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Latest Art Market Internet Startups – artmarketblog.com

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:34:40 +0000

Latest Art Market Internet Startups – artmarketblog.com

Here is a list of the best new art market internet startups:

my-artmap

http://www.myartmap.de

my-artmap is a social network and the social network for art & the art market. Members are persons or institutions who deal professionally with art and the art market (auction house, commercials, galeries, museums, exhibitions) and private persons who are interested in art. They all have through my-artmap the chance to talk about art, to show and to share art, as well as to inform themselves about current exhibitions, appointments etc. The network my-artmap claims to establish the worldwide leading social network for art & the art market. Currently my-artmap is available in 7 different languages and provides an unique network which will be expanded by more languages and functionalities.

Artolo

http://www.artolo.com

The visual art world reinvented, rebooted and made accessible to all.

An online platform that allows you to discover and purchase work ANYWHERE, be it your local cafe, an artist studio near your holiday destination or in the basement of a well-established gallery.

A place where ANYBODY can resell work from a piece by a friend to a Monet discovered in the attic.

And a place where EVERY artist will have all the tools they need to present their work, connect with the right audience and manage the process of a sale. The art world will never be the same.

ArtBinder

http://www.artbinder.com

ArtBinder’s mission is to offer galleries a brilliant way to display a curated selection of their works.

ArtBinder provides galleries with an elegant iPad solution with intuitive tools to streamline the sales and presentation experience.

Ocula

http://www.ocula.com

Ocula presents leading contemporary galleries in Australia and New Zealand in one place.
On Ocula you can browse the latest exhibitions, explore a gallery stockroom, and discover
works by artists they represent.

Ocula online art auctions offer exciting opportunities to buy art in a new way. Prospective bidders
can access comparable sales data, artist’s profiles and provenance all at the click of a mouse.
High-resolution images  reveal details, a zoom tool gets you up close and many artworks offered
can be viewed prior to and during an auction at  our gallery in Auckland. Or you can use our virtual
gallery which offers 3D viewing of the works.

Artfinder

http://www.artfinder.com

At Artfinder.com you can explore our huge gallery of works (from over 400 museum and gallery collections), build your own art profile, collect the art you love, and share it with your friends.

The more Artfinder learns about the works you like, the better it can recommend similar art for you to discover, and connect you with other Artfinder users who share your tastes.

Collectrium

http://www.collectrium.com

Founded by Boris Pevzner in 2009, Collectrium is a New York-based company providing innovative technology for organizing, discovering, sharing, and promoting art on the web and mobile devices, including the revolutionary ArtCapture and virtual wall tools. Over time, the Collectrium team—which has extensive expertise in the fields of technology, finance, and the fine and decorative arts—will offer collectors and galleries integrated services for art storage, appraisals, financing and other needs.

Artnetbook

http://www.artnetbook.com

Artnetbook is a web-based art management solution, art management web tool to manage, market and sell your arts online. Manage your arts on the web from anywhere in the world!

Artnetmarket will allow art people, artists, art galleries, to freelty join online artnetbook.com art community and add profiles for free.

The idea of ArtMap lays in the systematic interactive map with thorough art directory. Visitors will be able to find and search for the different part of art world services provided by different institutions.

**Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of http://www.artmarketblog.com, writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectibles for Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications.

Top 5 Art Market Internet Startups – artmarketblog.com

Jan 2012 Art Market Blog Press Update – artmarketblog.com

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:58:48 +0000

Jan 2012 Art Market Blog Press Update – artmarketblog.com

Just a few recently published articles that I wrote. Hope you enjoy !!

In Recognition of an LA-Centric Art Market Trend

http://www.fabrikmagazine.com/content/in-recognition-of-an-la-centric-art-market-trend/

Latest London Contemporary Art Auction Roundup

http://www.arterynyc.com/2011/12/october-2011-london-contemporary-art-auction-roundup/

Pearls prove a collectors best friend

http://www.worthpoint.co.uk/2012/01/pearls-prove-a-collectors-best-friend/

image: Painting by Frederick Hammersley

Indonesian Art Soars at Hong Kong Auction – artmarketblog.com

admin — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:52:14 +0000

Indonesian Art Soars at Hong Kong Auction – artmarketblog.com

On the 26th of November 2011, an auction was held in Hong Kong of Modern and Contemporary Art that produced results which allude to a continued desire for the work of the top modern and contemporary Indonesia artists. The auction was held by United Asian Auctioneers, “a consortium of four of Asia’s leading modern & contemporary Asian art auctioneers – Asian Art Auction Alliance (A|A|A|A) the overseas arm of Japan’s Shinwa Art Auction, Korea’s K-Auction, China’s Beijing Hanhai Auction Co. and Singapore’s One East Larasati”, and included works by a range of artists from China, Japan and South East Asia as well as works by Western artists such as Warhol and Dali.

The top price of the auction went to the young Indonesian artist Handiwirman Saputra whose witty surrealist style painting, Pose No. 6 – Sofa, sold for HK$870,000 against an estimate of 700,000 – 1,200,000 HKD. Solid support from the cultural sector combined with the nature of his work, which appeals to both Western and Eastern collectors, seems to have shielded Handiwiriman’s prices from the effects of the financial crisis. Falling just short of the price achieved for Handiwiriman’s work but selling much closer to the high estimate was lot number 21, Masih panas (Still hot), a large acrylic on canvas by Indonesian artist Nyoman Masriadi. Estimated to sell for 500,000 – 900,000 HKD, Masriadi’s painting fetched a final price of HK$840,000. The first solo exhibition of Masriadi’s work was held at Paul Kasmin Gallery from April to May 2011 which would have significantly aided the artist’s reputation and helped justify the high prices paid for his work.

A work by one of Indonesia’s more senior artists, S. Sudjojono, took the third highest price of the auction with his emotive painting Tiga orang majus. Given an estimate of 600,000 – 800,000 HKD, Tiga orang majus sold for a fantastic HK$720,000 – the third highest price achieved for Sudjojono’s work at auction. Falling just short of the second highest auction price of USD 108,318 (841,247.13 HKD) achieved for the painting Gunung Gede dan Pangrango, as sold by Singapore’s Masterpiece Fine Art Auction house in November 2011, the price achieved for Tiga orang majus is evidence that the desire for Sudjojono’s work remains strong post financial crisis.

To be continued……..

image: Tiga Orang Majus ( The Three Wise Men) by S. Sudjojono

November New York Art Auctions Confuse Market – artmarketblog.com

admin — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 11:51:48 +0000

November New York Art Auctions Confuse Market – artmarketblog.com

The recent round of Contemporary, Modern and Impressionist art auctions produced some interesting results that require some serious analysis to understand. Thanks to Sotheby’s November Contemporary Art Evening Sale, which saw the record sale of four Clyfford still paintings, there has been plenty of confident banter surrounding the current strength of the art market. But is this confidence misplaced? A more widespread and objective analysis of recent art auctions would suggest so. Take the Clyfford Still auction for instance. The entire auction produced a total of $315,837,000, which was well above the $192,000,000 – 270,800,000 pre-sale estimate, and was also the company’s third highest Contemporary Art Evening sale total. However, the four Clyfford Still paintings made up $114 million of the sale total against a $71 million high estimate.

Considering that the four Clyfford Still paintings paintings were a complete and utter anomaly because of the fact that they should never really have gone to auction, and also because they represent a once in a lifetime, never to be repeated opportunity, I think it only fair that they be removed from the equation. After all, if 95% of Still’s oeuvre were not out of bounds it is unlikely that the prices being achieved for his work would be anything close to what they have been, right? What the sale of the Still paintings tells us about the market is that there is still plenty of money available when an opportunity arises to make a highly significant purchase.

Next on the agenda is Gerhard Richter whose Abstraktes Bild (849-3) 1997 set a new auction record for the artists of $20.8 million. A total of eight Richter paintings were sold by Sotheby’s for a total of $74 million against a pre-sale expectation of $27 million, which is a great result but not an unexpected one considering that a major retrospective of Richter’s work has recently opened at the Tate Modern in London. Sotheby’s should be congratulated for the success achieved with the sale of the Richter paintings that do deserve to be recognised in their sale total unlike the Still paintings.

What concerns me most is that when the prices achieved for the eight Richter works and the four Still works are combined the result is a startling total of $188,000,000 which is more than half of the entire total of the Sotheby’s sale. The reason this concerns me is that the numbers could easily be used to justify a bullish view of the art market – and have been numerous times over recent weeks. Although Sotheby’s did achieve an excellent result and deserve to be praised for winning the opportunity to sell the Still paintings, the results need to be approached with caution and a healthy dose of skepticism.

Christie’s didn’t fair as well as Sotheby’s with their Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale managing 90% sold by lot and 87% by value for a total of $247,597,000 against an estimate of $226,450,000-$312,340,000. With commissions removed, Christie’s failed to break the low estimate although they did manage to set 16 new world auction records for artists including Roy Lichtenstein, Paul McCarthy, Charles Ray and Louise Bourgeois.

Phillips de Pury did okay with their Contemporary Art Evening Sale achieving 94% by value and 84% by lot with a sale total of $71,292,500 against an estimate of $66,560,000 – 97,970,000. A new world auction record was set for Richard Serra whose Palms sold for $2,322,500 against an estimate of $2,500,000 – 3,500,000.

The all important Impressionist and Modern Art sales failed to produce any spectacular results. Sotheby’s once again triumped over Christie’s with an evening sale total of $199,804,500 against a pre-sale estimate of $167.6-229.9 million and a sold by lot rate of 84%. Exceeding the May 2011 sale total, Sotheby’s set new auction records for Gustave Caillebotte, Tamara de Lempicka and Maxime Maufra with the top price of the auction going to Klimt’s Litzlberg am Attersee (Litzlberg on the Attersee) which sold for $40,402,500. The unusual “in excess of $25 million” estimate provided for Litzlberg am Attersee (Litzlberg on the Attersee) suggests that Sotheby’s had were unsure about how successful this work would be and thus chose to provide an estimate that ensured the greatest chance of a positively perceived result.

Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale was estimated to achieve more than $215,000 but only managed a total of $140,773,500. The highlight of the sale was Max Ernst’s The Stolen Mirror, which sold for $16,322,500 against an estimate of $4,000,000-6,000000, setting a new artist record that more than tripled the artist’s previous record. A new auction record was also set for any single print sold at auction with Pablo Picasso’s La femme qui pleure selling for $5,122,500 against an estimate of $1.5-2.5 million.

Overall, the major November auctions produced relatively consistent results that suggest a market dominated by buyers who have the money to spend, and are interested in purchasing fine art, but only at the safe haven high end of the market. The fact that the market is relying on the work of a small number of highly desirable artists is concerning as it leaves a very small margin for error.

image:

Max Ernst (1891-1976)
The Stolen Mirror
signed ‘max ernst’ (lower right); signed again, dated and inscribed ‘max ernst 1941 product of France’ (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 31 7/8 in. (65 x 81 cm.)
Painted in 1941

Art Market Blog Press Update – artmarketblog.com

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:06:02 +0000

Art Market Blog Press Update – artmarketblog.com

The latest press coverage featuring Nicholas Forrest and the Art Market Blog:

Reconsidering the L.A. vs. New York Art Market Rivalry by Nicholas Forrest

http://www.fabrikmagazine.com/content/reconsidering-the-la-vs-new-york-art-market-rivalry/

5 Reasons the Chinese Art Boom May Not Buoy the Global Art Market After All

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/38578/5-reasons-the-chinese-art-boom-may-not-buoy-the-global-art-market-after-all/?page=2

The ‘bubble’ and the ‘wobble’

http://www.artnewsnviews.com/view-article.php?article=the-bubble-and-the-wobble-&iid=23&articleid=609

After Gold: Eight Things Ron Paul Should Convince His Supporters to Buy Next

http://www.tnr.com/slideshow/95320/after-gold-eight-things-ron-paul-should-convince-his-supporters-buy-next?7

ArtMarketBlog | Top 10 PurePhoto Images

http://blog.purephoto.com/?p=3861

Contemporary Art Market Karma at Phillips de Pury Pt. 3 – artmarketblog.com

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:10:59 +0000

Contemporary Art Market Karma at Phillips de Pury Pt. 3 – artmarketblog.com

My last two posts, parts one and two of ‘Contemporary Art Market Karma at Phillips de Pury’, provided an insight into the way auction house Phillips de Pury approach the contemporary art market niche that they have chosen to pursue. With this post, the last of this series, I am going to focus on what I believe will be the reason that Phillips de Pury will see continued success into the future.

As the market for contemporary art continues to be buoyed by the introduction of new sub-markets that are defined primarily by geography and culture, dealers and auction houses operating within the contemporary art market are discovering new ways of profiting from the market for contemporary art. What makes the ever increasing range of possible sources of profit within the contemporary art market so significant for a business like Phillips de Pury is that the demise of one source of profit can easily and quickly be replaced with another source of profit. With so many sub-markets of the contemporary art market operating at the one time it is likely that there will always be a profitable sub-market within which an auction house like Phillips de Pury can operate. Take, for example, the first ever BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) auctions held by Phillips in 2010 and repeated in 2011. Although each of these sub-markets is profitable in its own right, by combining all four into one sale Phillips have found a safer and more profitable way of approaching each of these sub-markets.

Although the BRIC auctions held by Phillips de Pury are so enticing because they combine the strengths of four major art market forces, Phillips have also found that they can shift the focus onto one particular sub-market should the others not do as well as planned. Speaking about the 2011 BRIC sale, Henry Allsopp, the Worldwide Director of Curated Sales and Exhibitions for Phillips, said: “With this auction we aim to show the new strength and depth of the Contemporary Art Market in Brazil, and the continuing upward trends of the Chinese, Indian and Russian markets.” Allsopp’s comment cleverly focuses on the Brazilian art market which was likely to be the most successful sub-market of the auction. Sure enough, Phillips de Pury & Co. found buyers for eight out of the 10 Brazilian works offered in the evening session of their 2011 BRIC sale. Although they only sold 53% by lot, Phillips were able to cleverly direct attention away from the poor overall results and towards the success of individual sub-markets. Allsopp’s post-sale comment was “China and Brazil continue to demonstrate strength with solid prices and world records and will continue to be markets where Phillips de Pury & Company consolidates its presence.”

Curated auctions are another way that Phillips are trying to expand the number of different avenues of profitability. Having pioneered the concept of “curated” auctions, Phillips de Pury are once again seeking to profit from the concept with ‘The World of Muriel Brandolini’, an interiors auction celebrating the life and work of decorator Muriel Brandolini which will take place in New York on the 21st of October 2011. The Brandolini auction will allow Phillips to once again profit from the profile of a highly regarded cultural icon and create a whole lot of hype surrounding the auction with the introduction of a number of associated events. According to Phillips: “A blaze of color on the fall calendar, Brandolini’s sale will include works from her wide-ranging collection of decorative arts, contemporary design and fine art, as well as examples of her own signature line of furniture”.

Exposing the Chinese Art Market With 6 Questions Pt. 1 – artmarketblog.com

admin — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:59:46 +0000

Exposing the Chinese Art Market With 6 Questions Pt. 1 – artmarketblog.com

Q1. The records from the recent Christie’s fine modern paintings sale (31 May), along with records from China Guardian Auctions Co. from the 2009 Autumn sale onwards, show that auction house estimates have become little more than conventional additions rather than indicative price guides. Your thoughts? Are price estimates for works being suppressed and, if so, why do you think this is the case?

Nic’s Answer: Estimates are a tricky affair. An estimate that is too high will put buyers off and an estimate that is too low will cause buyers to wonder why the estimate is so low. Even though an estimate is nothing more than an educated guess as to what the object might be likely to fetch, the psychology is similar to that of retail pricing. If a customer goes into a shop and the price appears too high for a product they will likely look for a different product that offers better value for money or look elsewhere for a better price for that product. If the price is too low the customer will likely become suspicious as to why the price is so low and will either question the quality and condition of the object to ensure it is worth buying before they make the purchase, or will avoid the product all together.

Although the estimate will often have very little or no bearing on the price that people can bid and subsequently purchase the work for (ie. bidding much lower than estimate and purchasing the object for much lower than the estimate), the psychology of the art auction is such that the estimate is often viewed as much more of an indicator of value than it really is. The problem this creates is that auction houses are therefore able to use the estimate as a powerful and influential marketing tool that has the potential to seriously affect the perception that potential bidders have of a particular work of art and influence the way they bid.

One of the main problems with the explosion in demand for the work of many contemporary, modern and historical Chinese artists is that interest (or the level of interest) in their work from a market perspective is relatively new and without precedent. What this means is that there is very little or no past data (ie. gallery prices, auction prices) to use as a basis for the creation of estimates for many of the artists whose work is appearing at auction. Looking at the work of ZHANG DAQIAN, for example, artprice.com shows that 3578 of his watercolour paintings have been auctioned since 1991 with almost half of those works appearing at auction since the beginning of 2009. That means that the same number of works by ZHANG DAQIAN were auctioned in the last two and half years as were auctioned in the 18 years prior to 2009. Such an unprecedented level of demand generated in such a short time period is bound to cause problems for the auction market of an artist’s work. Considering that some contemporary artists who have no auction track record at all are achieving prices at auction that are usually the sole domain of famous master artists, the inaccuracy of auction estimates is hardly surprising.

It is always in the best interest of auction houses to keep estimates lower rather than higher to encourage competition and bidding but I do not think that auction estimates are being suppressed any more than they usually are. At the end of the day auction houses are businesses whose primary goal is to make money and as such they really have no obligation to present accurate estimates. The use of auction estimates as a marketing tool is something that has been going on for a long time and is perhaps just more apparent due to the media scrutiny of the prices being paid for works of art by Chinese artists.

Q2. (A tricky one..) Are the works themselves worth the prices being paid?

Nic’s Answer: The true “value” of an artist’s work is something that is developed over a long period of time and is primarily a reflection of – among other things – their cultural and art historical importance, the influence that they have had on their chosen genre and medium, and the results of critical review. As an artist’s career progresses through the various stages of development the dollar value of their work also develops and progresses. Prior to appearing at auction, artists usually sell their work through private commercial galleries which helps create a stable and justifiable price point for their work. One of the problems facing the Chinese art market is that China has an underdeveloped private gallery system that cannot support the number of contemporary artists being thrust into the limelight at such a rapid rate. Many Chinese contemporary artists are skipping the private gallery stage of their career and going straight to auction which makes the value of the work much more unstable and unjustifiable over the long term.

What makes valuing works of art so difficult is that there are two types of value that are especially relevant to the Chinese art market. The first value is the true artistic value of the work of art and the second value is the prestige and social status that comes with owning a piece of expensive fine art. Are the works of art being sold worth what people are paying for them from a market/artistic value? The answer would have to be no for two reasons, the first of which is that many Chinese buyers are being driven by a desire for social status and prestige. Secondly, many of the artists whose prices are being driven to extreme heights do not have the career credentials to justify the prices being paid. Are the works of art being sold worth what people are paying for them from a social status/prestige perspective? The answer to the question would depend on what effect the work of art has had on the social status and prestige afforded to the owner. Only the owner can answer this question as there is no way of qualifying or quantifying the value of social status and prestige.

Because the value of social status and prestige cannot be qualified or quantified, and because such value is in no way inherently attached to the work of art, the likelihood of the massive prices being paid for works of art by Chinese artists remaining at the level they are currently at is very low.

To be continued…….

AS CHINA TAKES LEAD IN INTERNATIONAL ART WORLD, SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN ART FOLLOWS STEADILY BEHIND

admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:36:18 +0000

AS CHINA TAKES LEAD IN INTERNATIONAL ART WORLD, SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN ART FOLLOWS STEADILY BEHIND

Pakistani, Indonesian, and Vietnamese contemporary art burgeon in
United States

New York, NY (May 12, 2011)— As China just surpassed the U.S. in
terms of fine-art auction revenue according to Artprice (March 2011),
the recent surge of South and Southeast Asian art at auction,
galleries, and museums is proving to the Western world that it’s not
just China that can play with the big boys.

“Sure, China is hot, but that’s just the peak of the iceberg,”
states Lorenz Rudolf, former director of Art Basel and cofounder of
Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair. “This is not just about a group of
Chinese painters. It’s about a growing market going on in this
continent.”

While nearly every major New York gallery has signed on a Chinese
artist, and prices for contemporary Chinese works have increased by
over 2000% since 2004, art enthusiasts are looking for contemporary
art that is fresh with intrinsic and appreciating value. Collectors,
dealers, galleries, and museums are turning to South and Southeast
Asian art not only for original perspective, but also for investment
purposes.

Founder of AiBo Fine Asian Art, one of the first galleries in the U.S.
to focus exclusively on contemporary Vietnamese art, Glenn Aber, says
of the recent Southeast Asian art boom, “I invested in the
Vietnamese art scene about six years ago because it was in its nascent
stages and still relatively unknown in the West. I recognized the
value.” Mr. Aber is planning to open a gallery in Tribeca and works
with artists directly from Hanoi. “Now, Southeast Asian art is
exploding in the U.S. Take Dang Xuan Hoa, an original member of the
Gang of Five*. Dang garnered $85,700 at a Sotheby’s auction in
April. It’s really an exciting time.”

Sotheby’s hosted a Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art auction in
March featuring contemporary Pakistani artists (e.g. Mohammad Ali
Talpur, Ali Kazim, and Faiza Butt), Indian artists (e.g. Ravinder
Reddy), among others. The auction brought in $9.2 million.

Other areas in Southeast Asia, like Vietnam, are boding well for
contemporary artists. Vietnamese artist, Dinh Q. Lê recently had a
solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Dinh An-My Lê,
Pham Luan, and Nguyen Xuan Tien and other artists also have found
their art in museums, galleries and auction houses, getting reviews
from publications such as ArtForum, LA Times, andThe Village Voice. Le
Thanh Son, an artist from Hanoi, has had his art prices rapidly
increase in value and is collected by such luminaries as Bill Clinton,
Prince Andrew, and Bill Gates.

As South and Southeast Asian art continues to steadily grow in the
West, investors and art collectors are seeing the potential value of
the art in those countries and are looking south, specifically to
Vietnam, to see what’s next.

*Gang of Five- the first contemporary group to gain international
recognition outside Vietnam in the late 90’s

###

Quinn Barker
Publicist, Spun
001 (206) 306-4770
www.spunpr.com

Without publicity a terrible thing happens… Nothing.
- P.T. Barnum

Six Super Art Investment Tips – artmarketblog.com

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 08:34:54 +0000

Six Super Art Investment Tips – artmarketblog.com

1. Know what to expect

In recent times fine art has gained popularity as a hedge against the volatile fluctuations that have plagued the more mainstream financial markets such as the stock market. The fact that fine art is a tangible object and can be traded for money in any currency also appeals to investors who have large amounts of money in intangible products and markets that use virtual or electronic market places. As well as the financial benefits associated with the purchase of art as an investment, there is also the enjoyment you will get from purchasing and owning a piece of fantastic fine art, which is why it is important to purchase something that you actually like.

If you are expecting to score large and fast profits from investing in fine art then fine art is not the investment for you. If, however, you are looking for a long term investment in a tangible object that can be enjoyable, educational AND potentially profitable if approached in the right way, fine art is definitely something you should consider investing in. Before you whip out the credit card there are some things you need to know about the art market and art investment. First of all, the nature of the art market means that art investment needs to be approached as a long term investment that will usually require a minimum holding period of seven to ten years – but be prepared to sell sooner if market conditions are favourable. Secondly, the cost of selling fine art tends to be quite high so one needs to factor in those costs when deciding whether to sell or not. Thirdly, it is extremely important to remember that fine art should be approached as a way of diversifying an investment portfolio and should form part of a balanced portfolio.

2. Buy the best you can afford

When it comes to deciding what to buy it is important to remember that when purchasing art as an investment you should always purchase the best that you can afford. This means that it is better to purchase a really excellent drawing or limited edition print than to purchase a mediocre painting. At the end of the day, a top quality original work on paper or limited edition print will always be more desirable than a mediocre painting. It is also extremely important to purchase something that you would actually be happy to live with should the value of the work of art you have purchased fail to increase in value or, in a worst case scenario, go down in value. If have purchased something you like and it does go down in value, at least you can still enjoy the work of art.

There is really no minimum amount of money that one needs to spend to invest in art, however, the more money you spend, the more options you will have, and the more likely the work/s you are buying will increase in value. Limited edition prints or photographs by emerging artists can be purchased for as little as a few hundred pounds, but stand much less chance of increasing in value than a ten thousand pound drawing by a well known artist. Essentially, the more you spend, the less risky the investment, and the greater the chance of receiving a higher return. The more well known blue chip artists who have plenty of art historical and curatorial backing are going to be a much safer investment, but will also be require a considerably higher outlay to begin with. Less well known emerging artists who are at the beginning of their career require a much smaller initial investment, but are also a much more risky investment as they do not have a proven track record. To be honest, anyone can “invest” in art as long as they have extremely low expectations, but to stand a chance of actually seeing a proper worthwhile return on your investment I would suggest a minimum figure of ten thousand pounds. The reason I suggest ten thousand pounds is that ten thousand pounds will buy a good quality photograph, drawing or limited edition print by a desirable artist.

3. Get involved

The best way to find out where, when and what to buy is to get to know people who are involved in the fine art world. Go to gallery openings, visit museums, attend auctions and art fairs, befriend curators and engage with artists. Not only will you get advice from these art market insiders, you are also likely to get opportunities to purchase works from sources that would normally not be available to the average art buyer. Getting to know collectors and the artists they support can open the door to an artist’s studio where you may be able to purchase a work of art directly from the artist for less than you would pay in a gallery or at auction; befriending a curator or gallerist might get you access to works that are not usually made available to the general public; getting to know an auction house representative is a good way of finding out what the current trends are and which artists are worth investing in. There is no doubt that the most successful art investors are those who are able to use the knowledge and expertise of other people to make informed, rational and justifiable decisions.

4. Think outside the box

If you have a limited income that would not allow a ten thousand pound investment then you may have to look outside the box to find something worth purchasing. Artists often experiment with a range of different mediums even though they may be particularly well known for one medium in particular. By thinking outside the box and looking at alternative mediums that an artist may have worked in, one can find some interesting and highly desirable works of art by well known artists for relatively small sums of money. For instance, did you know that Picasso produced quite a number of limited edition ceramic objects that can be purchased for as little as a few hundred pounds? Picasso ceramic works are particularly desirable and present a rather interesting alternative for those who have a more limited budget.

5. Buy from a reputable source

Auction houses, galleries and art fairs are the best sources of investment quality fine art. Although it may be tempting to just jump on ebay, the high number of fake and fraudulent works of art sold online make going to a reputable dealer who will guarantee the authenticity of what you are buying well worth the extra effort. That is not to say that I would never recommend purchasing works of art online. If you are going to purchase online you need to make sure that you are purchasing from a reliable source that has an excellent reputation and will provide a written guarantee of authenticity. Regardless of whether you are purchasing from a dealer or online, it is well worth getting the opinion of a few experts before deciding what to purchase and where to purchase from.

6. Build a collection

Once you have purchased your first piece of fine art it is likely that you will be bitten by the bug and want to buy more. By building a collection based around a particular theme, movement, artist or medium, you can develop a certain level of expertise and knowledge that will help make future purchases much easier. Developing a collection is an enjoyable and rewarding process that also encourages a certain amount of discipline and connoisseurship that will help you make more rational and justifiable decisions – decisions that are more likely to result in the purchase of works that will increase in value.

An Art Market Bubble Chinese Style Pt. 3 – artmarketblog.com

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 00:11:00 +0000

An Art Market Bubble Chinese Style Pt. 3 – artmarketblog.com

It seems that most people associate an art market boom with a sudden and rapid increase in the prices being paid for works of art combined with an increase in the number of works of art being sold on either a market-wide scale or within a particular sector of the art market. Applying this definition to the current progression of the Chinese art market leaves no doubt that we are in the midst of a Chinese art market boom. This is all well and good, but what happens when the boom ends?

Only four years ago in 2007 the art market experienced a period of Chinese domination, similar to that which we are experiencing now, that ended abruptly at the beginning of 2009 thanks to the global financial crisis. As a result of the bust a number of Chinese galleries were forced to close and a large number of contemporary Chinese artists were dropped by galleries then were left to fade into obscurity. Because galleries and dealers failed to properly nurture and cultivate the careers of the young Chinese contemporary artists who were swept up in the boom, these artists did not have the experience or level of career development that they would have needed to survive the bust.

After the demise of the Chinese art market boom in 2009, galleries and dealers admitted that they had made mistakes and said that they would act more cautiously in the future and properly nurture artist’s careers. The question is, has this occurred? As far as I am concerned there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the same problems are recurring this time around. Ill prepared young contemporary artists are still being flung into the limelight in a market that has an underdeveloped gallery and dealer network which cannot support the long term careers of all the artists involved in this boom.

An art market boom is almost always treated as a positive event regardless of whether or not the boom will end positively for the market and for the artists involved. As an art market analyst my primary concern is what the outcome of the boom will be – because all booms have to end at some stage. There are generally two ways that a boom can end. The first is what we know as a bust – or in other words a sudden and rapid decrease in the prices being paid for works of art and the number of works being sold. The second option is the most favourable and involves a stagnation of prices and the number of works being sold as opposed to a massive drop in prices and the number of works being sold.

In order for prices to merely stagnate at the end of art market boom there would have to be significant evidence that the prices being paid during the boom were in some way justifiable. This is not such a problem for works by historic and modern masters that will always be in high demand, and for which higher prices are more easily justified. History has shown that the historic and modern masters are relatively resilient even after a drop in prices as a result of a major negative art market event. To justify paying higher prices for works by contemporary artists whose work increased in price during the boom is much more difficult and would require some sort of career progression involving the sort of curatorial and critical recognition that adds true value to an artist’s career. Young emerging contemporary artists who do not have the experience and reputation to justify the prices that have been paid for their works during a boom are often just completely forgotten once prices for their works plummet. Without the reputation and desirability that they would have needed to survive the negative fallout from the massive drop in prices that their work experienced, many young emerging contemporary artists end up fading into obscurity once an art market boom ends.

In my opinion the most damning evidence of a bleek future for the Chinese art market is the direction that China’s property market is heading. What China is doing is boosting their economy by building massive cities in anticipation of the massive rise in the number of Chinese people who can afford to purchase their own home that the Chinese government thinks will take place. The problem is that many of these cities remain empty long after construction was completed and offer no signs of filling up with people. Commenting on China’s property market, a recent article by Bloomberg stated that: “China’s property market may be heading into a bubble as the economy’s reliance on real estate reaches a level close to the housing peaks in the U.S. and Japan, according to Citigroup Inc.”. This statistic from Bloomberg is particularly relevant because it compares China’s property market boom to the Japanese property market peak – the collapse of which caused the art market collapse of the early 90′s. With so much money being invested in property and being made from China’s property boom it is highly likely that a significant proportion of the money being spent by the Chinese on antiques and fine art comes from the property boom. It is therefore also highly likely that the ability to pay any debt that Chinese buyers are racking up to pay for their trinkets is reliant on the continued positive progression of China’s property boom.

All the evidence that I have come across points to a negative end to China’s art market boom at some time in the near future. I do, however, also believe that China has the money, power and resources to continue the current rate of art market progression for a while yet. How long they can maintain the momentum remains to be seem.

See part 1 here:

http://www.artmarketblog.com/2011/05/03/an-art-market-bubble-chinese-style-pt-1-artmarketblog-com/

See part 2 here:

http://www.artmarketblog.com/2011/05/10/an-art-market-bubble-chinese-style-pt-2-%e2%80%93-artmarketblog-com/

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