Victoria Rogers is an MFA student at Parsons, following several years supporting artists’ dream projects at Kickstarter and two years at Stanford pursuing an MBA. Victoria is also a supporter of the arts. She is a board member at the Brooklyn Museum, Creative Time, and Little Sun as well as a collector. She is a part of developing The Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums. She is passionate about artists of the African diaspora and female artists, and her collection comprises of works by artists who she believes in. Victoria started collecting at the age of 20, and has been recently selected in The Next Gen Art Collectors Report, our listing of top emerging art collectors from around the globe.
Victoria Rogers shared with LARRY’S LIST what inspired her to start collecting, her excitement about loaning collected works to exhibitions, her art-world pet peeve, as well as three emerging artists she thinks should be on our radar.
Collecting
How did you start collecting art? What is the main motivation behind your collecting?
My interest in art collecting began in high school, when I took an art history class alongside economics. I wrote my final economics paper about Sotheby’s, and interned at the auction house’s Chicago office after my freshman year of college. During my internship, I accompanied one of the staff members who was going to appraise work in the home of a client who had recently passed away. The apartment was filled with artworks, many of which would be donated to local institutions, others of which would eventually be sold. It was the first time that I experienced both what it was like to live in proximity to great artworks, and have the ability to share them with great institutions.
When did you fall in love with a piece of art? What was it?
I fell in love with Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas at the Prado Museum when I was young. I was fascinated by the fact that this canvas gave me a window into the life of the Infanta Margaret Theresa several centuries after it had been painted.
What is your focus regarding the artists in your collection? Are you more interested in emerging or renowned artists?
I’m focused on emerging artists of the African diaspora.
Have you ever presented your art collection publicly?
I really appreciate the opportunity to loan works to exhibitions—I’ve only been asked a few times so far, but each time has been exciting, especially when an artwork goes to places I haven’t yet been to myself!
What considerations guide you to make a purchase?
I support artists whom I believe in. I view collecting as an opportunity to be a part of their stories, and I view myself as a caretaker for their work.
What is your most treasured artwork?
Impossible to choose!
The Art World
Besides collecting, how are you engaged in art?
I’m on the boards of Creative Time, the Brooklyn Museum, and Little Sun. These organizations and the incredible teams behind them, each in their own way, are dedicated to supporting revolutionary artists, and committed to programming that brings art into conversation with diverse audiences. I’m inspired by the work that they do every day.
What was your happiest moment being involved in art?
My happiest moments being involved with art have been when I’ve seen art as a way to draw people together. From moments like witnessing conversations sparked by Kara Walker’s “A Subtlety” to For Freedoms’ “50 State Initiative” billboard project, the largest creative collaboration in our nation’s history, art has a unique power to connect.
What’s your art-world pet peeve?
Preciousness.
Can you name three emerging artists who should be on our radar?
Lauren Halsey, Miles Greenberg, and Hugh Hayden.
What are you especially excited about in regard to art in 2021?
I am excited about the field’s continued reckoning with racial and economic inequality. I know that for many, this work has been long a priority, but I feel as though our collective conscious has shifted, which makes me hopeful. I’m excited to be a part of a more excellent art world, deliberate in challenging systems of oppression.
Instagram: @victoriamrogers
A selection of artists Victoria collects:
Alexandra Bell
Ashley Teamer
Jennifer Packer
Jordan Casteel
Yinka Shonibare
By Ricko Leung
