But like the uncanny
fulfillment of a dream,
he had made long before he encountered the unexpected
canvas. while in shanghai in the 1990s he began collecting
what would become world-class chinese contemporary
paintings and sculpture, a popular and exciting trend he had
the acute intuition and sensibility to spot early on, before prices
rose to reflect its popularity. “The art scene in china was just
emerging,” he explains of his many acquisitions, “but a lot of it
was virtually unknown. so it was easy to buy important pieces
at a moderate price.”
with a nod to a philosophy of beauty and life acquired
during Young’s global trekking, each room of his residence
bore the depth and complexity of a work of art. walls range
from pale azure to deepest turquoise, joyfully enhancing the
sparkle of crystal chandeliers above and the highly polished,
red-stained wood floors below. The mélange of eclectic
furnishings from homes in London, and even a residence on a
cinnamon plantation in sri Lanka, bear witness to a traveler’s
heart. The sumptuous library, with its seductive, bibliophilic
walls of books, entrances and delights with tones of dark
magenta and muted violet—hues that both reflect the warmth
of wooden bookcases and challenge the traditional idea of a
oct + nov 2009
sober, austere study.
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