Lawyer-art collector-hotelier Robert Wang shares with Margie T Logarta some powerful encounters with cultural gems
The Minden Hotel, which you own, brims with artworks. Have you always loved art?
I began my law practice when I was very young, about 26 or 27. When I started making money, I started to acquire pieces through agents who worked for me. I’ve always been interested in pretty things and going to museums.
Your taste runs to Asian or Western?
My leaning is toward European as I studied in the UK, as did my children. I’m very influenced by the British culture and I travel a lot around Europe.
In the eighties, I went into collecting Beidermeir furniture (left) after I started frequenting a shop in Hongkong that had them. I fell in love with what I saw that I asked the owner to transform my apartment (then located at the Peak) by filling it up with these pieces. By the way, I think I’m quite good at arranging how things should be displayed, how they should be mixed and matched.
What kind of shopper are you?
I browse before zeroing in on an artwork, but I think first how it will fit in the scheme of things. It has to complement what you have already, if not, you’ve got to change the whole set up. Of course, it has to fit within the realm of my artistic integrity.
Describe the ambience of your home?
I like to create harmony and romantic corners. No angle of my home is flat. There is flair; there are undulations.
So you’re not a follower of the zen style.
I love opulent clutter.
What was the most recent museum you visited?
I’d never been to the Prado in Madrid until a couple of months ago. The Goyas and El Grecos were wonderful. To give us some perspective, my wife and I always hire the services of a Swiss guide, who’s also an historian and art dealer.
Then, our group of eight went to Toledo and Granada, where we stayed in the Hotel Casa Morisca. My room looked straight out to The Alhambra palace (pictured above), a most beautiful sight especially in the evenings. We also went to Cordoba and Seville where the Moorish influence is everywhere.
That sounds like fun and with an expert guide…
We’ve had him on several trips already – he’s very outgoing and passionate but likes his wine. We ordered three bottles and he finished two! His motto seems to be: “a day without wine is a day without sunshine”.
How do you feel when you encounter great art?
Once, I was alone in the room containing Nefertiti’s tomb – a chill went down my spine. I felt the same way in Granada in my hotel room gazing at The Alhambra.
I wandered into this little courtyard in Italy where a musician was playing the flute and I sat down on an old stairway to listen. He was so grateful that I provided an audience for him, he staged a performance just for me. These are very powerful moments.
I don’t have many interests, except my work and art. Admiring art is actually a solitary hobby. But I enjoy appreciating the good things my fellow human beings have created for our visual and spiritual pleasure.
