This week I share favourite things: Antiques and Modern works of Art with James Mackie, Senior Director and Deputy Head of the Impressionist and Modern Art Department at Sotheby’s in London. Mackie met my wife when they were porters at Bonham’s (fresh from University) and he has become a close friend of mine and Godfather to our son. His knowledge of classical and modern art never ceases to amaze me.
“I started my career as a print specialist and I still enjoy and have a huge appreciation for the medium, so each year I endeavour to buy an edition print by a contemporary British artist. I’ve gathered a small but respectable collection that includes Grayson Perry, Peter Doig, Mark Wallinger and Alex Massouras. The latter is perhaps the least known of these artists but one of my favourite’s, I’m very drawn to his exquisitely rendered etchings and their poetic subject matter. I realize that some of the artists I especially enjoy are those whose work reinterprets or references art of past centuries. It’s certainly true of the British Artist Mark Wallinger’s screenprint Ghost.