STARTING AN ART COLLECTION FOR LOW TO MEDIUM INCOME EARNERS
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This article is for those of you who love art, are a little risk averse and want some pointers about how to start an art collection* and the steps required to achieve it. You want to surround yourself with art as a reflection of your personality and home environment.
Alongside, you want to be assured that what you buy is worthy, authentic, displays complexity (in some form), and is not simply a waste of money.
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While this article is not specifically about investment, educated collecting can result in a good investment, but by no means guaranteed.
There is no right or wrong way to start an art collection. And, if you only buy art that you love for display within your home, can it ever be considered a poor investment?
Looking at art over-and-over-and-over again, while endlessly visiting exhibitions, speaking to gallery staff and artists (and other buyers), visiting art fairs and end of year art school graduations will eventually fine tune your observations.
It will also locate your eye in art that you are confident represents you, and consequently you are happy to put on display.
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START RESEARCHING AND TARGETING ART THAT YOU ARE DRAWN TO
Start researching and targeting art that you are drawn to, that is art exhibitions locally or online, and read up on the artist’s and the work that positively impacts you.
By researching, I mean in the area that reflects your budget – there is no point spending a great deal of time reseaching Damien Hirst (except as an interesting story, and of course it puts what you are doing into context) if you cannot afford the artworks. Most artist’s I absolutely love I cannot afford to buy – but that’s OK, there are plenty that I can afford to buy which is the great thing about collecting art.
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Put time aside each week (or every couple of weeks) to attend one or two exhibitions, that are showing work you strongly identify with, even if you are unsure why you connect to it.
Researching and looking exclusively online is ultimately not ideal, you need to see the work up close and in detail and that can only be done by attending exhibitions in person. I have been deeply disappointed and inconvenienced having received the work after buying online: the details revealed on sight did not equate to how they appeared online.
And of course attending shows is the most accessible way to speak to people in the know about art, as well as other buyers and the artist’s themselves.
Find out everything you can about the artist: look for commitment to a full time vocational career, residencies undertaken or sought, if the artist is registered with more than one gallery, what they have coming up in their calendar?
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Buy art magazines and read what the experts say about this-or-that-up-coming artist: new shows, *residencies!
The best art magazines are ‘generally’ not interested in promoting unworthy art, so read up on articles about artist’s who are having their first exhibition or their first residency or are beginning to become known in the ‘world of art’.
Artist’s clamour for *residencies! Residencies will get hundreds if not thousands of applicants, thus, if the artist is successful in securing a prominent residency, like Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, they must be deemed to have a future in art according to the experts (at least at the point in time the artist secured the residency). there are too, a multitude of Australian residencies.
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Collecting art, and all that is involved, is a lot of fun! Look out for part two which delves into different types of collecting and what to be careful of?
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*Art in this context means almost everything: paintings, prints, sculptures, photography, drawings.
Featured image: Liam Gerrard, Warrior, charcoal on paper, 1500 x 100cm (590.55″ x 39.37). Gerrard is represented by Sanderson Contemporary
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TERMINOLOGY
Residency: There are endless opportunities for artist’s to undertake residencies in Australia and overseas. Often they are assisted by the gallery whose stable they belong to. For example, Creative Australia offer $12,500 to a recipient for a three month residency in Paris 4 times a year.
