Collector’s Note: From the Atlantic to Basel, Ro & John's First Commissions
- Monica
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
I come from the world of interiors and collectible design, and John is a treasure hunter who spends an unhealthy amount of time scouring the internet and beyond for anything and everything. We love finding pieces that speak to us and we love building our home together and watching as our style is born from our different tastes and influences.
Our small growing collection is eclectic, with works by artists and designers in all kinds of styles. For the most part, we choose the pieces we love and figure it out later. A few times there have been spaces that are just calling out for something specific where we’ve gone for commissions. All have a special story, at least special to us.
Peter Matthews was the first artist we worked with on a commission together. I don’t have the words to capture how much we’re in awe of Peter’s process. He works alone immersing himself with canvas in the ocean. Our final piece is massive, taking up an entire wall, and it’s simultaneously powerful and calm like the Atlantic where (in, on) it was painted. Throughout the process, Peter sent photos and drone shots of him and the canvas in the water and on the rocks. By the time it arrived, the canvas had celebrity status in our minds for all it had been through. All things, it’s a painting we will live with for the rest of our lives. Whenever we walk past or catch a glimpse out of the corner of our eye, we feel something, and will never get tired of it. And I think it also serves as a very pretty backdrop for dinner parties!
After moving to Switzerland, commissioning a piece from our dear friend and Basel-based artist, Lucia Fischer, felt like the perfect way to commemorate that moment. We were looking for something bold to disrupt our space. Lucia’s work challenges the male gaze and reclaims power by celebrating the female form. She’s known for working with pure pigment soft pastels and her work is color in its purest form. In her words, “mediums have no gender, but for me at least, soft pastel feels feminine with its boldness, its vulnerability, its tenderness, its expression”. In her studio, we got to watch the pastels as they were layered and blended in different stages. Having art in our home now that we all worked on together brings extra joy.
We’re constantly on the hunt for the next pieces! I love how over time, our objects and art have become interwoven with our daily lives, quietly shaping the space in their own unplanned, beautiful ways, creating our own home story.
Thanks to collectors Ro and John for sharing their personal art journey. If you’d like to experience Lucia Fischer’s work in person, she’ll be exhibiting at Basel Art Summer Camp this June. Stop by for a coffee and a browse.
Comments