Thinking Back on CAPP—Lindsay Smilow '07
Lindsay Smilow and the artist Maggie Michael examine Michael's painting Throw (2006), acquired by the 2006-07 CAPP committee. Photo: Christopher Bugtong.
March 2007. Chasing art around New York; waiting in the back room of Leslie Tonkonow's second floor space; invited to the basement of Jack Shainman on 24th street; looking through Yossi Milo's flat files; getting lost en route to a studio visit in Brooklyn; surrounded by prints at Pace on 57th; rounded out by a visit to the Whitney Museum to catch Lorna Simpson’s retrospective. The images I had come to know from textbooks, computer screens, and powerpoint presentations were springing to life in real time as six college students were taken as seriously as any other art collectors by world-reknowned dealers. We came researched, with money to spend, and a list of art to acquire. I can still see Leslie Tonkonow smiling as we flipped through the pages of Nikki S. Lee’s "Projects" (1997–2001), thumbnails on paper with names of the various institutions that had already purchased photographs. Only a handful of artist’s proofs were still available for the University of Maryland art collection we were about to build.
The progam’s first acquisitions, mostly photography, a bit of painting, and that home-run Lorna Simpson print + sound piece, really spoke to each and every student that comprised the group. Decisions were always unanimous, or at least they ended up that way. Much of the work purchased in my inaugural year was concerned with identity and perception; I now understand why those themes spoke volumes to 21-year-old art buyers. Often, I play the would've, should've, could've game with our strategy. But then again, that risk and effort, teaching the theory of the art market and collecting by allowing students to decide what lives at their alma mater for years to come, yielded a collection that reflects each group’s moment in time.
January 2016. I can plainly see how this unprecedented process has informed my career in more ways than I can count.
Lindsay Smilow, UMD '07
2006–2007 CAPP Committee