WOMEN IN THE ARTS: Step Inside Collector Carla Shen's Colorful Home

The beauty of the art world resides in the encounters we make. Carla Shen is undeniably one of the most inspiring women in New York’s art world today. From her colorful (instagram) profile to her unbeatable eye for spotting talents, and ahead of the Brooklyn Museum’s much anticipated 200th anniversary, we chatted with Carla about her long-standing passion for the arts and for art patronage, stemming from her late mother’s love of ceramics to her own dedication to supporting the careers of up and coming artists.

Carla, it’s a pleasure to connect again. You grew up surrounded by the art that your parents collected, and later on in life, you started collecting on your own. What has your collecting journey been like?

I must have inherited the collecting bug from my parents. Growing up, I watched them build a few different art collections, first a collection of Chinese ceramics, followed by a collection of Pop art limited edition prints, and later their collection took a new direction, with a focus on American modernist paintings from the early 20th century. I was included on most of their art visits growing up, and took part in their art discussions and adventures. It was inspiring to observe them become increasingly focused on and passionate about researching, seeing and acquiring artworks, which eventually led them to build a cohesive collection. This hobby brought them so much joy, and that sense of joy left an indelible mark on me.

It wasn’t until my husband, my daughter and I moved into our new home in Brooklyn that we started to collect seriously on our own. I had recently joined the board of the Brooklyn Museum, and had the opportunity to build friendships with the curators and my fellow board members, many of whom had wonderful art collections, which undeniably served as inspiration and role models to me. When I joined the Brooklyn Museum Contemporary Art Committee a couple years after that, I was introduced to many New York City-based artists; I began visiting artist studios and galleries on a regular basis. Slowly, I developed an eye for the kind of art I liked, and that is how I started buying works from emerging artists, usually from those I had met in person. At the early stage of my collecting journey, I didn’t really have an overarching theme or focus – I just wanted to acquire artworks that I fell in love with, and instinctively knew that I wanted to live with.

Beyond collecting, you’re equally committed to art patronage, which is crucial to the healthy state of the art world, centering your passion around the artists rather than the market. Your late mother, a ceramicist herself, was involved with the Brooklyn Museum for decades (we wish we had met her!). Now that you are a board member of the Museum, how do you aim to have a positive impact?

I don’t know that I personally have had much of an impact on the Brooklyn Museum, but collectively, the Board has been crucial in helping the Museum’s director Anne Pasternak and her amazing team follow their bold vision for the Museum. I love how the Museum connects and uplifts the various communities in Brooklyn (and beyond). It relates the past to the present in exciting exhibitions, and it doesn’t shy away from serious or difficult discussions or shows. The Board is always working to help Anne and her team find the resources and support for the inspiring programs and exhibitions the Museum presents. I suppose one of the things I am most proud of as a board member is sitting on the search committee for the new director of the Brooklyn Museum in 2014/2015, and helping recruit Anne Pasternak. I am so glad we made that decision!

Anne Pasternak is definitely one of the most inspiring women in the art world! Aside from the Brooklyn Museum, you’re also actively involved with another great organization, the Green-Wood Cemetery and their artist-in-residence program. The Green-Wood Cemetery is known for its dynamic programming in the visual and performing arts. Tell us more about that!

I’ve been on the board of Green-Wood cemetery for about 17 years, and I am proud to have been part of the team behind the artist-in-residence program there with Harry Weil, Green-Wood’s phenomenal Vice President of Education and Public Programs at Green-Wood. The Green-Wood artist residency provides one artist in the visual and/or performing arts with a studio space and honorarium (some materials and a stipend) to create a site-specific installation or performance at the Cemetery. The residency is open to emerging artists living and working in New York City and ends with an exhibition of their work. Three artists have gone through the program so far, and they each had really incredible work come out of the residency.

Now entering your personal collection, how do you typically choose the artists whose works you wish to acquire?

The very first artwork I acquired was a large collage of sketches by the NY-based Cuban-American artist Ruben Toledo. They were all painted scenes of New York City that my husband and I acquired by using a good part of our wedding gift funds. To this day, it still has a prominent spot in our living room. Fast forward to today, my most recent acquisitions were two paintings by Olivia Jia, who had a stunning installation with Margot Samel Gallery at Independent NY back in May. I became obsessed with her beautiful, detailed and delicate paintings of objects that she considers self-portraits. I bought a small one for myself, and one that I plan to gift to the Brooklyn Museum. But I never really set out to have a theme for my collection.

For years, I just acquired work I fell in love with, but I guess there were some common threads: most of the works I bought were by emerging artists, mostly female and NYC-based (although definitely not exclusively), and predominantly figurative painting, with a few accents of fiber art and ceramics mixed in. Since 2020, I also turned my focus towards collecting works by Asian American and Asian diasporic artists. In fact, I am helping the Brooklyn Museum build its collection of works by contemporary Asian female artists, and I have recently made promised gifts of paintings by Sasha Gordon and Susan Chen.

Any dream acquisition?

Any Martin Wong painting.

Do you get to live with all the artworks you’ve acquired?

I live with as many works that I own as possible – which means my empty wall space is quickly disappearing, and the number of salon walls in my house is increasing. But I’m also always happy to accept loan requests. I love the idea that more people will be able to see the works from our collection, and if the loan helps round out an exhibition or puts an artist’s other work into context, that’s obviously great too! At the moment, we have seven works on loan: a Mickalene Thomas painting that will be on tour for over a year and a half, a Katherine Bradford painting, a Curtis Talwst Santiago miniature, a Maia Cruz Palileo sculpture, a Hangama Amiri textile that has been touring for the past year and a half, and the Sasha Gordon and Susan Chen paintings I was mentioning earlier that will be part of the Brooklyn Museum’s re-installation of its American galleries opening this fall.

With your focus on collecting work by AAPI artists, are there particular artists you have your eye on or hope to collect?

There are so many artists I am excited about! To name a few – I have several small works by Melissa Joseph and a small painting by Anna Park, but I would love to have larger works by both of them. I’ve been so impressed with the direction their work has taken in the past few years. I also have a sculpture by Dominique Fung, but would love to own one of her gorgeous paintings. Also, since I am donating the Sasha Gordon painting I have to the Brooklyn Museum, I really would love to acquire one of her paintings for myself.

A few years ago, I got involved with the Here and There Collective (THAT), a not-for-profit that uplifts, connects, and supports arts practitioners from the Asian diaspora. It’s been a wonderful way to meet and learn about exciting up-and-coming artists, and also get to know other collectors and curators. The Collective also has an artists-in-residence program for emerging AAPI artists. I love how THAT has created such a strong sense of community and mutual support in the art world and I’m proud of what they’ve built.

The Here and There Collective has been of newcube’s close allies since 2020. We are very fond of everything they’ve built since 2020. They launched a little after newcube, during the pandemic at a time when the art world shifted to the digital realm in a drastic way and many great new platforms appeared in the art world landscape. How do you feel about this new digital era in the art world?

The pandemic totally changed the way I buy art. Pre-pandemic, I would rarely buy art sight unseen, but post-pandemic, I find myself buying artworks from a pdf or online about a third of the time. Other than newcube, I also look at Artsy, and I always browse through the online viewing rooms of the art fairs. I’m most likely to buy a work from one of the smaller art fairs and their online platforms, like NADA, Future Fairs or Spring Break.

At newcube, we work with seasoned collectors who have been acquiring works for decades, but we also advise young collectors who look up to more seasoned collectors like yourself and who are just starting. We give them genuine advice and guide them in the best way we can. What advice would you give to a collector or an art lover who is just starting to collect art?

I would tell them to take their time before diving in and spending any money on art. See and learn as much as you can – go to galleries, look at art online, attend art fairs, talk to other collectors, gallerists, curators or advisors. It takes a while to find what speaks to you, develop an eye and figure out what you ultimately want to collect. If possible, join a group or council for collectors. Many museums have collector committees or councils with different focuses and as you know, I co-chair the Brooklyn Museum Contemporary Art Committee. Through these committees, you can find a community of collectors with similar interests and visit artist studios and galleries together. You are exposed to different parts of the art world, you engage in great conversations, and it’s a great way to hone in on what types of art you are drawn to. There are also some great independent groups – like newcube or Club Rococo for instance – where you can attend events, talks and artist studio visits, and meet other like-minded collectors and artists to learn more about the art world.

There are hundreds of advisors to collectors out there, and unfortunately very few advisors to artists. At newcube, a big part of what we are dedicated to is supporting, guiding and advising up and coming artists. What are the top 3 pieces of advice you would give to up-and-coming artists today?

Maintain a strong presence on social media that highlights your work and have a professional looking and up-to-date website. Get out of your studio, go to openings. You never know whom you might meet. Try to find and build community with other artists, find “your people” to share resources, ideas and advice with.

That is really precious advice! With the fall quickly approaching, are there any exhibitions you are looking forward to?

I’m most excited about the Brooklyn Museum’s 200th anniversary that we will be celebrating this fall. There will be lots of events and festivities, and some fabulous exhibitions, such as the Brooklyn Artists Exhibition, the largest group show of Brooklyn artists in the Museum’s history! It’s such a great way to celebrate the diversity and talent in Brooklyn and kick off the Museum’s anniversary. The exhibition will open on October 4th. I also cannot wait to see the transformative re-installation of the Museum’s American Art galleries, which will look at the American art collection through a Black feminist and BIPOC lens.

I’m hoping to make it to LA soon, just to catch Mickalene Thomas’s solo exhibition All About Love, at the Broad. This is her first major international tour, and I’m so happy and honored to have loaned a work to the show.

Thank you, Carla. We cannot wait for the fall season to pick up again in the art world and we’re excited to come see you at the Brooklyn Museum’s opening in October. We wish you the best of luck with the rest of your collecting journey and we’re really excited to see how it will evolve over the next few years!