Doodles co-founder Jordan Castro and his wife, artist Margo Castro, relocated to Dubai from Miami this year and it wasn’t long before their Dubai Creek villa and its artworks were written up in AD Middle East. The creatively minded couple, according to the publication, is “at the vanguard of the Middle East’s next generation of art collectors.” They met at an NFT dinner in Dubai. He’s a crypto guy whose NFT company launched in 2021 with a collection of 10,000 pieces by artist Scott Martin (a.k.a. Burnt Toast) and has since evolved into a media platform. She’s also into NFTs but a relatively new voice in the art scene, here by way of fashion. Together, they’ve built a collection around color, figuration and, as Margo puts it, “deviously kawaii themes.”

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What might be most interesting about the couple’s art collection isn’t the preponderance of pink or the names in their portfolio (e.g., Damien Hirst) but rather that it started with work bought from friends. Margo and Jordan’s first acquisition was a piece by Atlanta muralist Greg Mike. From there, they collected early sketches by Martin, and then their collection grew to include digital and traditional contemporary works by a wide range of emerging and established artists, such as Felix Treadwell (two pieces acquired at Phillips and Christie’s), Bibi Lei (acquired at Ross Kramer Gallery) and Mariam Lamei (acquired during Art Dubai 2024).

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Another notable detail is that the Castro’s collection is built around not just consensus but easy consensus. Like collectors Nacho Polo and Robert Onuska, Margo and Jordan found that they had a shared vision that drew them both to artworks with bright hues, playful subjects and the kind of energy that toes a trifold line between street art, cartoons and fine art. Now displayed in their home in Dubai Creek’s Deira neighborhood, their growing collection has a name: Pinkum Collection. We recently caught up with Jordan and Margo Castro to discuss how they collect, their thoughts on web3 art and the artists they think you should know.

MARGO: The theme and style of our art, which we refer to as Pinkum Collection, is ever-evolving as Jordan and I change and grow as people. However, there are a couple of throughlines. In the dining areas, all of the pieces have quite prominent eyes, including Bibi Lei’s Bloom XI 2023, Scott Martin’s TBD 2023 and Felix Treadwell’s London Girl 2021........

© Observer