For Robert Stilin, collecting art and creating spaces have always been closely intertwined. The New York–based interior designer and collector began acquiring photography in the late 1980s, gradually building a deeply personal collection that today encompasses more than 700 works across photography, painting, works on paper and sculpture. Yet despite its breadth, Stilin’s approach to collecting remains decidedly instinctive: less concerned with following a prescribed logic than with the immediate and lasting connection he feels with an individual work.

The same sensibility runs through his interiors. Known for bringing together art, furniture and objects across periods and disciplines, Stilin approaches a room through layering, contrast and unexpected relationships. Art is not treated as something separate or precious, but as an integral part of the environment—something to be encountered and lived with.

For Enth Invites, Stilin brings this perspective to a selection of works by Li Trincere, Paul Hutchinson, Francesco De Prezzo and Cy Twombly. Rather than seeking uniformity, his selection is shaped by juxtaposition: moments of visual affinity set against works that disrupt them. Geometry meets gesture; restraint sits alongside atmosphere and imperfection. What emerges reflects an approach Stilin describes as finding “balance through dynamic tension”—allowing distinct visual languages to coexist, challenge one another and create dialogue.

What is your relationship with art?

Art isn’t just something I incorporate into my work or hang on a wall; I genuinely can’t live without it. It’s a core part of who I am. Beyond being visually stimulating, art creates an emotional environment. It brings a sense of relaxation, comfort, and deep personal enjoyment to a space. For me, living with art is fundamental to feeling completely at home.

You've described collecting as something quite visceral and instinctive. What is it that makes you connect with a work and ultimately want to live with it?

For me, it’s a completely visceral reaction that I feel deeply on a piece-by-piece basis. There is no formula. If you show me a work by an artist and it resonates with me, I’m going to get it. But you could then show me five other works by that exact same artist and none of them will speak to me the way that single piece did. When that connection is there, it’s quick and decisive. If a work lingers in my mind and continues to strike a chord every time I revisit it, that’s when I know I need to live with it.

When you work with clients who are only beginning to collect art, how do you help them develop the confidence to make their own choices?

Honestly, it’s simple: I give them exposure. I take them to galleries, art fairs, and museum shows, and we just look at things together. Seeing a wide range of work in person allows them to figure out what they naturally gravitate toward, and just as importantly, what they don’t like.

For clients who simply don’t have the time to go to shows, I adapt the process. I’ll curate a targeted selection for them, put together mockups showing exactly how the works would look scaled in their specific space, or give them artist monographs to review.

Whether in person or through curated presentations, once they start trusting their initial reactions, the confidence follows organically.

Looking at the works you’ve selected from Enth, what initially drew you to them?

For Trincere, the contrast of the pale blue line activates what would otherwise be a dark canvas. With Twombly, I’ve always loved everything he does, but I have a particular soft spot for his hand-drawn exhibition posters. They have an immediate, graphic quality.

With Hutchinson's Yorkstraße Shadows, I love that it feels moody. It draws you in, making you feel like you're actually going somewhere. For Hutchinson's affection, it's the attraction of the two colors and the subtle details that hit me. It's strong, simple, and commands your attention immediately.

And with De Prezzo, I love the combination of colors. It feels minimal, but there's a slight messiness and a lived-in, industrial quality to it that gives it this balance of order and disorder.

Do you see a common thread emerging across your selection—whether visual, emotional or conceptual—or are you more interested in the dialogue created by their differences?

I’m more interested in the contrast, the dialogue, and the juxtaposition between them. Bringing distinct visual voices into the same room is what creates energy and makes a space feel layered and alive.

You’ve described an art collection as a kind of autobiography. What, if anything, do you think this particular selection reveals about your own way of seeing?

It comes back to how I approach assembling a room. I love how Trincere’s work contrasts with the fluid, graphic quality of the Twombly. It shows that I’m always looking for balance through dynamic tension, pairing pieces that speak the same visual language alongside elements that break the rules and create a real dialogue.

Photography by Evan Felts.