GORDON SZE 115 for the future of the objects but thinks they probably one day will go to one or more museum collections. One reason why the objects look so good in his loft is that it was actually purpose built to display them. Calvin Tsao of TsAO & McKown (and who worked with I. M. Pei early in his career) led the design of the space, which was filled with pigeons and beyond dilapidated when they started. The floors are now “ironwood,” a deliberate effort to be in sync with the material used to create many of the sculptures. The walls are in several shades of gray, carefully selected to show the objects to their best advantage while also maximizing the effect of the subtle lighting. Bookshelves and other visually distracting elements are concealed to minimize visual “noise.” Some objects have their own niches, while others are raised on plinths that quietly offset them from the floor. The overall effect is somewhere between a museum and a religious site. If you visit for one of the tours he frequently FIG. 6 (left): Staff god. Cook Islands. Wood. H: 85 cm. Collected by Captain Silas Jones (1814–1896). Ex Falmouth Historical Society, Massachusetts. Photo: Reed Young. FIG. 7 (below): Standing figure. Lake Sentani, New Guinea. Wood. H: 120 cm. Collected by Jacques Viot in 1929. Ex Helena Rubinstein, New York, and Comte Baudouin de Grunne, Brussels. Photo: Hendrik Smildiger. FIG. 8 (right): Mask, matua. New Ireland. Wood, pigment, operculum shell. H: 100.3 cm. Collected by Captain Nauer in 1905. Ex Bremen Museum. Photo: Hendrik Smildiger. FIG. 9 (far right): Shield. Solomon Islands. Fiber, shell, pigment, vegetal adhesive. H: 81 cm. Ex Leendert van Lier, Amsterdam. Photo: Hendrik Smildiger. gives of the collection, make sure your socks don’t have holes in them. Shoes come off at the door. Gordon’s collection is both a unique meeting of Pacific masterpieces and a visceral demonstration that different individuals have different styles of acquisition when it comes to art. His is cautious and precise. As he recalls, “John Friede once told me that if you’ve never bought a fake, you haven’t been buying enough. I hope I’ve avoided that.”
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