This morning i was surprised to see an annual report on online Art dealing by Saatchi. According to Saatchi there is a tremendous growth in on online art business, but you have to be careful which artists to pick to make a sound investment. I must say…..works by some of these artists really look good and prices are still on the verge of affordable ( $ 1000-$5000) . But what struck me most is that Saatchi is creating a market for artist who THEY represent. This is only a very small percentage of artists in the world who are creating their works but, do not have the representation nor the time and money to wait before a sale is realized.
My advise to build a small collection, is to find the artist(s) you really like, visit his or her studio, start building a relation as a collector with the artist and follow him/her over the years and when you have some money to spare buy directly from the artist and support them in every other way you can, by introducing them to friends/ collectors and keeping contact to follow him/her. This way you are helping the artist to build a following of supporters and you will support them with your appreciation and your purchase(s) over the years. This is much nicer than to make an online purchase and have the work send to your home address in a “beautiful “crate and not having seen where it comes from. To appreciate a work in the best way, is to see where it was created and to meet the person that created it. It makes the picture complete and the art you look at has not become a piece of decoration but a true work of art that you chose by yourself by having a choice from many other works that were created over a much longer period than the new ” last years models” which are presented by online galleries.
This is the way i have been collecting all of my life. For those who want to know which artists belong to the core of our collection. Here are the pics. Look at them and when you want to have more info do not hesitate to contact me at www.ftn-books.com or
wvdelshout@ziggo.nl
The report by Saatchi can be downloaded here: https://d3t95n9c6zzriw.cloudfront.net/invest-in-art/iia-2016-report-digital.pdf
