While Miley Cyrus wondered “…who’s that chick that’s rockin’ kicks,” you might have wondered about the guy with the salt and pepper beard and bold glasses at all these art events. Well, the music reference works because the beard in question belongs to Josh Abraham, one of the key figures in the music business as founder and co-CEO of PULSE Music Publishing and PULSE Records, who work independently with thousands of writers and producers. Having started his career as a musician (fun fact: “Back in the day, I was the guitar player in a band that eventually turned into House of Pain who had the song ‘Jump Around’) then as a producer and songwriter who has worked on records with the likes of Justin Bieber to Slayer and yes, Miley Cyrus, with published writers via the Publishing company.
We wondered what lessons he took from the challenges his own industry faced (hello, Napster)—and how to pivot—and his perspective on the current gallery situations from his spot as a major art collector.
“Well, there’s definitely more PDFs in my inbox, including from people who were making it very difficult to buy works from previously. In terms of lessons learned and evolving the business, I see it as building safety. For me, it’s through being an owner-occupier—you can own the building and live in it—creating your own creative compounds. You gotta cut overheads so you can stay in the game. I’m not saying that everyone should or can do that, but from an independent standpoint I think it’s not a bad idea. And also, maybe lowering the price points, especially from young artists.”
As a collector, he’s had to dodge catastrophes of a different nature, like when his house in Malibu burned down due to wildfires. During another evacuation at his Beverly Hills home, he was faced with the important but cliche question: in the event of fire, what would you take? The answer, a car-full:
“I literally put my Cecily Brown, my Ruscha’s—all I could fit in the car—and dropped it at Karma Gallery, who ended up having to evacuate anyway, so my paintings were just being hauled around LA. But I actually left stuff, and to be honest, I’m not gonna say who I left, but there were paintings I left and unfortunately I said, I could live without these.”
As to how he is operating as a collector in this “new” environment, well, he has two concurrent collections—one of anchors (e.g. Ed Ruscha, Josef Albers, Cecily Brown, etc)—and one emerging.
“In music I only look for new ideas. I don’t know that people always get better as they get older. I think they spend a lifetime looking for that album. Like Nevermind from Nirvana. These are groundbreaking—like masterpieces. The last time I felt that way about contemporary art was with Matthew Wong. But with art now, it’s harder because I think we are kind of in flux or transitional mode of style. People don’t know what to look for when there is so much coming at them.”
As to what I would call the classic part of his collection:
“I’m an old soul at heart, and I like things that are soulful—whether it’s a Josef Albers over a Royere. Maybe when I was buying up to three things a month I got off track, but the one thing I have noticed right now is for those great, established blue chip artists, there’s no deals. Even in this market.”
One last lesson that I think applies:
“I think there are more and more musicians responding to art. They’re being educated, and I think it’s important to have a group around you, learning the art world and discovering artists you like, because it’s very difficult otherwise.”
