Penn Collects

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Weirdness... I just found this video blog entry in which Penn (of Penn and Teller) shares his huge collection of Tony Fitzpatrick etchings. He doesn't consider himself an art collector even though he has a "Tony Room" of every Tony Fitzpatrick etching ever made and says he will get every one yet to come.

Penn also talks about the work of another artist he got very early and who has since become a superstar.

RELATED: Iron Man

George DeMers, the Iron Man, his Private Museum - a True-Blue Collector

Welcome To The Iron Man Museum - Early Laundry Items - Largest Collection In NY


Irons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Some beautiful forms... they feel good to pick up.


Lots of signs posted talking about the evolution of the iron, all of the different forms and functions. The Iron Man will tell you all about them.

HERE is a VIDEO of the Iron Man giving a short tour, talking about some of the different irons.


An iron on the stove at left, and an old ironing board.


Oriental Irons are different.


Collection of washboards, and the Oriental Iron case. Click on the picture for a bigger view.


The center of the museum is full of old-style washing machines, starting with the kind you crank your clothes through.


George DeMers, aka Iron Man.

The Iron Man is, in fact, known as Iron Man amongst two different groups of people for two different reasons. The antiques dealers call him Iron Man because he comes and buys the irons, the guys at the gym call him Iron Man because he is a power lifter.

Sadly, the Iron Man is busted and has been forced to sell his entire iron collection at a loss, and is trying to sell his house. He got screwed by the adjustable-rate mortgage thing. I think he put something like $23,000 into assembling his iron collection, and recently sold it for $7,000.

He's only keeping one iron, one of his two favorites.

IRON MAN!!! You can see that in this sign the Iron Man is power lifting two irons, flanked by Revolutionary war soldiers. The Iron Man is also very into history and the Revolutionary War (a few battles were fought in the area).


This is the Iron Man's re-creation of a Revolution-era kitchen. Here's another view.


Diorama of a Revolutionary War battlefield.


Fort George - Exact Replica of the Figment of my Imagination.

Do you want some sturdy folky furniture? George makes furniture, from wood, all sorts of very good sturdy funky folky stuff, kind of Adirondack style. It's CHEAP. He's a got a showroom in another building, and can make special request stuff. He's in Schuylerville, NY.... check out the website, lots of pictures of his furniture.

PLUS: WATCH the Iron Man video. READ the Iron Man newspaper article.

God Bless Sidney and Frances Lewis

Here's an excerpt from a conversation between Elizabeth Murray and Jennifer Bartlett in the current issue of Bomb, talking about early struggles and poverty, mentioning local art collector Sidney Lewis -

"JB Do you remember all those art-for-fur-coats in the 60's?

EM That happened to us, with Sidney Lewis

JB When we got our washing machines! God bless Sidney Lewis.

EM Everybody's first TV and first washer. The thrill when that happened, being able to order anything out of that catalog, like a slide projector, a washer-dryer. It was fabulous. Sidney Lewis brought the middle class to poor artists. I remember seeing all those shiny new appliances sitting around in everybody's crummy apartments. There were no elevators; you had to carry all that stuff up these steep staircases."

Sidney Lewis was the founder of Best Products and he and his wife Frances built much of their art collection by trading with artists. They collected work from Lee Bonteceau, Alex Katz, Lucas Samaras, Andy Warhol, and so many more. They got the piece, currently hanging here at the VMFA, that Ed Ruscha tells Richard Prince is his favorite work -

"RP: Is there any painting of yours you let go that you'd like to get back?

ER: Yes, it's the one titled Noise, Pencil, Broken Pencil, Cheap Western, and it illustrates just that. It's my favorite work."

Sidney Lewis also commissioned SITE's James Wines to build some of the Best Products showrooms, like the one pictured above (Houston?) and this one in Sacramento. Are these still standing? There is very little about SITE, James Wines, or the Best buildings on the internet. I might have to look for a book.

Sidney Lewis died in 1999 but Frances Lewis is still living in their surprisingly small home on Monument Avenue. I've visited the house and it is stuffed with contemporary art and art furniture; every lamp, table, and chair is a piece of art. I think Mrs. Lewis has stopped collecting new stuff. I've also visited the warehouse where all the stuff not in the house or museum is kept, racks and racks of paintings - very dusty, many of them bent or corners poking into paintings nearby. I wonder if one of them is a 60's era Jennifer Bartlett or Elizabeth Murray? What did gallerists of the time think of the Lewis's bartering with artists? I have a feeling that they would be blacklisted today.

I want to be able to bless a collector too!!