JUDY
AND STUART SPENCE
Pasadena,
California - Contemporary
Art
"Just
when we thought it was safe to stop collecting," says psychoanalyst Judy
Spence, "we find something new that makes our eyes pop out." Judy and her
husband, Stuart, an industrial scientist, showed no signs of restraint
last year, having added some twenty three works to their cutting-edge collection
of contemporary art by John Baldessari, Allen Ruppersberg, Chris Wilder
and others. Among the Spences' recent acquisitions are Paul Kos's International
Bed and Breakfast-a twelve-foot ladder on which a live parrot named Pablito
rings four bells and sings the communist Party anthem to commemorate the
breakup of the Soviet Union. "He has a way of taking over the household,"
Judy says. The Spences also picked up a few sexually provacative works
by Jeannie Patterson and Marcy Watton, and
an allegorical painting of Los Angeles by young graffiti artist
Mear. For the Spences, art and life
are intimately intertwined. "All our artists' works are very personal,"
Judy says. "Their art illuminates the painful corners of existence and
how hard it is to be an individual with all one's peculiarities, failings,
and talents."