Many private clients are art lovers, own collections or actively buy and sell in the art market. They require someone who shares their passion for art and understands and appreciates the significance and pleasure of investing in art and collectibles of high value.

 

Every year, in New York and London, the prestigious Impressionist and Modern Art evening sales or Contemporary Art sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s are the high points of the global auction season. They are always a great spectacle, boasting catalogues stuffed with the market’s most exceptional pieces. Between them, these two auction houses now virtually monopolize sales of a million dollars and over. In 2006, of the 810 million-plus lots sold, 81 went under the hammer at these two leading venues.
In the current growth phase, competition between Sotheby’s and Christie’s is having a dynamising impact on the wider market. Of the 9,200 fine art auctions recorded by Artprice in 2006, the big two hosted 842. This is 80 more than in 2004. But, despite having just 9.15% of total auction numbers, Sotheby’s and Christie’s handled 76% of the global fine art market’s turnover. The average price of lots sold at the two market leaders, who arrange the most prestigious sales, was $ 91,805. This compares to an average at all other auctions houses of just $ 7,156.

excerpt from: Art Market Trends 2006
© 2007 artprice.com

For most of us the Idea of investing in the art market is a bazaar thought.

If you are looking to turn an overnight prophet then stay away from art. Unless you’re a savvy art collector with lots of money you won’t be able to get in and out of the market with your wallet intact.

 

The Global Art market goes way beyond appreciation, in fact I would say it’s about prestige.

When you see statistics from art auction houses you realize that money is no object. When the general public reads about acquisitions in the 10’s of millions of dollars, they just chalk it up to entertainment and don’t really take it seriously.

Most artists can’t even begin to perceive their work in that context and art patrons are battling the mystique and publicity that surrounds the art world.

 

O.K. It’s not like most people can even think about purchasing art for several million dollars a pop. I have watched world art market trends and art prices for high profile art objects generated by elite investors and the auction houses with the desire to set record sales. These types of acquisitions produce more than escalating art prices they feed publicity and promote speculation among collectors. Money and collectors come out of the wood work for a chance to own a piece of history and for the rest of us we just sit back and watch the game unfold.

 

I think not! in fact art has very little to do with it. It’s about power !

A good example is the Nazis during the WW2 and the invasion of France. As they moved through France they confiscated precious pieces of art and stock piled them. Some were destroyed and others were hidden not to be found until many years later.

It was said that Hitler had a taste for art and literature and his quest to control peoples access to all art and literature was what he saw as the ultimate form of power.

When a painter creates a painting as a commission or for a gallery their intent is most likely to have as many people see it as possible. The global art market on the other hand has placed global art in a fish bowl allowing only wealthy high profile collectors the ability to purchase art which in turn actively takes it out of public galleries.

Again! If anyone wants to see a specific painting like Picasso’s Nude and Green Leaves and Bust you will most likely be out of luck unless a museum was the purchaser.

There are collectors out their with art that has never been seen by the general public.

 

Lets face it, most people couldn’t tell the difference between a real Picasso and a forgery, In fact the experts even have a challenge spotting forgeries. It is said that world class galleries like the Tate in London have forgeries in their collection that they don’t even know exist.

If you are a collector forgery is just one of those hazards of the business.

The funny thing is most artists don’t think about it. Overpriced art acquisitions generally happen in bubble. A fantasy for most artists is for their work to be public enough to attract big time collectors. Artists like Warhol and Pollack and even Picasso looked at success as incidental. There was a competitive edge that seemed to drive them all to greater heights. It's the unspoken competition between artists that produces cutting edge art. Today artists seem to be more interested in social media and having a perceptible podium to launch their concepts from. Online venues are where artists go to tell the world about their art.

 

“art for art sake” seems to be the term for the millennium. Websites like YouTube are the preferred soap box for artists of all standings. What are we seeing? Is it visual journals or product marketing. Either way there is a warning that “the flavour of the month is still just the flavour of the MONTH”

 

 

I’ve always had specific tastes in art even beyond my own creativity.

I can’t define my tastes mostly because they evolve constantly with combinations of design elements one day and a variety of techniques and materials another. I have different criteria’s for choosing art such as it must be entertaining. What that means I don’t know until I see something that breaks me up emotionally. I like to see work that goes outside of the box traditionally while retaining a sophisticated edge.

There is a unique sophistication that comes from artists that have abandoned art school principals and pursued an intuitive means of expressing their creativity.

This painting by Willem De Kooning is about a raw sophistication. He captures the essence of his subjects through a sort of un-evolved, un-diluted act of painting. He visualizes the activity of placing paint on the canvas as a reaction to his subject. Spontaneous and unencumbered by exteriors or refined technique is a good way to describe De Koonings style.

 

Even though I don’t have the resources to buy a De Kooning I use his work as a model to find other works by other artists. That is not to say I’m looking for De Kooning impersonators, I am merely looking for the same sort of energy and emotional response to the world around us..

The foundation of great art starts with appreciation in-fact just buying an original piece of art can start you on the road to being a collector.

I have taken the conservative approach while imagining I'm a world class collector. I buy art from local and unknown artists with the idea of creating my own world class art collection. I'm not spending millions or even thousands in most cases, just a few hundred dollars every now and then

 

 

 

 

 

 

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."