Being able to collect good art is one exceptional talent. Although you may think good art collectors are born, this is not the case at all. The truth is, the skill of collecting art can actually be learned! Yes, and that is one good news for you. So, if you want to improve further with your collecting skills, here are some things that you can do to attain such goal. Get Some ExposureGetting some exposure on different disciplines of art is one way to enhance your collecting skills. There are a lot of national and international art expos and art fairs that you can attend to. Try attending such kinds of events to broaden your horizon on different kinds of art disciplines and forms. This is also one way to discover not so well-known aesthetic pieces that have potential on getting a huge value in the future. However, most importantly, it is one way to see artworks that can move you and probably be part of your collection in the near future. Know Your KindAlthough collecting art can be a personal endeavour for you, there is nothing wrong with talking to other art collectors and knowing more about them. In fact, doing this can be beneficial to you, since you can learn more about how other collectors started and what other helpful information they can give you. They can also give you recommendations like galleries to visit, events to go to, artists to see works of and other art related things. Some art collectors even have clubs or organizations that you can join in. Read On!Reading in any aspect can take your knowledge another level. Thus, reading books about art history and art collections would definitely improve your skill. There’s a lot to learn with collecting that you can actually find not only by looking at pictures, but also through reading texts about so. Reading old published literature on the subject is good, since you can learn the basics of the field and the essentials of collecting. However, it would still be better if you are up-to-date with your reading materials. If you want something fresh and new regularly, then subscribing to some art magazines would do the trick!Magazines, just like books, are helpful resources where you can learn more about collecting and collections. However, these magazines standout since their content are always up to date and new, unlike with books that may contain faced-out and irrelevant data. Reviews: Seeing Another’s PerspectiveSeeing art in the perspective of another person is bad at all. Remember that art is relative, thus, something may be beautiful in your eyes, yet ugly for another’s and vice versa. That is why you should learn to utilize reviews done by international or local art critics and channel them into something positive. Instead of being too much influenced by what they say, try learning from them and see if what they say about the artwork is true. You should also learn some points on how they critic a piece, since being able to critic is yet an important skill to develop collecting skills. Get Some HelpA little bit of guidance would not hurt if you are really interested on learning how to make a great art collection. You can work with a professional art consultant / art advisor, if you please since for sure they know what they are doing. They can also teach you about collecting and even guide you to the whole process of buying art.
Posts Tagged ‘Art Collectors’
Art Collecting: Improving Your Art Collecting Skills
January 12th, 2010African Tribal Art- All About Beauty and Simplicity
December 22nd, 2009Art plays an important role in the lives of the various tribal communities of Africa. Starting from birth to death, every occasion of human life is represented in some form of art. This universalism of African tribal art makes it popular even in the midst of an art world dominated by renowned contemporary artists in a highly modernised and urban society.
Tribal art is manifested in various forms such as original paintings, jewellery, masks or pottery items. The uniqueness of African tribal art lies in the fact that it has a unique significance and is not intended simply as an item of beautification.
African masks, statues and original paintings have an inherent meaning and every possible step is taken by contemporary artists of African tribal art to keep that essence alive for future generations. The beauty and simplicity of this ethnic art form compels many people to build their own private collections of art pieces.
However, you need both time and money if you are passionate about collecting these pieces. Collecting rare African art crafts can be fulfilling and challenging. Here are some valuable tips for African tribal art collectors:
Analyze the piece
If you are buying an item of art from a museum, you can check the finer details of it then and there. If you are buying from any online art gallery, make sure you are dealing with a reputed gallery with genuine credentials. During delivery check the piece properly. That would also help you to find out whether it has been well cared for or not.
Ethnical provenance
It is important to know the ethnical provenance of the art piece as there is a lot of difference between the art forms of various regions. Moreover, depending upon the region, the art of different tribes come in different price ranges.
Lineage
Tribal art is as old as the civilisation. The older the art piece, the higher is its value in the market. For instance, to purchase an African tribal art piece that dates back to the thirties, you would need to do a lot of research and pay a much higher price.
Maintenance
To keep the glory of any tribal art piece intact for a long duration, it needs proper maintenance. Always remember that extensive restoration at times leads to the decrease in the value of a particular piece.
The ‘Rare’ factor
All tribal art collectors have a desire to possess some rare art pieces in their collections. For finding an authentic, collectable-quality rare piece of art, you need to have an eye for quality and scarcity. Finding a rare piece is not that easy but if you search properly, you can come across some such pieces.
Dimension
Tribal art pieces come in a wide range of sizes and shapes. If you are a true lover of art, size must not matter to you much. What actually should matter is the rarity of the art piece and its quality aspect.
Auction prices
At auctions, buyers many a time bid on emotions which sometimes leads to a much higher price for a particular piece. In reality, the particular piece may not actually be of such high value. Higher prices do not necessarily guarantee superior quality. In that respect, buying from an art gallery, either online or offline saves you from the rigours of bidding and the price tag is also realistic.
African tribal art pieces are definitely a collector’s item. If you want to add some pieces to your collection, browse around reputed galleries and keep in mind these above mentioned tips.
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african tribal artFrom Freight Handlers to Fine Art
December 20th, 2009Once an industrial section of cold cement warehouses and rusting rail yards with a flurry of yellow taxicabs passing through, Chelsea now sparkles with art galleries, trendy new restaurants and its first expensive residential explosion. The conversion has been gradual with an unusual symbiotic relationship between the industrial and the art mart.
The photography gallery of Yossi Milo exists upstairs from a taxi garage. The PaceWildenstein’s Minimalist mausoleum on West 25th is down the street from old artist’s coops. Elite art collectors rub shoulders with auto mechanics as they walk through the streets. But despite this unusual relationship, after more than ten years of growth, the Chelsea neighborhood possesses more than 250 galleries that extend from West 13th to West 29th Streets and from 10th Avenue to the West Side Highway in Manhattan, about twice the amount of galleries SoHo had in the early 1990′s.
The migration to Chelsea is a large scale New York City event that has never happened before. All species of art galleries exist in Chelsea in different stages of development. Its crop of galleries consists of parallel realities catering to different audiences and markets from the avant-garde to the academic. With art from places as far as India and as close as Williamsburg, Chelsea reflects contemporary art’s global marketplace.
“Chelsea is now the dominant marketplace for art culture in New York,” said Renee Vara, an Adjunct Professor at New York University and Lecturer at Guggenheim Museum, where she teaches art history, art theory, and museum studies, and is a private independent curator and art historian. “It offers efficiency and a separate enclave with a collective and attractive element. “
The breakthrough into Chelsea began in 1988 with the opening of the Dia Foundation, now Dia Center for the Arts. This cultural pioneer set up camp in a vicinity where spaces were large and rents were cheap. By late 1994, Matthew Marks, then a young Upper East Side dealer, expanded to West 22nd Street and started the “art party scene” in the new neighborhood. At the time, it was impossible to predict how Chelsea would be transformed or how fast changes would happen.
Paula Cooper arrived in 1996. Cooper had opened SoHo’s first art gallery in 1968 and then joined about 15 other art dealers and moved to far west Chelsea. The space in Chelsea opened in an old garage on West 21st Street, between 10th and 11th avenues. Because of Cooper’s prominence in the art world and her role in developing SoHo, many art and real estate entrepreneurs took her move as a sign that the neighborhood west of 10th Avenue and bound by 20th and 26th streets was about to be transformed.
The transformation of Chelsea was the answer for rents that had spiralled out of control in SoHo. With most galleries renting and not owning their spaces in SoHo, galleries sought out new ventures in other territories where rents were cheaper or the option of owning a building was presented. The idea of Chelsea was ripe for its time when the art world was ready to break old traditions with SoHo. They found them in Chelsea.
As Chelsea dominated the art scene, Mary Boone signaled another stage in her personal evolution as a dealer by establishing a Chelsea branch of her high profile gallery. Gluckman Mayner Architects created a dramatic Chelsea gallery for Boone. Richard Gluckman’s association with Boone dates back to her days on West Broadway. He also designed her gallery at 745 Fifth Avenue.
Boone opened her first space in SoHo on Broadway in 1979 moving into the same building that housed Leo Castelli and Ileana Sonnabend’s legendary galleries. Boone later looked for space on 57th Street in the traditional neighborhood of the New York art world.
The layout and details of the Chelsea gallery originated from the design of her uptown space. The architect created a powerful juxtaposition between the details associated with his work and the rugged quality of original wood trusses and wood plank ceiling, which are exposed arcing over the space. The floors are steel-troweled concrete slab, which mimics the floor treatment uptown. And the fa-cade’s storefront of translucent glass reminds one of Gluckman’s design at Boone’s West Broadway gallery. In Chelsea, all three rooms receive natural light by way of the translucent storefront windows in the reception area and through a small central skylight in the rear. The 12-ft. -wide main exhibition area contains a translucent skylight that traverses the entire length of the 24-ft. -high display wall. Spotlights provide additional lighting.
As the Chelsea area continued to transform, people moved into the area’s first pricey loft conversion on West 22nd Street. Savanna Partners, a young real estate development firm, bought that property at a July 1994 auction for $3 million. Because of zoning requirements, it took Savanna Partners one and a half years to get approvals, even though there was very little manufacturing activity and little hope for any more industrial growth.
Today, Savanna builds huge lofts and rents the street-level spaces to galleries and restaurants. Not far to the south, on 17th Street, World Wide Holdings Corp. does something similar, and the Meatpacking District of the far west Village has practically disappeared as old warehouses are being-turned into apartments.
Among Chelsea gallery spaces are other SoHo exiles like John Weber, Barbara Gladstone, Metro Pictures, 303 Gallery, Bose Pacia Gallery, and Agora Gallery.
“Chelsea affords you access to critics and curators that make the rounds regularly to look at galleries,” said Dr. Steve Pacia, co-founder and co-partner with Dr Arani Bose of the Bose Pacia Gallery on West 26th Street.
Bose Pacia Gallery, established in 1994 in SoHo, was the first gallery in the West specializing in contemporary art from South Asia. During the last ten years, Bose Pacia has held over 30 exhibitions and is internationally regarded for promoting the South Asian avant-garde. Visual artists from South Asia work within a unique space that is informed by many cultures, languages and religions. Bose Pacia fosters an active discourse between these artists and the international art community by featuring exhibitions that contextualize contemporary art from this geographic region within its rich artistic traditions and current social tensions.
Established in 1984 in SoHo by a fine artist, Agora Gallery more than doubled its space when it moved to Chelsea in 2003. A gallery without borders, Agora was one of the pioneer galleries providing representation to both national and international artists.
Recent interviews by its director, Angela Di Bello, in Business News Weekend (NBC) Hellenic Public Radio, and the Wall Street Journal have brought additional attention and visitors to Chelsea.
The New Museum also left SoHo for an interim spot in Chelsea but has closed its doors, with the exception of its bookstore space at the Chelsea Art Museum, for a year and a half until the construction of its much anticipated new building on the Bowery is opened. Designed by the acclaimed Tokyo based company of Sejima and Nishizawa/SA-NAA, the new 60,000 square foot, seven-story New Museum will be the first art museum building constructed in downtown Manhattan in over a century.
