Every inch of Walter Pomeroy's walls are covered in art and the Pacific Beach resident he has been collecting art for more than 60 years, his collection runs the gamut from a Paris thrift store to works like David Hockney. Some of Pomeroy's collection is on display in the gallery space of San Diego's downtown central library. Pomeroy spoke with Angela wrote about becoming a collector here is some of that interview. Why did collect art? I never thought I was collecting art. I bought a painting, and then I bought another one, and then I bought another one and before long my walls were covered. These two pieces here were done by a lady friend from college, [Indiscernible] in the honey part of art and even though I was [Indiscernible] I spent my free time in the art department and music department and I have several pieces by those people that I met there. There's two ways to encourage an artist if you are extremely wealthy, you give them a stipend conjugate of a grant, but that wasn't me. The other way is of course they have their art for sale, it on the wall, you buy something so we just walk in, and they were all in the Spanish village at that time. I never spend more than $500 for anything. You see the shoulders a painting that belongs on that wall 10 feet high, and 4 feet wide, that artist today he's getting $10,000 for things, so I don't buy originals Morris anymore. A Picasso etching, is as old as I am. From a famous sequence of etchings he did for a famous dealer in Paris. And I think a dealer Art Museum in Baltimore to send these people and at that time this was in the late 50s, it only costs $100 to buy a signed, so etching so I can't say, and as I said I had a Hockney, and San Francisco Fed not excluding but in the San Francis case, I did meet him and body directly from him. When people talk to me about they want to start becoming collectors, I say well, the most important thing is to buy what you like, and if it becomes famous, worth some money, then okay, but if it doesn't, you still like it where is if you buy something as an investment, and you really don't care for it, and it doesn't go up, you're stuck with this strange creature on your wall. Exhibit portrait of Pomeroy is on display in the gallery space in San Diego central library through May 15. I am are Cavanaugh, thank you for listening.
A new exhibit at downtown San Diego's Central Library provides a glimpse into the art collection of San Diegan Walter Pomeroy.
Pomeroy amassed the collection of mid-century paintings and sculptures over six decades with little money.
"I never thought I was collecting art," Pomeroy told KPBS reporter Angela Carone. "I bought a painting and then I bought another painting and then I bought another one. And before long my walls were covered."
The exhibit "Portrait of Pomeroy" is on display in the gallery space at the San Diego Central Library through May 15.
To read Carone's profile of Pomeroy and to see some of his art collection go here.
