Top 200 Collectors

J. Patrick Collins, who splits his time between Los Angeles, Dallas and New York, is the principal of Collins Permian, a Dallas-based family office with diverse global investments in technology, energy and a variety of other industries.

A first-generation collector, Collins first became interested in art during his time at Columbia University, where he studied history and art history; among his professors was art historian Rosalind Krauss. Within Dallas, Collins represents the next generation of collectors, which has long been known as a hub of major US art patrons. “The collecting scene in Dallas has continued to strengthen as new players emerge on the scene focusing on emerging and contemporary art,” Dallas Art Fair director Kelly Cornell told ARTnews in 2020.

After making his first art purchase in his early 20s, a painting by Ryan McGinness, Collins has been collecting for around two decades, with a focus on both ultra-contemporary work and late 20th-century art historical giants who have made major contributions to post-conceptual art, video art, installation, and more. His collection is filled with the work of artists of his generation, including Julia Phillips, Emma McIntyre, Danielle Dean, Martine Syms, Julia Rommel, Aria Dean, Nikita Gale, Joanna Piotrowska, and Christodoulos Panayiotou, which are placed in dialogue with the likes of Sturtevant, Tom Burr, Dan Flavin, Rosemary Trockel, Christopher Williams, John McCracken, Ken Price, Matthias Groebel, and Emily Kame Kngwarreye. “I prefer the company of artists,” he once told the Aspen Art Museum of his friendship with many of the people whose art he collects. Recently, he has begun jointly collecting with his partner, Liv Barrett, the founder of LA-based gallery Château Shatto.

Collins currently sits on the board of the Dia Art Foundation in New York, and has previously served on the boards of El Museo del Barrio in New York, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. Since 2021, he has been the lead patron for Burr’s The Torrington Project, which he described as “an evolving and experimental project” for which Burr uses a disused factory in Litchfield County, Connecticut, as his studio and more.

“My early enthusiasm for collecting was largely driven by contributing in real-time to artists realizing projects or their visions being recognized and rewarded, as well as committing myself to collecting those and other artists only in-depth, not just a piece here or there,” Collins recently told ARTnews. “This continues to be a focal and motivating element of the collection, though more recently I’ve expanded the scope to include historical work. This puts these younger, living artists into an invigorating dialogue with artists and works who’ve informed their practices directly, or imprinted heavily on the context in which newer worki s being made.”