Much like his journey at Pace Prints—starting out as an intern 25 years ago, rising to become president and chief executive—Jacob Lewis has grown as a collector, starting with printer’s proofs to now acquiring across a range of media, albeit with printmaking always at the forefront. His collection includes pieces by many artists who have worked with Pace Prints, among them Robin F. Williams, Leonardo Drew, Peter Saul and Tomokazu Matsuyama.
Pace Prints, too, is making ambitious moves: in addition to opening an outpost in Los Angeles this autumn, it has just acquired the storied publisher and printmaker Brand X Editions. Its first exhibition of the season in New York features a group of new monoprints by the Puerto Rican artist Gamaliel Rodríguez (until 10 October). Lewis recently told us about his fascination with Rodríguez’s work, the sculpture he regrets not buying when he had the chance and more.
The Art Newspaper: What was the first work you ever bought?
Jacob Lewis: I bought a Lisa Yuskavage edition in 2007, titled Weeds. It was for my birthday. The show she had with David Zwirner that year had a big impact on me. The work was not just provocative but was introspective and psychologically layered. The tension between beauty and discomfort in her work started to really resonate with me. I was just opening Pace Prints Chelsea then at the age of 28. I was maturing a lot at that time, and this show impacted my growth as a person.
What is the most recent work you have bought?
I bought a painting by Gamaliel Rodríguez after a good friend and curator, Aaron Levi Garvey, introduced me to him. Gamaliel is all energy and a blast to be around. His paintings have a sense of dystopian futures that I was immediately attracted to—it feels fitting for our time. The more we spoke about his work, the more his themes of power and consequences came up. I enjoyed him so much, we invited him to make a body of monoprints that we will be exhibiting this September. Watching him create the works in the studio has also been a thrill, he paints directly onto the plates and then pulls the pigment back off to let the paper itself come through as light. My collecting does inform a lot of what we do here; collecting forces one to learn.
How has your expertise with prints shaped how you collect?
I started working in the print shops at Pace Prints as an intern. I majored in printmaking in undergraduate school at West Virginia University. My love for the medium affects the way I look at art. I’m always thinking about how printmaking could further develop the artist’s hand or consider how an artist exploring the medium could expand their breadth in the practice of making art.
I do my best to support the practice of artists I admire. Sometimes if I can’t afford a work by an artist, I do my best to convince them to work with us, so I have an opportunity to purchase a print to add to my collection while providing another avenue for them to create and expand their collector base.
How quickly do you decide to buy a work of art?
Pretty quickly. If I love it, I know it. I let my body tell me what to do. It has always led me in the right direction.
What do you regret not buying when you had the chance?
Too many to count, but one that has always stung was a sculpture by Dana Schutz, Buddy (2018). That piece always resonated with my personality, and my humour.
If you could have any work from any museum in the world, what would it be?
This is tough, as I love so much from different periods and so many different museums. As a printmaker though, I always come back to Pop Art because the medium had such an impact on the period. You wouldn’t have Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein if they didn’t incorporate printmaking into their work. I also have a huge respect for what Eli Broad built. So, I would have to say I would love to own Lichtenstein’s I…I’m Sorry! (1965-66), on show at The Broad in Los Angeles. Why? Because I’m sorry that I will never have the chance to own it. I love the melancholy I feel from this painting even though its palette is bright, and the mark-making is essentially Pop.
What exhibition are you most looking forward to in New York this autumn?
Brancusi: The Artist and His Studio (25 October-27 February 2027) at the Museum of Modern Art. I just find the work’s simplicity and purity to be so elegant. It’s true beauty.
Where do you like to eat and drink in Chelsea or near the Javits Center?
Juban (207 Tenth Avenue). My good friend Ashwin Balani owns this amazing Japanese Izakaya. So much of my life has happened there. My wife and I had our first date there. We got engaged there, and had dinner there the night before our daughter was born. The staff jokingly calls it my second office. You will find me there a few nights a week.
