A few nights ago. I was at sitting at the counter at my favorite neighborhood restaurant, when Jenny from Atlanta started a conversation with me. I had just told Marcel the owner that I needed a break after painting my living room.
"What color?" Marcel asked.
"White," I replied. He rolled his eyes. "It isn't that bad... really!" I protested, He didn't know that all of the walls in my apartment are saturated with heavy colors. These are the first walls I am painting white in my condo.
I explained to Jenny from Atlanta that AI had helped me pick the color, and I showed her my saved search results.
"See," I said pointing to the cream, greige, and ivory options. "It doesn't look that bad."
She wasn't looking at my wall color options. She was looking at my artwork.
"You have a great eye," she said. "I would love to have art. How did you starting collecting?"
Great question. Here are my thoughts.
- Love art. This is the crux of collecting art. You have to love what you are getting, otherwise what is the point? This is an activity of the heart. How does this painting or sculpture make you feel? If it makes you think, that is nice but art should moves us emotionally. I bought a giant painting of a red Kitchen Aid mixer. When I saw it, I giggled. It was the craziest and loveliest thing I had seen. Plus, I own that exact same Kitchen Aid mixer. My friends and kids either love it or hate it. It doesn't matter what they think, because I love it.
- Study art. I took the History of Modern Art in college, and I loved it. I learned about Impressionism in high school.
- See art. Visit museums and galleries and art fairs. When I was in high school, my friend Betty and I would go gallery hopping in the Short North. We clearly could not afford to buy anything, but it was fun to be part of the night life of people looking at what local artists created. You might not be shopping today, but you could be a customer in twenty years.
- Create your own art. I took a watercolors class with my friend H at the Art Institute in Chicago, and I took an oil painting class a few years ago. I struggled deeply, which means I rarely see a painting and think "I could do that." I appreciate how hard it is to look at a blank piece of paper and think of lines and colors and a theme.
- Buy prints of famous art you love. Before you buy original art, it is perfectly cool to buy prints of famous works. In college, I had a posters of works buy Cezanne, Magritte, and Renoir.
- Support local artists. It doesn't need to be expensive or fancy. Local arts & crafts fairs can have fun stuff.
- Visit local galleries. Talk to the gallerists and artists about their work. They are people, too. Gallerists love to talk about their artists, and artists love to talk about their work.
- Don't buy art as an investment. I am not in New York buying well-known paintings from well known artists. (See this article from the New Yorker. Wild stuff: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/31/larry-gagosian-profile) I am buying local stuff that I love, but I am not expecting to turn a profit on any of it ever.
- Consider it a donation (of sorts). I bought a painting at the Fremont Abbey Art Fair that was painted by a third grade teacher. It was a whimsical piece of a rainbow robot that tickled me. It looks like it belongs in a nursery, and I bought it for my first grandchild, whenever he or she arrives in the future. A friend saw it after I bought it and said, "You would have been better off making a donation to charity than spending money on that!" Buying that art was a donation. I was supporting someone's dream for being an artist. The artist was delighted that someone bought her painting -- it was as it were better than if she had just won the lottery.
- Consider what you pay compensation for a working artist. The painting I bought from the third grade teacher was not expensive. Other paintings I've bought have been expensive. I am supporting the careers of working artists in those cases, and I am fine with that.
- Don't feel bad about buying art. We all need beautiful things in our lives. When I was vexing to a friend about how much I was spending on art after my divorce, a friend helped me chill out: "This is what you are spending money on post-divorce instead of a sports car." I felt a million times better.) It stung a lot when I bought my most expensive piece, but it is one of a kind. Every day, I look at it and I love it.
- Remember point one. Love art. Love is the real ROI.
