Chip Tom
The law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, has a long history of collecting artworks. Starting with their Los Angeles offices in 1982, they have collected over 300 paintings, photographs, sculptures, and works on paper. The initial collection focused on West Coast art from 1860 to the present, emphasizing California Impressionist paintings. Since the 1980s, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP has continued their collecting philosophy in all their worldwide offices. Current collecting goals focus on supporting local and regional artists and a collection that reflects the diversity of the firm’s employees and the communities they serve.
While many of the partners at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP are interested in art, one lead attorney has always spearheaded their focus on art. Recently Debra Wong Yang has taken over that role. Ms Yang serves on the board of several major art institutions, including The Smithsonian American Art Museum and Otis College of Art and Design. With her busy schedule, Ms. Yang brought on Chip Tom and Heather James Fine Art to serve as the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP collection advisor.
With many years of experience curating museum exhibitions and creating corporate collections, Chip Tom and Heather James Fine Art were the perfect match for the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP collection. Since the beginning of the collaboration, Chip Tom has assisted in curating the collections at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s offices in Dallas, TX, London, UK, Palo Alto, and San Francisco, CA. Future offices will include Houston, TX, Washington, D.C., and Singapore.
Speaking to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP’s global presence and local focus, each office features regional artists while playing a role in the firm’s worldwide collection. In London, Frank Bowling’s lyrical work based on his seminal map series calls to mind his own geographical history, having been born in British Guyana before relocating to London and New York. A beautiful, explosive painting by London-based Mannat Gandotra also adorns the British office. In Dallas, a large-scale work by local artist Yuni Lee pays homage to her Korean culture with her contemporary twist. One of the collection highlights is Nayda Collazo-Lloren’s commissioned work Geo Dis/connect, which combines found maps to represent all the locations where the firm has offices. Miles and sometimes continents apart, the project keeps the artworks relevant to their local spaces and in dialogue, with each other no matter the distance.
