The collector Pete Scantland is based in Columbus, Ohio, where he serves on the board of trustees of the Wexner Center for the Arts and is the board president at the Columbus Museum of Art (CMA). In 2021, his family gifted the CMA 27 works—including pieces by Lucy Bull, Lauren Halsey, Somaya Critchlow, Jadé Fadojutimi and Deana Lawson—and $2m to endow an educator position. Scantland also serves on the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Last year Orange Barrel Media, the company Scantland founded, opened an office in Manhattan’s Noho district that, much like his home, is filled with contemporary art. He took a break before Frieze New York to share his latest acquisitions and personal wish list with The Art Newspaper.
The Art Newspaper: What was the first work you ever bought?
Pete Scantland: I bought my first work from an artist friend while still in college, but the earliest works in our current collection are a painting by Derrick Adams and a fabric work by Hank Willis Thomas.
What was the most recent work you bought?
There’s two. Static (2023) by Sasha Gordon, was recently acquired through Matthew Brown. I’ve been interested in Sasha for quite some time, and I’m thrilled that this will be the first work in the collection. I’m also incredibly excited about a new work by Robin F. Williams, Dear Jane (2024), which is in her first career survey, We’ve Been Expecting You, that we just opened at the Columbus Museum of Art. Robin is an extraordinary artist, combining inventive technical skill and a brilliant conceptual framework to confront how the media, pop culture, cinema and art history shape our understanding of gender and the representation of women.
How quickly do you decide to buy a work of art?
If it’s an artist I’ve been looking at for a while, sometimes I know right away. If it’s an artist I’m just learning about, it can take more time to understand the work and where it fits with the artist’s practice and within our collection.
What do you regret not buying when you had the chance?
Sadly, there’s been a few! Obviously, you can’t do everything, and sometimes missing something creates an opportunity down the road. As a case in point, I still think about this amazing still life by Louis Fratino, My Meal (2019) that was in his show at Sikkema Jenkins that year. Ever since, I’ve been hoping to have an opportunity with a major Fratino work, and so I was beyond thrilled that this happened with Wine (2024), which currently appears in the Central Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Had the earlier painting happened for me, I think it would be very unlikely that I would have been offered this one.
What is the most unusual place you’ve installed a piece?
I’m really excited about our recent installation of Jungian Ingot (2023) by Carol Bove. We were struggling to find the right location, and then decided to try mounting it above the threshold of a door that you must walk underneath to enter the main part of our house. Standing directly beneath it while it hangs precariously overhead heightens your awareness of the contradiction posed by a work that appears deceptively light and soft while existing as an object that is inherently hard and heavy. At this elevated position, the abstraction references the world outside, as the polished disc dipping behind the horizontal plane suggests a sun setting into the landscape. I thought it really worked, but was worried Carol wouldn’t like it. We shared images and I was thrilled that she loved it!
If you could have any work from any museum, what would it be?
An almost impossible choice, but I would probably choose The Red Studio (1911) by Henri Matisse, from the Museum of Modern Art, or The Luncheon on the Grass (1862) by Édouard Manet from the Musée d’Orsay.
What are you most looking forward to during the fairs in New York this month?
The museums have incredible shows, including The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Biennial, Pacita Abad at MoMA PS1, and Cameron Granger and Lyle Ashton Harris at the Queens Museum. I’m also excited about gallery shows including Lesley Vance at Bortolami, Hugh Hayden at Lisson, Francesca Mollett at Grimm, Stanley Whitney at Gagosian and Rita Ackermann at Hauser & Wirth.
What is your least favourite thing about art fairs?
I know it’s fashionable to complain about fairs, but they’re a super-efficient way to see a lot of art and people, and for galleries to present artists to a big audience at once. They’re obviously a sub-optimal way to present an exhibition, but are a great place to make new introductions between collectors, gallerists and artists.
Where do you like to eat and drink in or near Chelsea and Hudson Yards?
For a quick bite, Mercado Little Spain in the lower level of Hudson Yards is great. Cookshop is a reliable staple near the galleries, and it’s a bit of a hike, but Café Chelsea at the Hotel Chelsea is beautiful and fun.
