Get to Know Our Members: Collector and Artist Dr. Enrique Chiu

Apr 1, 2019

This month, our featured member is well versed on both sides, as an artist AND a collector! Please meet Enrique Chiu who lives between San Diego and Tijuana. As an artist, his work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across Mexico, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America. He is the creator behind the “Mural of the Brotherhood” at the USA / MX border wall. But today, we learn more about Enrique-the-Collector!

Have you purchased art before and if so, tell us about the first piece you acquired?
Yes, I generally buy at auctions. I have about 200 works by both well-known and emerging artists. I purchased my first piece from a gallery in Long Beach, California in 2003 by Raul Anguiano - a lithograph signed on both sides from 1974.

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What work of art do you wish you owned and why?
I would like to own a Basquiat, a van Gogh, a Modigliani, a Botero, a Picasso…. Something to continue my art collection and share it with generations to come.

We see you are a fairly established artist as well, so you are really on both ends of the story! How do you describe your art to people who've never seen it before?
I have been an artist for 20 years, and I have found a market in the United States, Mexico and throughout Europe. Finding collectors is more difficult when they do not know you, but my artistic work addresses the most relevant topics in life and history, as well as social matters and the phenomena that are experienced daily in our world, in a colorful, positive, surreal and abstract way that anyone could enjoy.

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How does being an artist influence your collecting style?
As a collector, I think it is important to know the story of the artist and their work in order to understand the value of the piece. Knowing the history and trajectory of artist makes a purchase easier.