Steve Shane prefers to be called an art lover rather than a collector. He shares his passion for collecting and living with art, making connections with emerging artists, and what makes him fall in love with an artwork. He tells stories about pieces in his collection along the way.
“I call myself an art lover, not a collector. It’s a lifestyle for me at this point. I’m not a religious person––I’m spiritual. For example, Saturdays, instead of going to synagogue, I go to galleries all day, no matter where I am. On Sunday, instead of going to church, I go to museums. On all my vacations from my job I go to art fairs, the Venice Biennale, Documenta, and I feel I’m looking for a buzz.”
Steve Shane began loving art at a young age growing up in Detroit, during a high school class in which he prepared a presentation on Salvador Dali. He subsequently studied art history at the University of Michigan and moved to New York City at the age of twenty, where he visited museums and began purchasing postcard and poster reproductions. Over the course of more than thirty years, he has collected nearly one thousand works of contemporary art. Shane visits galleries every Saturday in New York, where he continues to live, and for the past twenty years has attended most major international art fairs. He regularly guest lectures and conducts critiques with MFA students at colleges and universities.