We should not have even bothered with Chicago. It is the third largest market in the U.S., so when several years ago my company, MRIndustries, decided to expand into the United States and simultaneously open offices in all major markets. We included the Windy City along with New York and Los Angeles. But what was I thinking? We weren't selling anything, as MRIndustries had transformed from the Eastern European canned-foods manufacturing powerhouse, which I founded after the fall of the Iron Curtain, to primarily an investment company. And most of my time during the last decade was spent building an art collection and with various philanthropic endeavors, such as sponsoring special programs at art fairs and institutions.

We were basically looking for art and not for major consumer markets. Great art, for that matter. And inspiring art activities. Chicago, however, no longer had any of that —long gone were the days of their major art fair, which I used to frequent in the 1990s. But we keep our presence and office in the city, as … Oprah still lives there. So perhaps, subconsciously, I hope that her presence does have some indirect influence on my philanthropic art activities, for who wouldn't want to be the Oprah of the art world? Without the self-importance, of course.

I should have known that when it comes to art in the United States, it always comes down to the two coasts. And for a few years, at the height of the art market boom, we were quite busy with projects in both Los Angeles and New York. I recall fondly recall having experiences during MRIndustries' sponsorship campaign for LACE's 2008 annual auction, as well as being introduced to MOCA's then-director Jeremy Strick and trustee Cliff Einstein. After I successfully bid on art at their "Fresh" fundraiser, more philanthropic projects followed with Pulse New York, where I also presented the prize for best emerging artist at the fair. The latter was almost tarnished by a strange, but unfortunately not uncommon experience for me. As we were preparing for the award ceremony, Will Ramsay, the owner of the Pulse fairs, screamed at my assistant and me to leave their offices —all for no apparent reason and to the dismay and terror of Pulse's entire staff and visionary director Helen Allen, who later had to apologize to us. Perhaps Ramsay saw us as intruders in his territory and status, and thus felt he had the right to disrespect us by simply placing me in the all-too-familiar box of the clown and entertainer, and not of the powerful transsexual industrialist and art philanthropist who's perhaps even wealthier than he is.

But I did mention that it was only almost tarnished, as the aura of disrespect that day was completely overturned by the experience that followed after leaving Pulse New York —for an exhibition opening at Deitch Projects. We had met Jeffrey Deitch only a few months earlier at Art Basel Miami Beach. As our driver pulled to a stop at a corner between his two gallery locations in Soho, Mr. Deitch seemed to mysteriously be waiting right there, as though especially for us. "Hello again," he greeted us, as my uniformed assistant helped me out of the black limo. "It is the famous Russian art collector." I don't know why everyone seems to think that I am Russian, but if Russia is the sole representative of all of Eastern Europe for Americans, then let it be. And I usually do. Jeffrey walked us to his gallery, kindly opened the door and welcomed us to the exhibition opening. On our way out, he thanked us for coming. Now, that's really how every art collector should be treated, no matter what she looks like and what she represents.

But those days and such pleasant experiences are all too quickly gone now, along with the art market boom —replaced perhaps by fear and uncertainty, which still linger. Our last experiences in Miami were marred by negative comments by art dealers such as Philip Martin and with sexist remarks by none other than … wealthy women, as I unintentionally pushed buttons while trying indirectly to change people's perceptions and create discussions through my philanthropic projects. Los Angeles carried on the trend when MOCA, now under new leadership, failed to invite us to their last Fresh auction and later to their 30th anniversary celebrations. And New York was simply quiet, as art funding for anything outside the bare minimum had disappeared.

MRIndustries also had to scale down its philanthropic endeavors and sponsorship campaigns. We've even had to liquidate our most visible investment in Los Angeles —our cement factory on La Brea Avenue. Perhaps we should let go of all three of our U.S. locations and re-invest in our European presence. But art in most of Eastern Europe seems still stuck in surrealism, while anything more progressive and conceptual is met there with censorship, even two decades after the fall of Communism.

That's why we've always looked to art in the West. And while Berlin, one of our European bases, is currently the buzzing place for artists on the Continent, it's hardly the place for major art collectors. London, on the other hand, seems in a quiet limbo with young artists' work referring back to Modernism and to Francis Bacon. So while we patiently wait for another British boom to brew, we could of course look for an expansion into Asia. But as I said, we're restlessly searching for great new art and not for consumer markets that are unaffected by the global recession. So as Japan is still producing too many Takashi Murakami's and most of China's contemporary art is catching up to the West through one-liners, Asia doesn't seem too appealing, either. Perhaps we need to stay in the U.S. for a bit longer, at least in New York, as it is still the art capital of the world. But the weather, if nothing else, is so much better in Los Angeles. Plus they now have Jeffrey Deitch. And perhaps soon even … Oprah.