MID CITY, Calif. – A casual collector might be satisfied with a poster of Picasso’s Guernica, but if you’re serious about collecting art, it’s all about the original work.

Arthur Lewis is the Creative Director of UTA Fine Arts and UTA Artist Space and he has a collection fit for a museum.

“I think a lot of it is about falling in love with something and seeing something for the first time and getting excited about it and getting to understand and know the artists and their practice,” said Arthur Lewis, Creative Director of UTA Artist Space. “And believe it or not, it really does come down to space and how you want to exist with it and what story it might help tell in the collection.”

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Growing up in New Orleans, his parents encouraged his interest in the arts and Lewis got bit by the art collecting bug at a young age. He bought his first original artwork at age 21 from a PBS auction and nearly 30 years later, Lewis has no idea how many artworks he has collected.

“Oh, she’s so incredible,” said Lewis as he flips through a book created by artist Bethany Collins.

“I’m actually flipping through this for the first time,” said Lewis. “Bethany Collins is an artist that I greatly admire and what's really cool is discovering how these pages have been redacted by burns and erasure and it's a pretty exceptional experience to own something so incredibly special.”

Nearly every square inch of Lewis’s house is covered with original art, even on his floors and ceilings, bathrooms and kitchen. He has collected works by noted contemporary artists such as Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Amy Sherald, Diana Thater, Umar Rashid, and Kenturah Davis.

L.A. artist Genevieve Gaignard has four works in Lewis’s collection, including an installation built inside his linen closet.

“You know, it's one thing to have your work purchased, but it's a whole different level when your work is in someone's home,” said Gaignard. “They're living with it. You're on the walls next to Kerry James Marshall and it's a really special unique setting and you know people are seeing your story.”

Collecting art is akin to collecting stories and every collection is about the whole.

“This collection really is focused on artists of color,” said Lewis. “I do think it's important as my artistic narrative comes to life, the artists that hang on my wall are a reflection of that. What I really love about it is some of the work is just unapologetically black and it makes me incredibly proud.”

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