Geoff asks about art as investment. Hard question. There are several kinds of answers.
1. anything can be bought or sold as an investment but almost everything is a bad investment. 2. In buying art with a view to selling it at a profit, keep in mind that the purchase price usually includes a large markup over its "wholesale" value. For work by living artists purchased at galleries, the commission to the dealer, etc., is usually 50%, meaning the actual wholesale value is about half of the purchase price. So if you go to sell the work to a dealer the next day, you'd lose at least 50% of your investment if it's sold for the price you paid. (Some dealers take only 20% on resales). 3. Generally, artwork that has some success in the market will show an increase in value many times that of comparable investments. Some firms have been set up to buy investment grade art with multiple investors, a very risky idea. A work by a new and likely artist that sells for, say, 1,000 today may be worth 10,000 in just a few months, if the artist gains some important (institutional) recognition. Or it may take years for that to happen, if ever. And in years, the work may the worth nothing or possibly retain a modest "vintage" value. 4. A large portion of art historical revisionism is due to concerted efforts by dealers-auctioneers, etc., to create a rediscovery of marginalized art. When this succeeds, a big payday is possible. Currently there is a big push to rediscover second-rank artists of the 60s-70s 80s and their prices have sometimes jumped from the low thousands to the hundreds of thousands. This always happens when the top artists of a generation are too expensive or their major works are in museums. 5. Generally, only the very top-prized work (not always the best but still historically "important") is bought and sold at auctions. This is where the retail values are traded. Billionaires trade their Jeff Koons' back and forth bidding the work up millions at a time -- and it becomes an ego war to see who can afford the most for the most insubstantial things --akin to lighting cigars with 1,000 dollar bills. 4. If one is only interested in investment then, like all investing, the bigger the risk the bigger the potential returns. Sometimes the best and most valuable collections 10-20 years hence -- are put together by people who focus on a specific kind or work or artists and begin to acquire it before it's well known. This requires a keen eye and a deep familiarity of the artworld, trends, ideas, etc. A postal worker and his wife assembled one of the most important and valued collections of conceptual-type art with very small but steady buying over f few decades. They bought what they loved and they were ahead of the curve. 5. So, buy what you love and forget the investment unless you want to start with millions at a big auction house or have an eye for new untested work that you assemble in depth. Otherwise, buy the most representative work by well recognized or under-recognized artists -- dead or alive- and hold it. Or, scan the second-hand stores. I once found a lovely drawing by an important 1930s artist in an "antique" shop and bought it for 40 bucks. But you gotta know what you see. 6. Some secondary auction houses have very excellent art that is not valued correctly because they go with past auction records and not actual market values. Much of this work is sold very, very low, and can result in fantastic buys. But the informed buyer wins. Once more, for investment only buy the artist's most characteristic work. 7. The most pumped up work on the market today, in the multiple millions of dollars, pounds, etc., is usually quite accessible work by well known former stars like Warhol and Koons, and some newer Europeans and hotshot Chinese. The Russians and the Asians love that stuff. More "difficult" work is cheaper. 8. My advice to anyone is don't buy art for investment but for the love of it. Although the more you pay the more likely it is to hold value (excepting that superheated stuff mentioned above). Don't buy anything you hate or don't have time or desire to research in depth. 9. If you take the time to learn about the art you instinctively like, you'll probably buy work that'l be woth more down the road. It's a strong possibility though that your taste will change as your knowledge increases, so go slow. 10. In today's grim economy, some art will be safe investments for those wanting to protect huge wealth. But look for a big number of galleries to fail over the next 6 months (because they need so much capitalization) and for prices to drop (all prices can be privately negotiated in stressful times because dealers need cash flow). 11. Some new collectors begin with prints as affordable ways to obtain "name" art. I suggest buying drawings instead (if investment is a priority). One of a kind art beats multiple art (almost) every time. Most undervalued American art today? 1930s American Scene and 1950s non-expressionist abstraction. Amazingly ignored. I could say much more. WC --- On Sun, 11/2/08, GEOFF CREALOCK <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: GEOFF CREALOCK <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: "Free Market Art" and otherwise > To: [email protected] > Date: Sunday, November 2, 2008, 1:56 PM > William: Would you be content to advise those interested in > purchasing art > as an invesment to get advice, just as they would with any > other investment, > and for the rest, to buy (or create) what we choose? > Geoff C
