first encounter

In September 1980, Greg and Clay visited Nancy Lurie Gallery in Chicago for the first time. By the time they left that day, Greg bought Drusilla (from "Women of Rome" series) by Joseph Hilton; Clay bought Lady Cop Dressing (Dangerous Women) by Mark Forth. They paid $500 apiece.

Early art encounters can be transformative, just as early acquisitions can be exhilarating. For many people they are starting points that lead to more varied experiences, from studio visits to gallery shows, from museum exhibitions to art fairs.

Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) coined the term "retinal art" to describe art that only appealed to the eyes and not the intellect. He believed that art should stimulate the mind and provoke cognitive engagement, rather than just be decorative. He called this concept "cerebral art." In response, Duchamp created readymades as an alternative to retinal art. Readymades are ordinary objects that Duchamp selected, modified, and signed to create art. He chose the objects based on "visual indifference" and used his sense of humor, irony, and ambiguity. He confessed, “I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products.”

In the current digital era, the potential inventory of retinal experiences is decidedly infinite and chaotic. It challenges the observer to make “value” judgements, both aesthetic and economic. Duchamp continued, “The artist performs only one part of the creative process. The onlooker [the observer] completes it, and it is the onlooker who has the last word.” As for an artwork’s economic value, that is left to the hocus-pocus of the international art market.

Duchamp asserted “that the value of a painting is not in the amount of dollars and cents that are attached to it. In other words, a painting that was worth $50,000 in 1900 is worth $5,000 today, or less, or nothing. So, the value is absolutely artificial and of the moment, [and is] not really the actual value.”

Greg and Clay still own these works, which are displayed in their home. Hilton is now based near Los Angeles, has not had a show since 2018, but there has been continuing interest in his work as a “‘bad’ painter,” which was first shown at the New Museum in 1978. Forth, a native and current resident of Bloomington, IL, paints "fictitious nocturnes" in which mysterious domestic scenes are set in the dark interiors of midwestern buildings. Both paintings are estimated to have quadrupled in financial value but, more importantly, they are the original anchors in linn press’ art engagement.