‘I’m an artoholic’, says Bose Krishnamachari

Bose Krishnamachari is well known for his artistic and curatorial skills. His personal art collection that boasts of names like Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol is certainly impressive. But as he opens up to DNA  about the purpose of collecting art, we discover that there is a flipside...

How did you begin collecting art?
I am interested in the history of an artist or finding history in his works. Collecting is a way of archiving our time and history. My acquisitions are specimens for a laboratory, institute or even a museum.

Can you sum up your collection?
Artists collect because one artist, here myself, feels the urgency to understand the life, times and works of a fellow artist. Also history becomes so important to him and it is always fun to have vignettes from the vast history of modern and contemporary art. As far as my collection is concerned, it is a dead investment, but a wealth of knowledge.
 
Tell us about the works by Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst in your collection?
Andy Warhol is an artist who understood his time. Warhol’s life and works reflected a maximum celebration of film, fashion, design, music and media. In my current show LaVA, I am presenting the great Warhol’s Shoe, limited edition diamond dust print.
Damien Hirst’s Dot series is pivotal in his career as an international artist. This series marks one of the major phases after his animals in formaldehyde series. Hirst, a legend who supported his contemporaries by collecting, curating and exhibiting. As I said earlier, I own a little piece of history by buying a Hirst work.

Will you ever sell or auction your collection?
It is a dead investment. I am not going to sell these works to make a profit. I’m an artoholic collector. I am a geeky fashion and design aficionado too. But for any serious collector, there would be a point where he would like to offload certain works in order to refurbish his collection with a new set of works.