Collecting art is a true, hardcore passion. It is not for the faint of heart. It can be one of the most volatile, inconsistent, and sometimes even imaginary make-believe markets out there. However, the first thing you need to ask yourself is what type of collector are you? Just like politics with Democrats and Republicans, art collectors are either studious and conservative or free loving and liberal. Not liberal politically, liberal with their money! Everyone will tell you, “You have to buy what you like”. But that is a very blanket statement, is it implying the image or the artist?
Before giving up my secret sauce, let me break down both angles from my point of view having observed others. The “Free Loving” approach is like playing the lottery in my opinion. Odds are not necessarily in your favor but if you play enough, you are bound to hit. This is when you are purely buying on the image presented if front of you. You have not read the artist’s CV, don’t know their exhibition provenance, history, why their important, or more importantly why you should or need to pay $7,500, $1,500, $20,000 or even $100,000 for this piece of art. The art world is loaded with artist’s whose careers are not substance filled. No insult intended, but there are several galleries out there who take an artist out of the woodwork and throw their paintings for sale in a flashy gallery for $12,000.00 each. I have personally been on house calls where every year a lovely couple traveled to the Caribbean, Hawaii, or Thailand on vacation and went to the local gallery and fell in love with an unbelievable landscape by the local “master”. They spend $20,000 as they are told it is worth 25 or 30, they are getting a steal! Fast forward 15 years later, you call a guy like me to help you downsize and I tell you the painting that was going to help fund your retirement is worth $200-$300. Gives you a mini heart attack. Now on the flip side, if you and your wife in the summertime spent your weekends gallery hopping in Manhattan and the Hamptons, the odds of you having a winner is greater. Like everything else in life, it all depends where you shop.
Now for the conservative approach. Were you do not just give your money to every dealer that shows you a painting. In this scenario sometimes it may take you up to 3 years before you pull the trigger. You discover the artist, learn about them, follow their career, see if they gain traction, who collects them? These are all questions a studious collector asks themselves before spending money. One of the biggest indicators is does an artist have a track record on the secondary market. Do their works trade at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Philips etc.? If so, then the artist has entered a point of commoditization where their creations can be tracked like a stock like the Dow Jones or S&P 500. This is the Wall Street approach to collecting art, and I absolutely love it! It is how I live my life every day! However, I do it with a balance of free love. I only collect what I like within a narrow pool of artists I have researched. If I encounter a new artist to which I enjoy the work I am 100% open to adding a piece to my collection. I just need to do my due diligence first. Collecting art is fun and can be a very exciting strategy game. Like monopoly, just be prepared to have some big swings in money.
