Daniel Rahmati, collector & galerist

EMOTION

Your first souvenir about art?

My mother’s studio when I was 4 years old.

The masterpiece you would like to have in your collection?

Diana the Huntress by Orazio Gentileschi.

COLLECTION

Your first acquisition?

A sculpture by Takashi Murakami, I bought it from Phillips Auction House when I was 20, although my taste changed when I started working as a gallerist and the first work I bought then was a work on paper by André Butzer.

Takashi Murakami, Plush Flowerball, 2008

André Butzer, Untitled, 2018

Your last acquisition?

A work on paper by Tunji-Adeniyi Jones and a big oil on canvas painting by Lydia Blakeley, pretty much at the same time, perhaps in the same week.

Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Patterns & Rituals XVI, 2019

Lydia Blakeley, The Massacre of the Innocent, 2019

Is there a common thread that unites the artworks of your collection?

I collect mainly works of female emerging artists but no I don’t have a strict path to collect, really what I like and enjoy seeing everyday on my walls.

ARTISTS

TOP 3 favorite known artists?

Vincent Van Gogh | Mark Rothko | Miriam Cahn

Vincent Van Gogh, Portrait of Joseph Roulin, 1889

Mark Rothko, N°61, 1953

Miriam Cahn, Blue, 2017

TOP 3 emerging artists?

Define emerging these days, you have emerging artists which are more expensive than blue chip established artists, but if I have to pick I go for: Xiuching Tsay, Yulia Iosilzon and Shinuk Suh, whom are 3 artists that I work with in my gallery, If I didn’t like and believe in them enough, I wouldn’t have worked with them. This is only because I have 3 choices, otherwise I would have named all the artists I work with and represent.

Xiuching Tsay, She has her own island, 2019

Yulia Iosilzon, Eclairs, 2020

Shinuk Suh, Untitled, 2019

TIPS

Your criteria of choice?

Dark works mainly wether its the subject or the colour palette, I don’t really collect sculptures that often.

Any advice for neophyte collectors?

Don’t follow trend, don’t follow Instagram, don’t buy glittery and only fancy works, buy what makes you happy or sad, a strong work that can raise any sort of emotion within you. Something that brings back a memory perhaps.

The next artistic event not to be missed?

What event? The whole world is cancelled for now, but Art Basel in Basel Switzerland and Liste are what I always look forward to every summer.

The Instagram account that inspires you?

@ArtForum

What does MyStudiolo bring you?

Just followed it recently, so let's see, hopefully gummy bears and a Rothko painting.