The New York collector Sue Stoffel wears many hats in the art world. She has served as a lecturer at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, a curator of a corporate collection, and a board member for the likes of the Brooklyn Museum and Creative Time. Today, she works as an advisor to fellow collectors, doing the legwork to understand the landscape of young artists today and helping clients identify emerging talents who speak to them. We touched base with the art expert about which painters she is currently coveting for her own collection and the one artist who got away.
What was your first purchase (and how much did you pay for it)?
Christo’s Wrapped Leonardo in Milano (1982), for 2,100 Swiss francs.
A work by Christo in Sue Stoffel’s collection.
What was your most recent purchase?
A work by Shantell Martin from UTA Artists Space in Los Angeles.
Which works or artists are you hoping to add to your collection this year?
Anna Weyant, Jesse Mockrin—female figurative painters.
What is the most expensive work of art that you own?
An Anish Kapoor marble.
Where do you buy art most frequently?
Directly from galleries.
Is there a work you regret purchasing?
No, but there are many I regret not purchasing.
A work by Kathia St. Hilaire from Sue Stoffel’s collection.
What work do you have hanging above your sofa? What about in your bathroom?
A work by Kathia St. Hilaire, a recent Yale MFA graduate; I bought the work out of her thesis show. Nothing in the bathroom.
What is the most impractical work of art you own?
A hanging stocking piece by Ernesto Neto that’s filled with stones.
What work do you wish you had bought when you had the chance?
[Anything by] David Hammons.
Wangechi Mutu, The Seated II, from “The NewOnes, will free Us” (2019), installation view. Photo courtesy of the artist; Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
If you could steal one work of art without getting caught, what would it be?
One of the Wangechi Mutu sculptures that were just acquired by the Met.