Books Issue: Pictures on the Wall

Homebuilder riffs on his collection in new book

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“I am a home builder, not an artist,” says developer and philanthropist Michael Audain.

Those words come at the beginning of his book, Pictures on the Wall: Building a Canadian Art Collection, a lavishly illustrated, 200-page compendium of 75 art works he has collected and subsequently donated to his Whistler gallery and elsewhere.

As chairman of Polygon Homes, a leading builder of residential homes in B.C., Audain’s largesse is legendary. He supports capital projects, individual artists and major exhibitions through the Audain Foundation, the Audain Prize for the Visual Arts and others. He made a $100-million donation toward the new Vancouver Art Gallery in 2021, kickstarted the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver with a sizeable donation in 2014 and underwrote the stunning Audain Art Museum in Whistler two years later.

Pictures on the Wall begins with his introduction to fine art. He recounts spending his youth in art museums, hanging Bruegel reproductions on his dormitory wall and taking a bus trip to Mexico City at age 17 to see its murals. He started collecting work by Vancouver artists in his twenties, as soon as he could afford it.

The book reflects Audain’s eclectic taste and includes many genres – 19th to 21st century Indigenous northwest art, Mexican Modernism, particularly the works of Diego Rivera, the Vancouver School of Photography featuring Jeff Wall and Rodney Graham and contemporary painting in B.C. and elsewhere with an Andy Warhol thrown in for good measure.

Audain is refreshingly frank about what he likes and what he doesn’t. He admits he didn’t like the “gloomy and spooky” palette of Emily Carr at first but later grew to love her. His transformation from critic to fan is illuminating.

He says he’s drawn to artworks that evoke memories, hence his penchant for figurative, representational works and makes no bones about buying art as decoration. All his purchases are intended for his home, office or cottage and are either sold or donated after several years on the wall.

“I’m sorry to say that tired cliché, ‘I don’t know much about art but I know what I like,’ applies to me,” he says. “But only in part because I try to keep an open mind and will pursue a work that I don’t immediately like if it arouses my interest.”

It’s an endearing admission and a bit misleading because Audain is not a dilettante and his discerning eye is the result of a curious mind, persistence, and an innate appreciation of the visual arts.

Pictures on the Wall is a story of maturation. As Audain talks with gallerists and historians and eventually the artists themselves, he accumulates knowledge and trains his eye. This leads to his extensive collection of First Nations masks, both ancient and modern.

His appreciation of 20th century Quebec artist Jean-Paul Riopelle, originally an Automatiste, follows a similar trajectory. Initially dismissive of his work, Audain learns to appreciate Riopelle’s vision and, in fact, has become his greatest admirer. Check out Audain's brush with the gilets jaunes, the yellow vests, and getting caught up in a near riot while trying to purchase a Riopelle in Paris.

Pictures on the Wall is a collection of similar stories. It is not a primer on how to get rich quick; readers looking for money-making tips will be disappointed. Audain rarely mentions how much he paid for a piece and for how much he sold it. Pictures is not about art as a commodity but about art as a source of enjoyment and enrichment and the author uses his own experiences to make the point. One develops an eye by “looking, looking and looking again,” he says at the end of the book. Great advice from an experienced aesthete. ■

Pictures on the Wall: Building a Canadian Art Collection by Michael Audain, Douglas & McIntyre publisher

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