Pinyuan Li is building a social life around collecting — and around the gaps that art fairs leave behind.
The London-based collector, who was born in China and has lived in the city for eight years, is launching the Summer House, a forum designed to bring art enthusiasts together to exchange experiences in the spirit of 19th-century salons. Li, who has been collecting for five years, is currently finishing a PhD in Eastern Studies at Sheffield University. Her collection includes works by several Asian artists, along with pieces by Laure Prouvost, Tracey Emin, Leonor Fini, Antony Gormley, and Ryan Gander.
Li’s collecting began with a mixed medium panel by Andrew Bick, which she chose for its layered texture and graphic forms. Her most recent purchase was a small painting by Cheri Smith, whose imagery, she said, evokes surreal feelings through human, animal, and natural forms. She also recalled buying a work by Manuel Mathieu in 2023 after seeing it at Art Brussels, where the artist’s new work struck her as both immediate and emotionally resonant.
That sense of connection matters to Li, but so does distance. She said she does not regret missing out on a work if it slips away, preferring to imagine another encounter later, whether through the market or in a museum. If she could take one work from any museum, she would choose Hilma af Klint’s The Ten Largest (1907), a series she saw at Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 2022 and has not forgotten since.
Asked about Basel, Li described the practical rituals that help her move through the fair: a stop at Eiscafé Acero, a breakfast gathering hosted by Delfina Foundation, and short breaks every hour to reset after the intensity of the booths. For her, the pace of collecting seems to depend on that balance — between concentration and retreat, acquisition and conversation, the fair floor and the river seen from the ferry.
ContemporaryArt ArtCollecting YoungCollectors HilmaAfKlint Basel ArtFairs
