Tips Times Three

The SmART Collector gives you Ten Tips on Collecting Arts Here is a sample: Trust Your instincts, Educate Yourself, Arrange a Trial Period, Establish a Realationship with the Artist, Bring A Friend, Art can be a Memento, Recycle Art, Look in Unusual Places, Art Shoud Stand the Test of Time and Celebrate your Purchases.

The following are three more tips guides by other writers:

Art Dealers Association of American – Ten Tips

1. Look with your eyes and mind, not with your ears.
2. Know the history of art -- history repeats itself, often in less interesting forms, and you don’t want to be fooled.
3. Know the artwork before you get to know the artist.
4. Don’t be fooled by an artist’s charm -- these days, artists learn how to sell themselves in art school. The best artists don’t try to sell their work.
5. Give back to the art community -- support museums and alternative spaces.
6. To learn about new art, set up a network of art informers, from writers and curators to art dealers. Don’t be afraid to ask foolish questions! Artists are always great to talk to, but they aren’t always great judges of art (they tend to like art that is similar to their own, or the art of their friends).
7. Avoid playing the competitive game with other collectors, racing to buy "new" work by the latest "hot" artist. Usually the best pieces are the ones that are left over.
8. Treat collecting as the important endeavor that it is -- give plenty of time to the enterprise.
9. Look for art that is universal and timeless (rather than single-issue art, which tends to wear thin after a while).
10. Live with your art and enjoy it.

New York Times – Ginger Broderick (financial advisor to art galleries and other businesses) You can also read her Tax Advice For Collectors on the SmART Collector.

1. Collect the works of living artists – you will then know they are authentic
2. Take a look at your home insurance policy – keep a record of purchases and make sure works are covered. Get a certificate of authenticity for each work and keep it in a safety deposit box
3. Beware of fakes and reworked pieces – buy from reputable dealers
4. Be cautious of auctions – prices can be inflated
5. Purchase directly from the artist – if they have no gallery representation you can save on the commission sometimes
6. Visit antique shops for deals – but know you subject
7. Keep a file with press clipping on your favorite artists – the info you have about the artist can strengthen the resale price
8. Start your collection by purchasing prints – but never an edition over 200.

ArtNet.com Reasons to invest in art in London - INSIDE THE LONDON ART MARKET by Joe La Placa

1. A change in British law, going into effect in 2006, allows people to transfer works of art they own into their personal pension plans.
2. Art investment firms, such as the U.K.- based Fine Art Fund, a registered U. S. partnership managed in the U. K., are scrambling to corner this potentially enormous market.
3. With financial objectivity fast replacing the anecdotal concerns of art, major U.K. banks and pension funds are gearing up to invest between one percent and three percent of their value in artworks as a hedging measure.
4. Sources within the industry claim this could inject and estimated £5 billion pounds into the U. K. market over next three years, making London the epicenter of a new age, for better or worse, when art becomes an asset class.
5. Saatchi and his eponymous gallery have given London the reputation as an indisputable centre for showing emerging contemporary art. He was the force behind Young British Artists like upstart Damien Hirst, now one of the top grossing artists alive.
6. The Frieze Art Fair has given the once provincial city an international flair. "Galleries exhibiting at London art fairs before Frieze used to complain that you never heard a foreign accent," says Turner Prize-winner Grayson Perry.
7. The emergence of the East End as a breeding ground for new galleries and talent.

Look for other topics in the SmART Collector

Attending an Open Studio Event

Commissioning Art - Joan Seifried at Galerie D'Art International written by Lisa Roche (Report on the Art Collectors Round Tables, 2004)

For more information contact info@SDVisualArts.net