Through our weekly Collector Questionnaires, CULTURED offers readers a peek inside the homes and minds of the art-world’s most discerning patrons. This month, we’re revisiting four of our conversations with collectors championing LGBTQ+ artists and practices.
“There’s no algorithm to collecting,” note Rob and Eric Thomas-Suwall, better known as the Icy Gays on Instagram, where they share their enviable trove of work that includes pieces by Salman Toor, Dominique Fung, and Anna Weyant. Starting the account was more out of necessity than aspiration for virality, as the pair sought to get involved in the art world from their remote location in Minot, North Dakota. “Social media is all about connections, and so is the art world,” they say.
Travels to New York, San Francisco, and other hubs helped round out an education in the contemporary players, many of which the pair brought home with them to Minot. After a recent relocation to Richmond, Virginia, the surgeon and political theorist are continuing to grow their collection of emerging women and queer artists, although hung in a slightly different configuration. For CULTURED, the Thomas-Suwalls offer a peek inside their new abode, and tell us about the pieces that provoke the most conversation, the artist they’re most excited about, and the thrill of collecting before the rest of the world catches on.
Chad Leat collects art the way he lives his life—with bold moves, sharp instincts, and a deep appreciation for meaningful connection. While his name may echo in finance circles, where he’s built a storied career spanning 30 years on Wall Street with Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and other companies, it’s the walls of his homes that truly reveal his inner passions.
Guided by art-world legends like Jock Truman and Holly Solomon in the ’80s and ’90s, Leat has built a wide-ranging trove, from a John Giorno piece that prompts double takes from visitors to works by Wolfgang Tillmans and Jean-Michel Othoniel. In a conversation with CULTURED, Leat opens up about the piece in his home that never fails to provoke, why collecting isn’t just a Manhattan-based pursuit, and how a chance negotiation with American sculptor Tony Feher turned into a masterclass in art—and cocktails.
What initially inspired Ilan Cohen to start his own personal collection sounds almost unbelievable: It was his need to save money. While living in Paris at the age of 19, the Musée d’Orsay was one of the few spots that offered free admission to students. So, naturally, roaming the hallowed halls of the museum became somewhat of a pastime. Though he only lived in Paris for a year, Cohen, who now works in finance, took his newly-discovered passion with him. In 2010, with the encouragement of a few art world titans, the budding collector bought his first two pieces from artist TM Davy. Today, his Chelsea apartment is filled with queer figuration and female abstraction works, largely made by friends and artists that he’s met throughout the years, including Doron Langberg, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Salman Toor, Sam McKinniss, and Louis Fratino.
Art is the through line in Graham Steele‘s life. “The first work of art I ever bought was a monoprint of a pig from a local cooperative gallery in Vermont. I was maybe seven years old, and it was $40,” he told CULTURED in 2023. “I had to make a payment plan with my mother. It’s been an obsession ever since.” After cutting his teeth at Sotheby’s, White Cube, and Hauser & Wirth, Steele struck out on his own in 2020. Beyond his role as an art dealer and advisor, he has also worked on a coterie of projects spotlighting queer artists, like Paul Cadmus: 49 Drawings, which released last November and features previously unseen portraits sold at auction by Cadmus’s partner, Jon Anderson, and later passed on to Steele. The portraits in question are of Anderson; erotic, highly detailed, and prolific, they are a testament to the obsessive nature of love, and the private queer relationships of the 20th century. At home in Los Angeles, Steele has amassed an expansive trove of artworks. A highlight? The collection of erotic queer works he keeps in his bedroom.
in your life?
