Tips on how to sell your artwork before you purchase it.
Santa Fe is known as the second largest art market in the country which means a lot of art changes hands. One thing you may have not thought about as you leave the gallery with your newly acquired treasure is what will do you do if you ever decide to sell the piece? Here are my tips on ways to dispose of artwork:
First of all not all artwork is the same. Many galleries sell what would be described as "designer art." What this means is it may have been chosen more for the color, size or even the way it was framed rather than for being a collectible piece. The difference can be like splitting hairs as by definition almost all artwork, whether it was purchased as a hedge against inflation or to go over the buffet, was chosen in some aspect for how it would look in your home or office. The difference is weather the art you just purchased will have a resale value. If you had to get rid of the piece 1) could you? and 2) would you loose money or hopefully at least break even?
As a buyer you should be able to answer this question. If you can’t then you may need to think a little harder about what it is you are purchasing. Most good galleries can answer some basic questions like: where did the artists train, are they in museum collection, how long have they been painting, how much does the artist produce and do they sell, has any of their artwork gone to auction and if so how does it do? Will you resell the piece for me in the future?
If the gallery owner or seller can’t answer the majority of these questions, you may need to rethink what your doing. Again most established art galleries cannot only answer these questions and many more but will have handouts about the artist’s accomplishments.
As a general rule the more museum collections and well known private collectors that have acquired pieces by the artist the better it bodes for your purchase. Auction records that reflect current retail prices are a good indicator, though there are exceptions. Sometimes pieces that come up for auction are not the artists best work or could even have some condition issue which is why they are coming back up for resale.
An artist that has academic training is a good indicator of quality, but I personally have three artists with no formal training and they are absolutely gifted, they are also in museum collections. Maynard Dixon, one of the most highly sought after artists of the West, had only 3 months of formal training yet now is looked at as one of the best painters of his generation
Knowing whether a gallery will resell pieces you have purchased is a good thing to know from the beginning. Many won’t as they feel their responsibility is to sell the artist's work and not resell works they have sold in the past. Unless the artist’s work has gone up substantially since you purchased, the piece you may purchasing will loose money. It’s important when you purchase art, unless you have some special gift in the field, that you buy what you like and not for an investment. It’s true many artists work do go up. I watched a yellow Marilyn Monroe sell at Christies auction house in 2007 for 28 million that was purchased by the original owner in 1962 fro $250 dollars. This is about as good a return as any thing possible but it still took buying the right artist, the right piece and hanging onto it for 45 years. If this had been sold in 1966 he may have lost money.
One of the most interesting aspects about what’s happening in the art world today has been the Internet. This is a great educational resource to use before you ever step into a gallery. For instance Santa Fe's Canyon Road Arts book has a companion website www.canyonroadarts.com. The site has all the galleries and their websites on Canyon Road in Santa Fe listed. A quick visit to some of the galleries online can tell you a lot about what you can expect before you ever walk through the front door. The better the site and the more information and content the more likely for a good experience.
When it comes to selling your artwork on the web there are many outlets which can allow you to sell directly to other art collectors or interested parties. Ebay of course is the longest standing one, but others include askart.com, artnet.com and ArtUFind. The last site ArtUFind is very compelling because it has been tailored for the art market, yet keeps prices low to sell. Artwork listing for a single Classified starts at $5/month and for a paid membership its $15month. The site charges no commissions to sell the artwork just monthly fees that can be cancelled at anytime. It’s a great source for galleries as well with 5000 current gallery listings, and 800 museums all on the homepage. There is no charge to use the site, its free to join and the directory listings of museums and galleries is the most compressive and up to date on the web today. Collectors benefit to by having alerts sent to them for artists they are actively seeking
© Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image courtesy Christies Auction House
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