The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 8

with J.P. Morgan Securities. In New York he met his future sculptural works, which, unfortunately, could not always wife Pamela who had a long career in corporate finance be accommodated in either apartment. They were not and treasury for large, multi-national corporations in the deterred. They designed and built a new, much more pharmaceutical, cosmetics, retail and apparel industries. spacious home in downtown Manhattan, which they Beside a common interest in finance, they soon discovered moved into in late 1996. In the meantime, they made that they both loved the visual arts and early in the arrangements for larger works such as Viola Frey’s Man relationship began to collect contemporary ceramics. and his World, which they acquired earlier that year in As with many collectors of ceramic art, beautiful vessel forms initially attracted the Hootkins when they began to collect in the early 1980s. They have never lost their taste for the beauty of the ceramic medium. However, toward the end of the 1980s they noticeably moved toward an edgier kind of work. Even though they continued to collect vessel forms such as Anne Kraus’ vases or Richard Notkin’s anticipation of the new home, to remain in storage in the gallery where it had been purchased. A number of large works by Michael Lucero, one of their favorite artists, were acquired knowing that they would be traveling to several museums across the United States for extended periods of time. The loft was ready by the time the sculptures returned to New York and their new owners. teapots, these now had narrative content with strong One must add that even in terms of scale, in recent psychological and existential overtones. In the mid-1990s, years, the Hootkins began to push the envelope further the Hootkins went still further in their thinking about acquiring works that even their new home could not collecting and wholly embraced the idea of independent physically accommodate. Most recently works such as ceramic sculpture. Hence totally non-functional pieces Arnie Zimmerman’s The Fools' Congress, Part 2 and Beth by artists such as Kukuli Velarde and Justin Novak made Cavener’s L’Amante and Humiliation by Design were their way into the collection. Here too, the impact of first placed into storage then transferred to the Chazen their acquisitions was as dependent on their uneasy Museum of Art, first as loans and then as gifts to the and edgy content as on their beautiful manufacture. collection. We share the Hootkins’ passion for these Already in the early 1990s, the rapid growth of the works and are truly grateful for their beneficence. collection necessitated the renting of an additional Besides their passion for the works of art, the Hootkins apartment. Ostensibly a residence for their daughter have always been fascinated by creative personalities. upon her graduation from college, it served in the Over the years they have befriended many of the artists interim as a storage space for their quickly growing whose work they acquired. In 1992, as a surprise for collection. About this same time, however, the Hootkins Stephen’s fiftieth birthday, Pam sent each of the artists also began to take an active interest in large-scale whose work was in their collection a blank 8 x 11 inch Stephen and Pamela Hootkin. 6