Bid the Work: The Acquired Taste offering
Featuring a Venice Biennale artist and a MacArthur Fellow; starting bids at $1; and art spanning centuries.
Acquired Taste re-engages humanity and the collective consciousness through an enriching, two-day auction extravaganza. Browse the auction lots and collectibles offered at HOMME Gallery in Washington, D.C. on May 29 & 30.
Thirty-three artists comprise the third selling exhibition by Art Shopping Network. An intergenerational affair, surveying institutional, emerging, and street-based practices. Purveying works by Holly Bass and Mel Chin, alongside a featured placement directly from Chuck Close Studio and a muster of contemporary artists, including Lisa Brown, Clarence James, Mia Delorés, and Sherman Fleming. Here’s a review of their accomplishments:
Venice Biennale participating artist Holly Bass performed as part of Loophole of Retreat, Simone Leigh’s special project for the U.S. Pavilion in 2022.
MacArthur Fellow Mel Chin joined the ranks of intellectual geniuses with alumni Kerry James Marshall and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Estéban Whiteside touts Netflix placement in Season 2, Episode 3 of Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It along with a constellation of collectors, including Jesse Williams, Kyrie Irving, and Nikole Hannah-Jones.
Sherman Fleming’s retrospective, Unsettled, wrapped in January at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
The late Stoney Cooks, a civil rights leader and artist, represented the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in solidarity with Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy, eventually serving as its Executive Director.
Acquired Taste curates an accessible market of painting, sculpture, collage, photography, illustration, flyposting, mixed media, and printmaking. Within the exhibition, distinct genres emerge—surrealism, vivid abstractions, still life, conceptual image-making, and what artist Estéban Whiteside terms “concrete oppressionism,” in dialogue with Maurice James’ articulation of “Black propaganda,” as well as a range of self-portraiture and figurative languages pushing both mastery and experimentation.
Strategically placed, entry-point pieces by Heather Jones, Sydney Vernon, JD Deardourff, and even Steven M. Cummings (starting at one dollar) are designed to catalyze bidding and early momentum across both auction evenings.
On Saturday, May 30, Acquired Taste extends into live commerce with SUBDIVISION, a two-hour special presented by TORRENTS, the exhibition’s Cultural Media Sponsor. Drawing inspiration from legacy platforms such as Home Shopping Network and QVC, the segment will feature a curated marketplace of music ephemera, including archival vinyl and prints from Washington, D.C.’s leading street artists. Experience Divorce Culture’s “Smash ICE” posters, hueful works by MásPaz, and a live, in-studio activation by Diego Montoya (“Dieglo”), who will produce custom airbrushed garments.
First Access is a priority acquisition window designed for collectors who want to engage the work ahead of the public auction. Its purchase accesses a password-protected online portal, where selected works from Acquired Taste can be viewed and acquired at their market value before live bidding begins.
First Access recipients are also invited to the in-person Collector’s Previews at HOMME—Friday, May 29, from 5–6 PM and Saturday, May 30, from 3–4 PM—offering a dedicated moment to experience the work in the gallery prior to the evening sales.
Included with First Access is Acquired Taste Issue 1, the inaugural physical catalogue. Part editorial document, part acquisition guide, it features an original written contribution by Shori Sims, an exclusive interview with the steward of Chuck Close’s Self- Portrait (Yellow Raincoat), chef Kristopher Edelen, and archival material from Alexis Gomez that situates the production within a broader context of authorship, process, and cultural memory.
The opportunity for socially-conscious stewardship. Every acquisition benefits a pool of non-profit beneficiaries, including Anacostia Arts Center, Martha’s Table, Montgomery County Immigrant Rights Collective, and WHUT-TV. Moreover, interest-free payment plans are available through Klarna at checkout. Collecting art should feel expansive. These financing options enable thoughtful acquisition, so instinct, connection, and timing remain central to art-buying.
The best place to buy art. RSVP for Acquired Taste, and we look forward to welcoming you to our upcoming program, available live in-person or online.