Art Tours: An Interview with Art Collector, Meghan Asha

May 9, 2024

Art

Nesha Ruther

Writer at Bond & Grace

Meghan Asha is the CEO Foundermade, a company that helps connect businesses with investors, acquirers, and distributors. She is also an enthusiastic art collector. We caught up with the art aficionado and CEO while she was in Croatia to talk about her love of art and her philosophy for collecting.

For Meghan, her attraction to art is deeply intuitive. “I will see a piece and sometimes feel as if I have already seen it before because I have such a deep connection to it, she says. “I’ll go into a gallery and see all kinds of art but certain pieces I’ll have a guttural reaction to. I’ll feel connected to it more than anything else.”

This deep, emotional attraction to certain artists and their work has been in Meghan since she was a child.

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“I was obsessed with Monet when I was a little girl, and I had a print in my room of Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lillies. So when I first saw Kim Ahonoukoun’s artwork, I knew I had to collect her.”

Kim Ahonoukoun is a neo-impressionist artist who, like Meghan, is deeply inspired by Monet. She even has her own version of Monet’s iconic bridge painting, which Meghan now owns.

“She said she was never going to sell it to me. And I told her I am going to find a way, I am going to earn the right to own that piece,” Meghan laughs.

After years of pursuing Kim, Meghan finally got the piece she wanted and in an instance of profound simultaneity that reinforces her philosophy, she brought home the artwork at a moment in her life when she deeply needed it. “It’s interesting because I brought home that piece the week my divorce was finalized. It was one of the heaviest things I have gone through, and that artwork became an embodiment of the next chapter of my life and my next phase of growth,” she says. “It can be very profound to purchase art in certain moments of life, especially when you’re going through things. The art becomes symbolic of both who you were in that moment and how far you have come.”

Despite Meghan’s love of Monet, she wouldn’t consider her collection to be informed by a style such as impressionism. “I have a wide range of artwork across cultures and time periods, because when it comes to art I move with feeling first. I collect for myself and for the meaning and energy I think an artwork brings to my life,” she says.

The emotive energy of an artwork and its ability to impact a space is something Meghan has first-hand experience with. “Whenever I get new pieces, people will walk into my apartment and say, ‘Woah, the energy has completely changed.’ Artwork changes your space, but it also changes the way you feel in your space. It’s really profound.”

As someone who values the beauty and sanctity of her environment, Meghan feels that collecting artwork has been a huge asset to her home. “Artwork has completely elevated my space, and not just in a design sense. People come into my home and feel welcomed, they see beauty on the wall, and there is an energy that wasn’t there before. Some of my favorite memories have been artists coming into my apartment to place the work,” she says.

While Meghan first found her love of art through a print, she does acknowledge there is something distinctly intimate about owning an original. “I don’t mind prints, I loved that Monet print as a little girl and it was a beautiful thing to have, I also know we live in a digital age and people love NFTs,” she says. “But for me, the original pieces have an authenticity. It’s a human-to-human interaction. When an artist has actually produced a piece of artwork, there is a history to it, a feeling and energy that nothing can compare to.”

Aside from their love of Monet, Meghan and Kim also bonded over a profound spirituality. It was through meditation that Kim discovered her talent for oil painting.

“When I meditated I unfortunately did not get a vision that told me to continue Monet’s legacy and pick up oil paints. I can barely draw a straight line,” Meghan laughs. “But you cannot ignore that art helps humans become more spiritual. Look at music, millions of people will be touched by a piece of music. For me, the artwork I’ve collected has brought me into a new world, spiritually. In my mind, we’re all mini-gods manifesting at every moment. Everything you look at, everything you bring into your home provides the energy that you’re going to reflect back into the world.”

These days, Meghan is particularly attracted to historical women artists. “I’m really interested in historic pieces, particularly in generations where there weren’t many female artists because when you do find them, their work is so inspiring. I would love to collect Lee Krasner,” she says.

Krasner was an abstract impressionist whose career was largely overshadowed by that of her husband, Jackson Pollock.

In an era where AI technology has spurred questions about ownership, originality, and the future of artists, Meghan remains optimistic. “I think we’re going to see different modalities in art and how artists use AI. We are the conductors, so I believe artists can use AI and leverage it. There’s nothing to be fearful of, it’s just an opportunity to integrate that technology into the next phase of our evolution, but at the end of the day, you can’t replicate soul, you can't replicate authenticity.”

With so much phenomenal artwork on the market, it can be overwhelming for aspiring collectors to know where to begin.

“I would tell people to start small,” Meghan says. “It’s such a wonderful experience collecting art and you don’t need a lot of money. I would say start with new artists that you know and admire and make sure you’re really tuned into what speaks to you. That’s what matters.”

One would expect Meghan, who has spent the last decade investing in tech companies and consumer brand companies, to be highly attuned to the monetary value of the artwork she collects. And while she is certainly a pragmatist, she always prioritizes the emotional connection she has to a piece.

“I always joke that Kim’s piece will probably be my best investment, but I don’t think I’ll ever sell it,” she says. “I definitely look at art as an investment, but I also need it to speak to me wholeheartedly.”