I have been a
professional artist for forty years, and some visitors to my home are
shocked when they see my wife and I are modest art collectors as
well. I buy and sell art all the time. That is because I KNOW art as
a product, with real value. When I buy, I have a natural process of
decision making which governs the search, and the purchase, and I
rarely break from it.
There
is no one way to collect, as art has many markets and venues and too
many variables. Each is a unique adventure, and each has its own
lures and pitfalls. I have watched this free-for-all most of my life,
and it has only grown, so maybe I can spare you some pain... So here
is my brief “artist's guide” to art collecting.
Any
idiot can collect art, but no idiot could build a responsible
collection. If you are going to truck in the arts, you gotta have
smarts. Art and collecting art is fun, but experienced collectors
make it look easier than it is. If you care about something beyond
immediate gratification, or want to build a true asset with art in
your financial portfolio, you will have to engage your whole
brain, and temper your purchases with wisdom
born of study and heart.
Primarily, I have to really like
something to buy it, regardless of other concerns, and think I
would be happy with the art even if everybody else hated it. I
buy things I want to live with. After all, I may have to!
I often consider my wife's tastes as well, as she has to live with it
too. If I love it, a lot, especially for more subjective,
non-artistic reasons, I may have to ask myself a different series of
questions, because I may be losing my objectivity and pay too much,
or fall into a narcissistic trance. Too many purchases like that can
lead to disaster. The trick is to combine objectivity and
restraint with an aggressive, inner passion.
It has to be priced realistically.
Could I, if push comes to shove, sell it and at least get most of my
money back? After these two questions are satisfied then the only
other concerns I may have are about placement and the amount of
disruption this addition will be to my overall collection
arrangement. I do not mind buying art that will be temporarily stored
if it is a good enough purchase. It will eventually find its place.
As an artist, I frequent many possible
art markets and venues. Almost all are struggling right now. Consumer
trends are presently shifting in a sea change that is leaving
everyone unsure of what may come. The loss of many art galleries
throughout the country has caused some alarm. Regional art shows are
diminishing, and longtime collectors have tried to cash in on their
collections at auctions and sometimes found a fairly soft market. As
gold, silver, land and other investment opportunities become
lackluster, nothing seems to be a safe investment.
Although all of this is true, I am glad
to report that the art world is far from dead. The old game has died
and a new one is emerging. Many artists are being hurt or lost in the
change, but the free market will establish new trends with new
leaders, and reward new survivors. I enjoyed vigorous sales at the
end of last year, totally confounding all of my fears. I had adapted
my marketing strategy and it paid off. Savvy art collectors will
learn to watch artists and their art and not magazine ads. The
Internet offers many art sites which help buyers find their art, with
a million twists never before possible. So you will be able to find
something you love. There is a ton of variety in this new art game
and the quality is out there. The question is how do you sort it out?
Who can you trust? When do you know it is time to pull the trigger?
If you are a new art collector with
these or similar questions, I have a few suggestions. First of all,
take a trip.
Go to a known art market... like
Santa Fe or Carmel and observe the contents of as many of the
galleries as you can. Go back and revisit your favorites to cement
them in your mind. Or visit some art museums in a major city. You
need to know what the art, truly great art, looks and feels like in
real life. Experience the richness of color and texture of a Monet in
person. See the shadow of an Oldenburg across the room and across
your shoe. Caress the rugged texture of Rodin in a garden. These
physical, tactile responses are what make you human- and art
essential. They are what separates the digital illusions on your
computer monitor from the handmade, blood, sweat and tears creations
of flesh and bone visual artists.
Educate yourself. If you like
landscapes, look at Turner or Moran or Church. If you are drawn to
portraits, spend an hour melting into a Sargent, or a Rembrandt. If
you are into Contemporary, know what made good modern art good.
Because of its freedoms, there is a lot of counterfeit modern art
being made by hacks.
FORGET,
for the moment, the critics or historians, and become
sensitive to what the Masters found important. There is very
little new under the sun. Art is a language that has been spoken
without words for centuries. Learn the vocabulary. Sensitize yourself
to just one favorite “great” painting, taking in the various hues
of green, or the weave of brushstrokes, or the use of design to move
you through the composition. See if you can identify an artist's
stylistic techniques... his fingerprints so to speak. This is sort of
looking into the soul or DNA of an artist. During this rational,
whole-brained process, your right side of your brain, the creative
side, is feeding essential information to your Left brain... your
business manager side, and it will come in handy later to provide the
appropriate response.
Most people handle the left-brained
skills adequately... knowing your budget, the Google search for facts
and figures, and basic art history. But after you have really
experienced art, inspected, smelled, and truly felt Fine Art, and you
start thinking you know what the artist was thinking when he made
this or that... you have started to utilize the right side of your
brain...Then you are ready. You have begun to utilize the two lobes
of your brain... right brain for creative analysis, the left brain
for organizing your conclusions... Now you have
a trustworthy frame of reference.
Seek,
find, scrutinize the art, apply all of your head “knowledge.”
After the art passes these tests, PAUSE.
Then I'm going to ask you to change
channels... Use your Right brain and enter a totally different line
of reasoning. Buy because of
an inner, emotional response to the art,
not a superficial, rational one. Your right brain is the one who
knows. This leaves right-handed people (who are left-brained
dominant!) at a disadvantage, in the beginning, until they learn to
stretch and use the other half of their brain power. If you are
searching and buying because of subject matter, ( preconceived
notions- a left-brained thing) you are only genre enthusiast. Many
things with the desired pictorial elements will trip your trigger and
you will buy a bunch of crap. I am in Texas, and here we have a lot
of theme-art buyers who will hang a $15,000 masterwork across the
room from a Coors poster, because they feature a culturally popular
subject matter. In both cases they might well live to be disappointed
in their choices, as trends come and go, and they learn what really
good art feels like.
This
second, less popular brain function takes time to cultivate. Ask
yourself questions like,
“Does
this art inspire an emotion, or does it just satisfy one my
predilections (like a favorite subject, color, etc.).
“Does
this art have any flaws that will bother me after I have looked at it
a few times?”
“Does
this art leave me with a feeling I want to preserve, and
engage with often?”
“Is
this art a masterpiece, which I would respond to even in a busy
airport or an abandoned storage building, or just a masterfully
executed image, a predictable product, which has won my attention by
artistic skill and marketing?”
Sooner
or later, you will develop your own Right-brained questions. And you
will be buying art like an artist. You will buy better art and you
will enjoy it more.
Don't
“settle.” Save your money and pay a little more and
start by buying a modest, special work of art. Wherever. You might
not have a good gallery near you that carries art of your persuasion,
so look at all the fabulous
art on the Internet sites. As you look at the prospects,
compare their qualities to the qualities you have experienced in
person. (left brain) How do they stand up? Demand clear, close-up
photography. Don't buy from anyone that does not offer a fair return
policy. Usually, if you like it on the Internet, you will love it in
person. The biggest problem with today's new collectors, who have
seen so much “virtual” reality, is that they have trouble
adapting their tastes to reality.
Don't get too caught up in the word on
the street. Talk with other, more experienced collectors who share
your interests. Ask to see their collections. Find out what they like
about the art. You may be very surprised- or underwhelmed with their
reasoning, or sometimes inspired with their insights. Still, these
conversations expand your frame of reference.
Research
the name. Any artist worth anything is easily researched
on the Internet. Usually you can find comparisons to evaluate your
buying opportunity. True, there are many great, unknown artists whose
works will never appreciate much but whose art is affordable and will
bring you joy daily. I have plenty of that kind of art. You just
don't want a whole collection full of these kinds of paintings, which
will not bring much upon liquidation. Soon you will have a whole
mental “stable” of artists you are seeking. You will find that
the artist you like had friends or associates who will often intrigue
you as well. A smart way to build up some background on a school of
artists is to collect old illustrated auction catalogs. Tons of
useful info there.
Don't
follow the crowd. Avoid “starving artists” sales. A
great deal of imported art has flooded America in the past decades,
with phony names and flamboyant frames, and it will never be worth as
much as the frame it is in... (as in the time of purchase!) I see a
lot of art buyers buy because of social and decorator trends. Many,
like a school of fish, follow what “THEY say.” I know too
many folks who buy something they literally dislike just because
“THEY” are all buying something, and these folks do not want to
miss out on a so-called opportunity. This is because they have
never given art a thought before and do not trust their own judgment.
Their likes and dislikes are governed by ignorance and insecurity.
They depend on “they” to guide them. Usually these kinds of art
opportunities are fleeting scams. It is not hard to educate yourself
and become knowledgeable about the basics of art, and buy things with
lasting value, even INVESTMENT VALUE.
Art
is a great investment
and a great pastime. Collecting is fun and rewarding and
the investment can also be rewarding. Out of all the things you
acquire in a lifetime, the furniture, technology, tools, collections,
machines and clothing etc. will get randomly discarded, but your
heirs will usually covet the good art left behind. Art creates and
stores memories. If chosen properly, it will be worth at least what
you paid for it when it comes time to dispose of it... unlike most
other things in your home, which will be of little value. Antiques,
coins, and even metals will fluctuate, and art usually performs as
well as them. My collectors have followed my career and very few ever
want their money back. (I am always glad to give it, as I can make
money on those terms!) Outside of beautiful land, there is no other
investment you can make where you can feel good about the expense and
literally be entertained by it every day, and anticipate an increase
in value. I have known several couples who collected my work, who got
divorces, and in each case almost everything was negotiable but the
art, which they both fought for. I suppose a good policy would be to
buy TWO OF EVERYTHING!
So now you are ready to buy and you
know what you want. I will tell you, the art world is your oyster,
and there has never been a better time to buy art... because the art
is good and artists are hungry.
The market has been soft due to the
economy, and there have not been the traditional venues for buyers
and artists to find each other. Social media, ebay, blogs, estate
sales, garage sales, could all be worth your time in locating good
art. I have seen outrageous deals at well-attended collectibles
auctions where name artists sold for fractions of their old prices.
In time those old prices should return. The opportunities abound.
Elderly couples are downsizing and divesting, their kids do not care
or are ignorant about their collections, and great stuff is getting
plowed back into the market through secondhand shops.
But your
best bet is to go direct. Artists are selling direct on
the Internet as their gallery connections disintegrate, and they can
and will sell cheaper with no middle man. Artists are marketing
through facebook, and starting to show up in unexpected places trying
to connect with their audience. This puts the collector in the
driver's seat. I have taken advantage of this art bonanza and made
the best art purchases of my life in the past year or so.
If you still feel a little hesitant, I
recommend a visit to
http://www.invaluable.com/blog/how-to-start-a-fine-art-collection/
where there is a whole section on guidance for collecting art.
So now that you know all of this, be
gentle with my compadres. They have been going through a rough time,
and yet I believe they are the best evidence left for our humanity,
and remember it was an artist that gave you these tips. Good luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment