Being a true collector involves a lot more than just buying art. Sometimes, it requires advocating for artists inside bureaucratic institutions, match-making between creators and museums, and even selling yourself to a protective art dealer in order to convince them you will be a fitting custodian of a great work. Our 2026 Young Collectors share a commitment to going above and beyond for the chance to live with art they love.
Age: 31
Based In: New York
Art is a personal and professional path for Taylor, who has steadily been building a role for herself as a patron alongside her work as director of her family’s philanthropic foundation. She serves on the advisory board and contemporary art committee of the Brooklyn Museum, as co-chair of the Apollo Circle at the Met, and on the board and acquisitions committee of the Bronx Museum.
Every collector has made a rookie mistake or two. What was your most memorable?
Dropping a Ben Cowan painting within two hours of bringing it home. I had just bought two beautiful works of his and managed to crack the resin frame on one almost immediately. I was completely mortified and had to text him to confess. He could not have been kinder or more understanding. What started as a careless mistake blossomed into a real friendship.
Who do you credit with teaching you how to navigate the art world?
Danielle Falls has been incredibly influential for me, not just in how I collect, but also in how I approach my philanthropic work. We serve together on the board of the Bronx Museum, and I have learned a great deal from the way she advocates for her ideas with clarity and diplomacy.
Tell us about the journey to a particularly hard-won acquisition.
I had been looking for a three-dimensional work by Frieda Toranzo Jaeger for some time and had been working closely with Bortolami to try to secure one, specifically something tied to her accelerationist ideas with Indigenous woven elements from northern Mexico. There were not many available at the time. Eventually, the gallery received two works from her studio, one of which was exactly what I had been hoping for. The front panels are embellished with rhinestones and include a Leon Trotsky quote, “You might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you,” which feels especially poignant right now.
What area of collecting are you excited to dig deeper into?
I am interested in work that moves beyond the canvas, and in understanding how material can shape a space. That includes wall sculpture, but also more subtle decisions like framing and how a work sits within a room. Material has really come to the forefront for me, whether it is metal, wood, woven elements, or more unexpected details like bone inlay. That shift goes back to a small wall sculpture by Caio Marcolini that I bought at 1-54 [Contemporary African Art Fair]. At the time, I was mostly focused on painting, and this was the first piece that pulled me beyond that. I had seen his work before in Mexico City, and when I came across it again, it stayed with me. Bringing it home and living with it changed how I thought about the role a work can play in a space. It made me more aware of how a piece occupies a room and how you move around it, not just how it looks on a wall.
If you could sit down for lunch with one artist, living or dead, who would it be?
Tracey Emin. Learning about her work in a college seminar completely shifted how I think about contemporary art. Pieces like My Bed challenged my understanding of what art could be and pushed me to think more openly about vulnerability, authorship, and personal narrative. It is such a raw depiction of emotional turmoil and offers a very real glimpse into the artist’s life. I really admire how uncompromising she has been throughout her career. She has also helped create space for female artists to be direct, messy, and honest in their work, which is something I am very drawn to.
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