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Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu with the Gao brothers Miss Mao No.1 <\/i>(2006). Image courtesy of Yabu Pushelberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
One afternoon last fall, George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg stopped by 125 Newbury Gallery on their way to their offices in Tribeca. The couple had been drawn to the gallery\u2019s Peter Hujar exhibition, \u201cEchoes,\u201d which examined queer life in New York City from the Stonewall riots of the 1970s to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. The two were unfamiliar with the artist at first, but they soon became avid collectors and advocates of his work. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat period was very interesting,\u201d Yabu tells Artsy from his home in Toronto. \u201cI just wanted to emphasize that the New York life in the West \u2014 the docks and the gay [community]There was an agreement with the local police that if they had a tryst on the dock the police would not touch them – it was a very dangerous time… It was a very unique period, documented by the ‘Peters’ of the world.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Gao brothers, Miss Mao No.1<\/i>2006. Courtesy of Yabu Pushelberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
The pair\u2019s work with artists reflects their approach to collecting art, which is driven largely by intuition and personal affection. \u201cWhen we collect art, it\u2019s very personal, there\u2019s no strategy at all,\u201d Yabu said. \u201cYou have to go with your gut, you have to be a little fearless,\u201d added Pushelberg in New York, where they have an apartment in the West Village.<\/p>\n
Yabu and Pushelberg first met while studying design at Ryerson University in Toronto. They drifted apart until they reunited professionally in the late 1970s, when they founded their eponymous design firm in 1980, counting Four Seasons Hotels and Louis Vuitton among their clients. Along the way, they steadily built a collection that includes works by Anish Kapoor, Wolfgang Tillmans, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and a four-foot-tall bronze pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Portraits of Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu and Anish Kapoor Round lacquer tray (black), <\/i>2004. Contributed by Yabu Pushelberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
As their collection grew, Yabu and Pushelberg maintained a preference for pieces that evoked personal memories \u2013 a core focus of the design duo\u2019s impressive collection. [or] \u201cI never thought about putting together a personal collection, but it became very personal,\u201d Yabu said. Another thread was works that were tied to memories and life stages. \u201cWe started collecting works that reminded us of our youth, so we did that, and it was a trend for a while,\u201d Pushelberg said. Their love of photographers such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Diane Arbus stemmed from their college years in the 1970s. <\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s turning point came when they were fortuitously hired to design a space for fellow Canadian and seasoned art collector Bruce Bailey, who subsequently introduced Yabu and Pushelberg to the nuances of buying art. He introduced the collectors to works by Canadian artists, such as four pieces from John Massey\u2019s \u201cModern Waiting Area\u201d series from 1997-99, which they acquired from Olga Korper Gallery in 1999. \u201cWhen you\u2019re young and you\u2019re curious about art but you don\u2019t know anything about it, it\u2019s always good to have a mentor who can show you something and get you started and start to feel the reactions to what you\u2019re doing,\u201d Pushelberg said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Marcel Zama, My pawn has become a queen, <\/i>2021. Image courtesy of Yabu Pushelberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Nobuyoshi Araki, Tokyo Comedy<\/i>ca. 1995\u201397. Image courtesy of Yabu Pushelberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
The same resonance also attracted them to buy Hujar’s work when they visited 125 Newbury Gary Schneider in Contortion I<\/em> and Gary Schneider in Contortion II <\/em>(Both 1979). The impact of Hujar\u2019s photographs, which vividly captured important social movements, particularly those related to the LGBTQ+ community and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, inspired the duo to continue researching the artist\u2019s work, and they are currently working with the Art Gallery of Ontario to expand their collection of his work. <\/p>\nIn fact, Yabu and Pushelberg are often happy to loan out their art\u2014whether to institutions, friends, or their studio (which includes a gallery space)\u2014to increase accessibility to works from their private collection. \u201cArt is meant to be shared and shown, not to be hidden and buried, because there\u2019s a lot of that on the planet,\u201d Pushelberg says. \u201cWe literally put our art in all of our studios, in our homes, and actually in some of our relatives\u2019 homes, so that it can be on the wall and people can get exposed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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From left to right: Yoshitomo Nara\u2019s exhibition site, pee<\/i> and Urinating “midnight”, <\/i>All 2001. Courtesy of Yabu Pushelberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Installation view, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Joe (2082) <\/i>2005\u201306. Image courtesy of Yabu Pushelberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
There are currently two works owned by Yoshitomo Nara and his wife. pee <\/em>and Urinating “midnight” <\/em>(both 2001)\u2014which they purchased from Tokyo\u2019s Tomio Koyama Gallery in 2002\u2014are on loan to the Guggenheim Bilbao for the museum\u2019s retrospective of the artist, which runs through November. The couple is also actively working with other organizations to help expand access to art. For example, Yabu and Pushelberg are working with the charity RX Art to commission work from Canadian artist Marcel Dzama\u2014whose My pawn has become a queen<\/em> (2021) lived in the couple\u2019s New York apartment to create a mural for a Canadian AIDS hospice called Casey House.<\/p>\nOne artist in particular that has recently intrigued Yabu and Pushelberg is the emerging Inuit artist Ooloosie Saila, whose work was recently exhibited at the 60th Venice Biennale, \u201cForeigners Everywhere.\u201d Their connection to Saila\u2019s art began by chance when he was offered a Isolated iceberg <\/em>(2018) at the 2019 Art with Heart charity auction in Canada. Her fascinating story and the struggles of Indigenous artists are fascinating, as is the 2019 New York Times<\/em> articles, and they purchased more of her work. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Installation view, Thomas Ruff, World Health Organization10, <\/i>2001. Contributed by Yabu Pushelberg. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
To support and showcase her talent, they are considering collaborating to provide Saila with a platform to exhibit her work in their Tribeca studio gallery space. It is typical for both Yabu and Pushelberg to delve into an artist\u2019s life history and learn as much as they can about her. The couple plans to travel to Cape Dorset, Intuit Island above Hudson Bay, to learn more about Saila and the region\u2019s indigenous artists.<\/p>\n
With intuition honed by decades of design experience, Yabu and Pushelberg abandoned formal collecting strategies in favor of a philosophy that art engages, touches, and provokes conversation. This approach is rooted in their work as designers, ensuring that each piece they purchase is not only visually engaging, but also a living component of the space they are in. \u201cWe are not art investors, we only buy what we like; some art is valuable and some is not, but this does not matter to us,\u201d Pushelberg says. \u201cArt is very important \u2013 it tells us about society, it tells us where we are going, and it is the only thing that gives some people a sense of stability,\u201d adds Yabu.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Maxwell Raab<\/p>\n
Maxwell Rabb is a staff writer at Artsy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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