Martin Gayford knows a lot about artists. He has written books about five of them, including one about the 250 hours he spent sitting for Lucien Freud. Gayford recently interviewed for the Royal Academy Magazine Damien Hirst, Tom Phillips, Howard Hodgkin and Georg Baselitz on why they as artists collect art. These contemporary artists have uniquely different collecting styles and their commentary is often humorous, especially Hodgkin’s explanation of his collecting habits. “Subsequently, however, ‘after the wanting stage has passed, usually when large amounts of money have been spent on serious acquisitions, then you make a horrible discovery that a collection has a life of its own: it makes its own demands.’” Read More…