Collector Interview: Christina HeeKyung Kang

Q&A with Art Advisor and Culture Producer, Christina Heekyung Kang

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Collector Interview: Christina HeeKyung Kang

Komo Speaks with Collector, Christina HeeKyung Kang about her art collection. 

 1. What does your collection mean to you? 

My collection is very personal as I have been collecting for nearly 30 years now. My father was a passionate collector and I grew up watching him collect and support artists.  Art has to relate to my personal matter and story.  I do buy art as an investment as well but mostly collect living artists.
Work by Blair Thurman, Ross Hansen and more in Kang's Los Angeles loft.

2. When did you first become engaged with art? 
I was in my 20s and one of my friends went to an art center and saw an artist represented by Jeffrey Deitch. I saw the performance and I was drawn to the artist’s personal story about cultural shocks and issues that he dealt with when he moved to the US.  I left at 16 to go to boarding school in Switzerland, so i related to a lot about the artist’s story and it really intrigued me.
Post Human, an exhibition at Jeffrey Deitch in Los Angeles
3. Why did you start collecting art? 
My parents, especially my dad was a big influence. He was a business man and he loved beautiful things, especially paintings, and i grew up in this environment and this is where I am now...it never stopped!
Kang's collection includes art and design pieces, thoughtfully curated across two distinct spaces in Los Angeles.
4. What factors influence whether or not you add a piece to your collection?
Whenever I visit a studio or meet an artist or see a wonderful show, I just cannot go without having the work,… these days I have more self control, but if the work keeps sitting with me for more than two days, I revisit and collect the work, because I do not want to regret it.
A painting by artist, Shaina McCoy hanging in Kang's Los Angeles home

5. What piece in your collection is most meaningful to you? 
Serge Attukwei Clottey’s Hair Legacy II, 2020 reminds me of how I looked at people when I was a teenager. It reminds me of being such a thinker at that time.
Hair Legacy, 2020 by Serge Attukwei Clottey hangs in Kang's Los Angles home

6. If you could add any piece in the world to your collection, what would it be and why? 
Matisse, especially a woman and interior. The work is simply just so beautiful. Words can't express it.
Henri Matisse. Interior, Nice (Nice, intérieur), between January and June 1919, Oil on canvas. The Barnes Foundation, BF394. © 2024 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
7. If you could encourage other people to start collecting, what would you say?
Please please see the works in person and listen to your heart.  Believe in what your instincts tell you. Your heart needs to pump when you see the work. This rarely fails, so be diligent and see as much art as possible (museums galleries and studio visit etc.)

 

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