Condo Good as Gold as Home Art Gallery

Instincts and opportunity bring New York artist to Atlanta.

By Marcia Caller Jaffe May 30, 2017, 2:27 pm Edit

After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.

Icon, doyenne, revolutionary, rebel. Fay Gold, Atlanta’s pre-eminent name in contemporary art, answers to “legend.”

She is best known for her mission to bring New York art to the South and for her discovery of Radcliffe Bailey, Rocio Rodriguez, Rana Rochat and Zoe Hersey. Gold has a bachelor’s from Adelphi University and studied painting with a protégé of Hans Hofmann’s.

She downsized from a large Buckhead home to a condo that is alive and overflowing with world-class photography, sculpture, paintings and glass: works by Andres Serrano, Vik Muniz, Yasumasa Morimura, Sandy Skoglund, Zhang Huan, Mike and Doug Starn, Dale Chihuly, and William Morris.

Gold was the commencement speaker in 2010 at the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. She received the Big Thinker Award from the Brain Injury Association of Georgia and Miriam’s Cup from Israel Bonds for her contributions to art and Jewish life.

Jaffe: Where did your talent begin? Were you an artsy child?

Gold: Yes, as a child I had visual gifts and small motor skills. I loved to knit, cut out paper dolls and won the sewing award at PS 225 for making my own graduation dress. I began collecting pop art in the early ’60s, such as Oldenburg, Wesselmann and Lichtenstein. I used the income earned from my backyard art school in Atlanta to buy art in New York.

Jaffe: What advice would you give to folks who want to begin collecting art?

Gold: Go to the major art fairs, such as the New York Armory Show and Miami Art Basel. Attend gallery openings. Subscribe to Artforum and Art in America. Befriend and learn from other collectors.

Jaffe: Buy what you don’t like?

Gold: Collect art that asks questions and that you can’t figure out easily. No one has ever solved the mystery of why the “Mona Lisa” is smiling. Art reveals itself over time. Think outside the box. Take risks.

Jaffe: You are credited with transforming Atlanta’s art scene. How did a New Yorker like you end up here?

Gold: My father owned the Piedmont Shirt Co. (Wing Shirts) in Greenville, S.C., where I was born. When I was 2, my family moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., where I grew up. My late husband, Donald, owned Nantucket Industries, which manufactured ladies underwear and hosiery and built a plant in Cartersville, Ga. In 1966, we moved to Atlanta with my three children, Ames, Jason and Gena, then 10, 6 and 2. I created Fay’s World in my backyard art studio, where I taught oil painting and drawing to 60 children, women and men each week for 15 years. I opened the Fay Gold Gallery in 1980 with an exhibition of George Segal, followed by Robert Rauschenberg, Alex Katz, Irving Penn, Cindy Sherman, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

Jaffe: What are some of most unusual pieces you have? I feel a lot of energy and excitement here. Let’s call it “art de vivre.”

Gold: My Deborah Butterfield horse, “Big Red,” 1980, made from scrap metal and old movie marquee letters. A life-size mannequin covered in jelly beans from “Shimmering Madness,” a photograph by Sandy Skoglund.

In addition to Deborah Butterfield’s “Big Red,” a horse sculpture that was a challenge to fit into the elevator, the kitchen includes Boaz Vaadia’s “Zevulun,” a 1995 bronze-and-bluestone sculpture on the island, and Michael Eastman’s series of colorful chromogenic prints representing “The Splendor of Cuba.”

Jaffe: Your photography is stellar. What do you treasure the most?

Gold: The portraits taken of me by Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton and Joyce Tenneson. Joyce included my portrait in her book “Wise Women.” Tenneson’s photograph of “Dasha,” which graces the cover of Alice Hoffman’s novel “The Dovekeepers,” hangs in my den. My large-scale “Oedipus and Sphinx” by Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz is from the exhibition “Pictures of Junk,” in which he uses garbage to create images after mythological subjects.

Entering Fay Gold’s home brings you to John O’Kulick’s “Bellows,” a 1996 work of lead on wood (left); Zhang Huan’s “Foam 9,” a 1998 chromogenic print of the artist’s face covered in soapy foam; Vernon Fisher’s “Shell Game,” a 1996 oil on blackboard (right); and Warren McArthur’s 1930s art deco table and red chairs.

Jaffe: How would you describe your master bedroom?

Gold: As you enter are black-and-white photographs of famed actresses Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, a nod to my love of old movies. Over my bed hangs “Still Life With Camera,” 1995, by Sarah Charlesworth. In the corner is a George Segal sculpture, “The Lovers.” Also in my bedroom are three Robert Longos from his “Men in the Cities” series, an Eric Fischl drawing and two Jerry Uelsmann photographs.

Sarah Charlesworth’s 1995 “Still Life With Camera” hangs over Fay Gold’s bed. Also in the bedroom are George Segal’s 1980 cast resin relief “The Lovers” (right) and two untitled Jerry Uelsmann silver gelatin prints from 1982 (the boat beneath the cloud sphere) and 1976 (the flaming desk).

Jaffe: Do you collect any Jewish artists?

Gold: Yes. A Louise Nevelson black wood assemblage and two figurative sculptures by Israeli-born artist Boaz Vaadia, “Zevulun” and “Sodi.”

Jaffe: Tell us something we don’t know about you.

Gold: I raised $750,000 net for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. I have a passion for cooking. I had 25 relatives and friends for Passover this year. My daughter Ames and I whipped up homemade chopped liver, brisket, stuffed cabbage, chicken fricassee and tzimmes, all from my mother Ethel’s recipes. I am an avid reader and have been a member of the H20 book club for 20 years.

Jaffe: What’s next for you?

Gold: I am seriously involved in writing my memoir and my current art consulting projects: an advanced living community, several restaurants, an art liquidation and private collectors.

Jaffe: You’ve had an amazing life. I feel a book in the making.

Gold: True. The title is “Basquiat’s Cat,” and it is nearing completion. I knew I wanted to make a difference in the cultural life of Atlanta and help artists develop their careers.

Jaffe: Last word. I think you look more beautiful now in your ninth decade than you did when Mapplethorpe photographed you in 1982.

Gold: Thanks to my boyfriend, Jack, for making me feel beautiful. I have never had any long-range plans. I trust my instincts and have grasped opportunities that have seemed right. I found myself in art. I surround myself with genius and power, great art, creative friends, and loving family like five wonderful grandchildren.

Photos by Duane Stork

: The 1986 bronze “Podium Figure” is by Tom Otterness.

: Sarah Charlesworth’s 1995 “Still Life With Camera” hangs over Fay Gold’s bed. Also in the bedroom are George Segal’s 1980 cast resin relief “The Lovers” (right) and two untitled Jerry Uelsmann silver gelatin prints from 1982 (the boat beneath the cloud sphere) and 1976 (the flaming desk).

: The living room is home to Brooklyn-based KAWS’ “Astro Boy,” a 2013 work in painted cast vinyl, and Louise Nevelson’s untitled 1978 monochromatic wood construction box on the table; Sandy Skoglund’s purple dog from “Green House,” a 1990 cast polyester resin, under the table; Allan McCollum’s 1987 “Perfect Vessels” in the background; Andres Serrano’s “Gray Moses,” a Cibachrome photograph from 1990; and Michael Lucero’s “Double Jug Head,” made of ceramic and straw in 1994.

: In addition to Deborah Butterfield’s “Big Red,” a horse sculpture that was a challenge to fit into the elevator, the kitchen includes Boaz Vaadia’s “Zevulun,” a 1995 bronze-and-bluestone sculpture on the island, and Michael Eastman’s series of colorful chromogenic prints representing “The Splendor of Cuba.”

: Entering Fay Gold’s home brings you to John O’Kulick’s “Bellows,” a 1996 work of lead on wood (left); Zhang Huan’s “Foam 9,” a 1998 chromogenic print of the artist’s face covered in soapy foam; Vernon Fisher’s “Shell Game,” a 1996 oil on blackboard (right); and Warren McArthur’s 1930s art deco table and red chairs.

: Beloved 13-year-old Yorkie Murray rules the Gold household.

: The Gold dining room includes Vik Muniz’s 2006 chromogenic print “Oedipus and Sphinx,” paying homage to Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, on the wall to the left; Dale Chihuly’s “Silver and Gold Gourd With Tow Stems” from 1991 on the table; Mike and Doug Starn’s “Gut Epoch G,” a 1994 toned silver print on polyester, in the corner; and Yasumasa Morimura’s “Doublonage Portraits,” which are chromogenic prints from 1988.

: The glass cat is William Morris’ “Artifact Bundle” from 1996.

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