Mr. Jack Guthman, is an Attorney at Law at Shefsky & Froelich in Chicago, trustee of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and representative of Development Community. Mr. & Mrs. Guthman have been collecting contemporary art for over thirty years.Paulina Kolczynska:

When did you start buying art and why?
Jack Guthman: In late 1969, on a trip to New York, my wife and I thought it would be interesting to see some galleries. We had never done it before, had no artistic background, and no experience in buying art. Our purchase from this trip was a little b/w.

Picasso lithograph. Soon after we started buying prints by contemporary American artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly and Jim Dine. Artists of that generation and style appealed to us. I think we started with prints, because it was safe and relatively inexpensive. Prints in those days, were modestly priced.

P.K.: How did you find the galleries and art works you were interested in, without a professional guidance?
J.G.: We let our instincts guide us. We were self-taught in that regard. I believe you "keep finding with shoe leather". You have to have eyes but you have to have willingness to keep walking and keep seeing lots of art, reading art magazines and being genuinely interested in what is going on.

P.K.: On whose advice do you rely the most?
J.G.: We have developed relationships with dealers and we speak with them a lot. I find it vital to listen and exchange opinions, however, we do not rely on their taste, only on our own instincts. Bill van Straeten was a significant personality in our case at the very beginning. He had a fine print gallery in New York. He had almost everything available at his space so you did not have to explore much further. In terms of curatorial help, we do not have private advisors. I think part of the joy is the chase and working on it on our own. Having art consultants is a personal view. I know many people who do that and they get the same enthusiastic joy that we do but I do not need a middleman.

P.K.: What kind of art do you collect and which artists form the core of the collection?
J.G.: A lot of what we have is conceptual art. I like the object to be appealing as much as the idea. We have works by Thomas Locher, Yinka Shonibare, Douglas Gordon, Juan Munoz, Gabriel Orozco, Sophie Calle and Thomas Struth. We have two large pieces by Sam Taylor-Wood and a triptych by Michal Rovner. Recently, we have purchased another work by Michal from her early years. This is, however, unusual because we buy new art.

P.K.: Why have you decided to focus on cutting edge art?
J.G.: Several things, the first is economics. The prices rise much faster than with established artists. We do not really buy expensive art. Francis Cape is within low four figures for example. We just like to stay on top of what is going on now. We start with one piece and return to purchase several years later. There are probably 6 artists that we have more that one piece by. For example we bought Orozco some years ago and afterwards, we found a piece which appealed to us 3-4 years later. This is definitely an artist I have continuous interest in. We have looked into more Stephanie Brooks, a young Chicago painter and another painter Michele Grubner. We have bought Christopher Wool three times in his career. We bought a word piece, a big painting and a large drawing. All of them were purchased in large time gaps.

P.K.: What is your main focus right now?
J.G.: Lots of works from our collection are very new and the challenge is to find interesting, young cutting edge artists whose works appeal to us.

P.K.: What is the process of your decision making?
J.G.: We keep going back to the artists we are interested in. In a majority of the cases before committing, we look at a larger body of work, but every now and again we come across something which we know that we have to have. For instance I went to an opening at Murray Guy Gallery and I viewed some unforgettable works by Francis Cape. I knew that I had to view these pieces again. I now own them. In other cases we considered a Serrano for a long time. We greatly admired pieces from the Morgue series. But I would not want to live with it. Everything what we have is on our walls, we do not have anything in storage. It is a question how it feels in the house.

P.K.: Have you started from a conservative point of view?
J.G.: Well, if you do not know anything you tend to be conservative. We are less conservative now and more assured.