Art Investing has Nothing to do with Art!

Blue Star (J Miro)

• Joan Miró’s, ''Blue Star,'' sold for almost $37 million on auction at Sotheby’s
• Yves Klein’s, “Le Rose du bleu,” sold on auction at Christies for $36,636,992
• South African artist Irma Stone’s paintings and Pierneef’s have realised millions too over the past few years. The art investment market has bounced back from 2008 it seems.

I was recently reading about a repository of mega-priced paintings in Geneva, Switzerland. A company called Freeport is leasing a series of huge warehouses where owners can have these exclusive paintings stored safely and with no immediate tax implications. Is this any different to having a few gold coins locked up in a safety deposit box at the bank? Does not sound much like art collecting to me.

What do these art auctions have to do with art? About as much as the price of gold being relevant to geology. I doubt that the returns on Gold ETF’s comes up in Geologist magazines where readers find all things to do with raw metals fascinating. Of course not. Gold investors also could not be bothered about the science of the metal. It is all about return on investment.

I have no problem with investing. It is a good idea, buts let’s not get art and investing mixed up. It does not help artists, who are trying to make a respectable living, to somehow have their incomes compared to a long dead master’s painting that sold for millions. It also does not help that anecdotes of starving artists is used to prove that artists will live hand-to-mouth during their lifetimes.

Why then do stories like those about uber-auctions occupy so many pages in art magazines? Perhaps it has something to do with large auction houses having double page advertising in these magazines? Just a thought.

Support the living:

It is regularly pointed out by the “experts” that it is only the deceased artist’s paintings that fetch high prices – supply and demand and so forth. I would add ego and a bit of market manipulation as driving forces too.

As an artist all I can say is that the living artists of the world need your support.

Buy art!

Buy art for its beauty or the emotions that it stirs within you. Share something original with a living artist and you will always have a unique relationship. Display the art prominently for your pleasue and for those whom you love. That is sharing of energy. That is what art is all about.

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