evolved into a dynamic, multigenerational project. Over the decades, the collection has undergone several realignments, reflecting not only shifts in the art world but also Walter's own life journey, his individual attitude towards collecting and his deep knowledge about contemporary art. After the early death of his brother, Walter had to step into the family’s construction business at a very young age. Art became a transformative space for him - one that connected him with his emotional and spiritual side, allowing for deeper self-discovery. He collects intuitively, guided by passion and sensitivity.Since 2007, the Vanhaerents Art Collection has been housed in a repurposed industrial building in the heart of Brussels, presenting regularly changing exhibitions. In recent years,Walter's children Els and Joost have taken on increasingly active roles, bringing fresh perspectives and new energy into the collection.We talk about personal development, spirituality, and the emotional core of collecting, as well as the evolution of a family legacy shaped by three distinct voices.Recorded March 10, 2025, language english, 35 min.We're recording via the internet, glitches in sound quality may occur.Portrait of Walter in front of the work "The death of James Lee Byars", photo by Karel DuerinckxMore information here:https://vanhaerentsartcollection.comhttps://www.artbasel.com/stories/why-i-collect-art-walter-vanhaerents?lang=dehttps://initiartmagazine.com/2011/04/26/walter-vanhaerents/https://www.artnews.com/art-collectors/top-200-profiles/walter-vanhaerents/https://van-horn.net/podcast-1/

„Buy What You Love“This is Episode 94 of the Voices On Art Podcast, created in cooperation with the Independent New York.Susan and Michael Hort have been collecting contemporary art for 40 years, with a focus on young artists, whom they follow in depth. They often buy early in an artist’s career and usually acquire at least five to seven pieces by any given artist.Susan and Michael are also the creators of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation, established in honor of their daughter Rema, who passed away from cancer at the age of 30 in 1995. The foundation funds travel and accommodations for families of cancer patients and also provides grants for emerging artists. Very recently the foundation supports young Los Angeles artists, who lost their studios in the fires.Once a year Susan and Michael open their house for the public and share their love for art with the public.In 2026 they plan to open their own museum space on the premises of the Art Omi Pavilions, with the intention to show some of the art that can't be shown in their house, but also to present artists that they collected early on, who deserve to be rediscovered. Susan and Michael share their joy in collecting art, in connecting with the people of the art community and the hope to inspire the audience to start collecting themselves.We're talking the love for art, how it can be reflected in an art collection and how art can fuel life in a powerful way. We talk past, present and future, their early beginnings as collectors, the differences in the art world and art community then and now, how they support artists and how much they value the friendships with artists and gallerists. Being connected to the art world keeps them going, let's them stay young and in tune with what's going on.Recorded February 7, 2025. 39 min., language english.Photo by Linda FarwellWe’re recording via the internet, please excuse any glitches in sound quality.Links:2024:https://news.artnet.com/art-world/the-legacy-of-susan-and-michael-hort-25744732023:https://www.villazan.com/villazan-presents/collectors-susan-and-michael-hort-enjoy-being-alive-and-contemporary-art2002:https://fineartmultiple.com/blog/collector-interviews-susan-and-michael-hort/2016:https://www.vulture.com/2016/02/art-collectors-who-live-in-their-own-museum.html2012:https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarawarren/2012/05/14/buy-what-you-love-the-art-of-michael-and-susan-hort/https://www.independenthq.com/https://van-horn.net/podcast-1/

This episode is created in cooperation with the Independent 20th Century. It will be part of the fairs OVR. Thiago Gomide is a founding partner of Gomide&Co, a gallery based in São Paulo, Brazil. Artists Julia Isídrez, Paraguay and Maria Lira Marques, Brazil, will feature jointly in a presentation by Gomide&Co at Independent 20th Century this September. Interested in art since his childhood, Thiago first followed another passion by studying architecture. Having to make a living in Brazil this seemed to cover basic needs and interests. His career in the art world started at the age of 20 with founding a small gallery for modern Brazilian furniture in his hometown Belo Horizonte, following an agreement with his mother. Out of sheer curiosity he contacted collector Bernardo Paz, started working for him and was deeply involved in the creation and construction of the Inhotim, a world famous collection of contemporary art. After 7 years he felt it was time to move on, so he moved to São Paulo, where he created the contemporary art and photography department at the renowned auction house Bolsa de Arte. In 2013, Thiago co-founded his own gallery. Thiago talks his diverse stations of working and learning, the special situation in Brazil, his personal relations with the art community and the influence of the big international art fairs. He talks in depth about the two artists Julia and Maria Lira, whose works Gomide&Co. will show for the first time at the Independent 20th Century. Thiago follows his own insights, his need to grow and develop and his passionate interest for art, design and architecture. In this he paved his own path from Brazil into the international markets and vice versa. He never forgets his community, the people that follow and support the gallery, and always invents new ideas and approaches to accommodate artists and collectors and to enhance and extend these profound relations into the future. 41 min., Recorded August 13, 2024, language english https://www.independenthq.com/ https://gomide.co/ Your host: https://van-horn.net Instagram: @independent_hq @gomide.co @thiagogomide @voicesonart @van_horn_duesseldorf #VoicesOnArt #Independent20thCentury #IndependentHQ #artfair #Podcast #Talk #storytelling #DanielaSteinfeld #VoicesOnArt #VanHornGallery #ThiagoGomide #GomideCo #Gallery #SaoPaulo #Brazil Book recommendation: Brazilian Modern Design | Móvel Moderno Brasileiro by Alberto Vicente, Marcelo Vasconcellos, Maria Cecilia Loschiavo Dos Santos ISBN-13 978-8562114755

This episode is created in cooperation with the Independent 20th Century art fair. It will be part of the fairs OVR. Brad Kahlhamer is an artist of indigenous descent, adopted by German-American parents. Being a free spirit, a wanderer and a person with unquenchable curiosity, profoundly shaped his multidisciplinary work. Kahlhamer's art often incorporates themes and imagery from indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest and Southwest, aiming to modernize traditional forms and present them in a contemporary context. In the early 1990s, he used materials like inner tube rubber for sculptures and later transitioned to oil paintings, characterized by thick layers, song lyrics, and primitive figures. His integration of ledger drawings, viewed by him as America’s first graphic novels, is a significant aspect of his work. Growing up in Arizona, Brad enjoyed a childhood filled with freedom and outdoor adventures, which later fueled his creative expression. Music was integral to his early life, and he pursued it alongside visual arts, deeply influenced by differents bands and musical styles from rock, beat and soul to punk. In the early 1980s, Kahlhamer moved to New York to immerse himself in the vibrant art scene. There, he worked at Topps Chewing Gum, where he met Art Spiegelman and became involved in the underground comic scene. Currently, Kahlhamer is working on the Nomadic Studio project, creating a series of 100 Moleskine notebooks filled with drawings and ideas. Kahlhamer's art uniquely fuses his personal history, and a wide array of cultural influences, making it both deeply personal and broadly resonant. His work spans various media, including monumental paintings, intricate sculptures, installations, and drawings, drawing inspiration from cartoons, pop art, graphic novels, indigenous art, and his prolific sketchbooks. Brad will showcase paintings and drawings from the 1990s at the Independent 20th Century with Venus Over Manhattan and has a solo show planned with the gallery in 2025. Recorded July 23, 2024, 32 min., language english, artist portrait Doug Miles https://www.independenthq.com/ https://bradkahlhamer.net/ https://www.venusovermanhattan.com/artists/brad-kahlhamer Your host: https://van-horn.net Instagram: @independent_hq @bradkahlhamer @v_over_m @voicesonart @van_horn_duesseldorf #VoicesOnArt #Independent20thCentury #IndependentHQ #artfair #Podcast #Talk #storytelling #DanielaSteinfeld #VoicesOnArt 'VanHornGallery #BradKahlhamer #artist #musician #painting #sculpture #drawing #VenusOverManhattan

Squeak Carnwath, *1947, is an artist, painter and printmaker based in Oakland, California. She will be showing with Jane Lombard at the Independent 20th c, exhibiting her rarely seen works from the 1990s. We're talking how Squeak discovered her love for making art as a young girl through her curiosity for the materials surrounding her. She would empty her mother's kitchen cabinets and create big pictures on the kitchen floor, resulting in her first art experience. Growing up on the east coast, the family was moving a lot due to her fathers job, who would support Squeak's artistic talent by bringing back all kinds of art supplies from his business trips. Squeak reflects on her determination and the rebellious act of becoming a woman artist in these times, as well as what it takes to make art on a psychological and material level. Having gone through numerous painting classes at different times in her life and years of training at different universities, she realized that for her the true revelation lies in doing and experiencing for herself. Her art touches on life without imitating it but questioning it, dwelling upon it, not to find answers but to address things and topics that are meaningful to her . Squeak is not interested in replicating what she sees, she considers painting as kind of a „spiritual extension of the soul". Carnwath's works are a hybrid between recognizable images, text and abstraction, sometimes imitating materials to the point of trompe l'oeil. 38 min., recorded July 2 , 2024, language english, artist portrait by Kurt Fishback https://www.independenthq.com/ https://www.squeakcarnwath.com/ https://www.janelombardgallery.com/squeak-carnwath Your host: https://van-horn.net Instagram: @independent_hq @squeakcarnwath @janelombardgallery @voicesonart @van_horn_duesseldorf #VoicesOnArt #Independent20thCentury #IndependentHQ #Podcast #Talk #storytelling #DanielaSteinfeld #VoicesOnArt #SqueakCarnwath #artist #painting #JaneLombardGallery

Welcome back to the Voices On Art Podcast. This is the 90th Episode, created in cooperation with Independent 20th Century. My guest is Alma Luxembourg, partner of Luxembourg & Co., with galleries in New York City and London and head of the London branch. Luxembourg & Co. already exhibited two times at the Independent 20th Century and will again bring a specially curated project to the 2024 edition of the fair. Alma grew up in an household filled with art, both parents being avid collectors and friends of artists. Her mother Danielle working for an auction house, being co-chief in an auction house, before founding Luxembourg & Dayan with Amalia Dayan, of which Alma later became a partner as well. Alma had to find her own way into the art world though and reflects deeply and insightful about this in our talk. Although first studying politics she learned all art related skills in the diverse institutions she worked for – may it be museum like entities, galleries or auction houses. In 2011 Amalia Dayan asked her to partner up with Luxembourg & Dayan, which later was to become the gallery it is now – Luxembourg & Co. The gallery is co-owned by Daniella and Alma Luxembourg, concentrating on private sales and museum-style curated exhibitions by leading modern and contemporary artists. Alma talks her initial hesitation to follow in the footsteps of her mother, discovering on the way her own passion for art, understanding what she didn't know yet and what she had to learn and meeting people who shared their knowledge, expertise and insights with her. For Alma and Luxembourg & Co. passion is at the core of everything they do, a deep rooted desire to know more, to dig deeper and to always do the best one can – or not to do it at all. She reflects in depth about her past 20 years in the art world and gives us a glimpse of her plans for the future, in which she hopes she can continue what she already does, just to have the opportunity to do more of it. For Alma collaboration, dialogue and a personal, individual approach is key. The talk was recorded between London and Düsseldorf on June 20, 2024. It was held in english and is about 49 min. long. If you like Voices On Art please share it with your friends and give us a good rating on your podcast platform. The book I mentioned in this Episode is: “Großes Ey” a novel about the life of Johanna Ey, a Dusseldorf based baker in the first half of the 20th century, who became an important art supporter and dealer. This book is in german, but you may find information about her in english as well. https://www.independenthq.com/ https://luxembourgco.com/ Your host: https://van-horn.net Instagram: @independent_hq @luxembourg_co @voicesonart @van_horn_duesseldorf #VoicesOnArt #Independent20thCentury #IndependentHQ #Podcast #Talk #storytelling #DanielaSteinfeld #VoicesOnArt #AlmaLuxembourg #Luxembourg_Co #Gallery

Janis Provisor is a New Yorker, residing between Connecticut and New York City. Janis is an accomplished artist with a vast career in the arts, showing in galleries all over the world as well as having her work in many museum collections. Janis will be having a solo-presentation of her work with Halsey McKay at the Independent 2024. Now in her seventies Janis gathered a lot of experience in art and life and shares her wisdom in our talk. Being very young she was taken to Museums by Family members. She already felt then she wanted to be an artist, not knowing at all what that was about. She studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, right after the Summer of Love, receiving her MFA in 1971. Although the 70s were a great time for experimenting and going new ways in the arts and society, it was not a great time for women resp. women artists. Janis reflects on how the status of women has changed in the past decades and how much there is still to do. In 1989, along with her husband and son, she left New York for an adventure in China and Hong Kong, they ended up staying for nine years, running their own company Fort Street Studios in China in the 1990s, designing, manufacturing, and selling hand-knotted silk carpets. Through all these years she constantly developed and experimented, which helped her finding her individual voice as artist and woman. Janis often starts her paintings with writing and putting her thoughts, her feelings out on the canvas. In the process of painting those words often get obscured and a physical and emotional process starts, in which Janis let's loose and allows her body to paint the way it needs to. Being jewish, she now processes and expresses her torn feelings about the war and the humanitarian crisis in the near east. For the presentation at the Independent she is now creating a new body of work, which will be as free and open as possible, while still being very concentrated and essential to fit the format of a fair presentation. 41 min., recorded February 21, 2024, language english https://www.independenthq.com/ artist website: https://www.janisprovisorstudio.com/ artist history: https://fortstreetstudio.com/founders/ https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9788891829627/ Gallery: https://www.halseymckay.com/artists/janis-provisor Your host: https://van-horn.net Instagram: @independent_hq @janisprovisor @halseymckaygallery @voicesonart @van_horn_duesseldorf #VoicesOnArt #IndependentSpecial #IndependentHQ #Podcast #Talk #storytelling #DanielaSteinfeld #VoicesOnArt #JanisProvisor #Artist #HalseyMacKayGallery

Vian Sora b. 1976 in Baghdad, Iraq, is an iraqi-american painter, living and working in Louisville, Kentucky. Growing up in Baghdad in a kurdish arab family coming from academia and culture, the great and rich Mesopotamian foundation of her cultural heritage is fundamental to her. Her life was enriched by both cultures as well as threatened by the persecution her family experienced. War, violence and death were part of those years, as was the beauty and sublimity her parents tried to install in her life through exposure to culture and art. Life and death were always on the same plate. One can't approach Vian's work and her narrative without touching upon her background, which informed her life and now is also lending itself as backdrop of the work. She uses herself, the bodily, emotional and psychological experiences she had to go through to transform the hurt and pain into an utterly positive and energetic lust for life, which is brought into the world through her body and flows into her paintings. Her aim is to bring beauty and richness out of the horrific past. Vian talks her migration through many countries, her studies (including Computer Science), her painterly process, her obsession with color, form, texture, painting and her love for different cultures. She opens herself up to a cornucopia of influences, landscapes, experiences, filtering it all through the microcosmos of every cell in her body and releasing it onto the canvas. Her deep color sense, the patterns she finds are beautiful with a very sophisticated sense of composition, however frequently a dark form lurks in the shadows. Vian also discusses her solo presentation with David Nolan Gallery at the Independent, which she intends to be an immersive experience for the viewer – a booth with large scale, vibrant paintings one can't only look upon, but has to fully encounter. Recorded February 20, 2024, 32 min., language english https://www.independenthq.com/ artists website and instagram: https://www.viansora.com/ https://www.instagram.com/viansora/ interview with Vian Sora: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVyo_c8-dJc&t=847s gallery website: https://www.davidnolangallery.com/artists/vian-sora your host: https://van-horn.net/podcast/ #IndependentNY #independent_hq #artfair #VianSora #DavidNolan #VoicesOnArt #VanHornGallery #van_horn_duesseldorf #Podcast #Talk #Storytelling #DanielaSteinfeld

This is a special episode created in collaboration with Independent NYC. Anton Svyatsky (b. 1991, Moscow) is an American philosopher, curator, artist studio manager and gallery owner based in NYC. He has worked on, among others, parallel program exhibitions for different Biennials and has organized exhibitions at galleries in Europe and the US. He has been a guest lecturer at diverse Universities and is the studio director of the art collective AES+F. Anton founded his gallery „Management“ in 2021 partly as reaction on the Covid crisis, partly because his credentials didn't fit into other galleries job descriptions and partly because his threshold for taking risks has always been exceptionally low. Having the mind of a thinker, being a studied philosopher, he nevertheless turned out to be a self-taught maker and entrepreneur, first in his own design studio as well as now in his gallery. Anton reflects on him growing up as the son of a famous artist, dropping out of high school, studying philosophy and, after wearing many hats, „wiggling“ his way into the art world. He believes in serendipity and that doors open for somebody taking risks while at the same time having a plan. Quoting Hannibal Smith of the A-Team, Anton says: „ I love it when a plan comes together“. Still, he doesn't take the easy road, he is interested in complicating things, playing the devils advocate and therefore chooses artists purely relying on his own taste and unique reaction to their work. Artists whose voices have the potential of becoming loud and being heard. He says: „You want to be part of something great and a gallery is a legitimate way of doing it.“ In our conversation, Anton covers the entire gamut of the art world, leaving us with smart reflections on art, the general gallery model, the voice of artists, the importance of art fairs and their intertwined relations. At the Independent Art Fair „Management“ will show a solo presentation by Anastasia Komar, on which Anton reflects in depth. He explains the scientific background of her work, it's connections with something like the „divine“, how the works are executed and mentions their eerie beauty. Anastasia's practice is highly original in both subject matter and execution. It looks at a field that is impenetrable to the layman and translates it into the realm of visceral visual communication that literally halts people in their tracks. With progress toward "divine powers" accelerating at an ever-increasing pace, from genetic modification to artificial intelligence, it is important to occasionally pause and ponder its implications. For Independent, Anastasia is preparing her most ambitious work to date which aims at nothing less than to ensnare the public and lead them to these urgent reflections. Recorded January 23, 2024, 33 min., language english Links:https://management.nyc/ https://www.independenthq.com/ https://van-horn.net/podcast/

Lingzhi Zhuang is a chinese exhibition maker, project space and gallery owner based in Shanghai. Her gallery LINSEED was established in 2022, focusing on a younger generation of asian and international artists. Having studied at Goldsmith's in London, Lingzhi received the call to take a post at Pearl Lam Galleries, one of the most acclaimed galleries in Asia, asking her to move to Shanghai. After several other stations Lingzhi decided during Covid to open her own space and ultimately her gallery LINSEED in 2022. The gallery highlights emerging artists and fuses asian and western approaches. Lingzhi relates the beginnings of her project space, the support she received to realize her vision and how she founded her gallery LINSEED in challenging times. She reflects a new generation in China, to which she herself belongs to. Young people leading nomadic lifes, often going abroad to study in the UK, the US or elsewhere and bringing back those manifold influences to their home country. She herself attaches great importance on friendship, trust and community. Although having learned her skills in galleries with a more corporate background, she believes in a new way of working together, while still not losing view of the business side of things. Lingzhi also talks about the solo presentation of Asami SHOJI (b.1988, Japan) which LINSEED will show at Independent New York 2024. It will be featuring Shoji's latest series of daily and gestural paintings that encapsulate the passing of time and life. Each painting in this series, created in a continuous sequence, represents a specific day or moment, reflecting the artist's state and her environment. Recorded January 29, 2024, 32 min., language english Links: https://www.linseedprojects.space/https://www.independenthq.com/ https://van-horn.net/podcast/ #VoicesOnArt #IndependentSpecial #IndependentArtFair #NewYorkCity #LingzhiZhuang #Linseed #Shanghai #VanHornGallery #van_horn_duesseldorf #DanielaSteinfeld #Art #Talk #Storytelling #Podcast