Inside Interior Designer Douglas Mackie’s Laboratory of Art

I am my suppose by things really partly with a decorators I rather than necessarily a collectors I I'm not trying to create a museum here in any way the way that I collect is essentially very personal I don't really call it a collection there are simply the things that I enjoy living with that make my life more agreeable I bought my first painting probably about 20 years ago and it was heard painting by Keith form and this was quite a major thing to do and I then got the bug the next thing that I purchased was this extraordinary panel by Sandra blow from the early 1960s it involves collage his layers of canvas and paint applied on top of each other it has again that slightly textured surface which I greatly admire in a painting I think it was Cambridge that I started to really develop my aesthetic sense and my interest in art I remember our first year going to Rome and spending a full 10 days literally walking around the city drawing everything that we saw in some ways that was almost the most useful skill that I learnt at Cambridge this ability to draw to study to observe [Music] I suppose for me this apartment is almost like a laboratory this is where I experiment with how things work together this is a painting by Michael Goldberg which I bought about two years ago in New York it's painting but spontaneous joy of using paint and this is something that I'm increasingly drawn to and the things that I buy I've set alongside it this rather marvelous lamp by cadet carbonelle and this rather lovely thing which is a chimeric period pot from Angkor Wat and actually probably my most recent acquisition which is what we believed to be a 17th century ceramic head of a young man which I find very compelling have started now buying antiquities in a way that I hadn't ever consider I would to say 10 years ago and I love the way that these pieces from antiquity become abstract by generally being fragments the way that they'd and interact with modern art I find that these things start to resonate by juxtaposition rather than this individual objects of their own right [Music] I'm drawn towards elements where the creative process of making is very apparent in the piece of art in its own right you needn't always my paintings I love now as I get older buying drawings by artists that I admire and they're awful very accessible and I think no lesser examples of that artists work this is a drawing by Henry Moore from 1936 this is very much a working study for sculpture rather than one of his much more refined finished drawings you really see the creative process and was the first thing I see when I came into this room in the morning and it gives me pleasure so what else can you want from a drawing frankly I can only recommend to people who are starting to buys just do your own research go to the galleries go to the auction houses and go to the dealers and just learn about what they are selling the best auction houses and dealers can teach you a great deal learn about an artist that you admire not because he's in vogue or your friends have got him just learn about yourself more importantly I sometimes say to people is a little bit like cooking you have a certain rule book that you follow but after that it's also relate to do with taste [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Sotheby's

Views: 684,947

Keywords: modern art, art, decorator, designer, collecting, sotheby's, douglas mackie, collectors, hennessy, home design, interior design, antiquity, architecture, luxury homes

Id: RLJoXuhW8H0

Length: 4min 59sec (299 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 17 2018