“Hello, Centretown.
My name is Bill. I’ve been living here in Centretown for the last 25, 26 years.
I think of myself as a friend of the artists and the arts community here in Centretown and throughout the city and the Ottawa region.
One of the things that I like about coming to a place like Highjinx Ottawa. It’s one of the haunts that I frequent in Centretown looking for interesting artwork, unusual items, and also a chance to support the vibrant life here in the Centretown area by donating to Highjinx.
The collection that I just dissolved recently had about 1300 objects in it, a variety of things, paintings, sculptures, memorabilia, ephemera, that sort of stuff, most of it by local artists, not exclusively, but mostly.
And now that my situation has changed, I’ve started to rebuild the collection, and so now I’m out on the hunt again looking for pieces by local artists and interesting work that appeals to me.
The kind of art that I’m attracted to is art that makes me stop and think about something. I like something that challenges my assumptions, that makes me see a situation in a different way.
I’m not so much interested in decorative work as I am in work that’s either transgressive or has a point of view that I’m going to enjoy wanting to consider over and over and over again because the work that I buy I keep in my own home.
And so I’m going to see it every day. I want it to provoke a memory, a thought, an issue.
Why do I think this way? Why do I feel this way? I need for it to be work that I react to.
I’m very approachable whether you pass me on the street or you hunt me down on social media or we meet at an art event or some other social event.
Really open to people asking me about the artwork I’m interested in or talking to me about the work that they produce or that they’re interested in.
Lots of times artists will reach out to me and ask for advice on selling their work, promoting their art career, how to price their work, those sorts of things.
I’m full of opinions, whether they’re informed or not, that’s up to you to decide.
But yeah, always happy to talk to people about art.”
Bill Staubi
Friend of the artists and arts community
@bstaubi
Photos by our friend @_finn
