Art as an investment

bluebird1984

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying some art, an original piece by Paul Kenton. It will cost around £4000 and I'm hoping that it will hold it's value and in time hopefully go up a few quid.

Does anyone have any experience of art investment, and do you think an original piece by Paul Kenton would hold its value?

I've had a quick look to see if there was a suitable art forum where I could ask and get some independent advice but couldn't see a decent one so thought here would be as good a place as any to ask!

thanks

SailorSam

Art often goes up in value a lot once the artist dies.

ChesterDog

What are you suggesting?!


:-)

PlymouthMaid

Buy art and bump off the artists
Who knows? I always wish I had enough cash to have bought some by Robert Lenciewitz (sp?) as I love his work and it has gone up in value considerably since his death. I guess if you love it enough to look at it for years anyway, if it increases then brilliant, if not at least you love it.

guymo

As an investment, i.e. a plan to try to get some return on your money, it's probably not a great plan. It is extremely hard to make money buying and selling contemporary work.

The value of a given work at a given time will depend greatly on fashions and other imponderables. Contemporary artists' work tends to sell at primary (i.e. from galleries) for about double what it changes hand for at secondary, until the artist becomes so desirable that you can't buy at primary at all unless you are one of the chosen few that the artist or his/her gallery will deal with.

I don't know anything about the artist you've mentioned but from a short web search it looks like he's working in a very mainstream area, even selling his work direct on the web which is most unusual, and producing quite a bit of output. He has never sold a piece at auction as far as I can tell. (You can check this sort of thing out on findartinfo.com ) So where would your market for a resale be?

If you love the painting that you are planning to buy and want to have it on your wall, then by all means go ahead. I love having great pictures on my walls and I enjoy supporting artists I like. But don't call it an "investment".

Devon_Sailor

Why not take that £4000 and buy four pieces (or more!) of exhibition art from Art College finals exhibitions?


That way you get to support young artists and potentially get an early Hirst/Turner/Vetriano of the future.... Just make sure you buy it because you like it however!!


Higher risk/reward, but the rturns if you do hit are massive...and if not, well, at least you have something nice to look at that didn't set you back £4k. If it were me, I would find that a better punt than ploughing a big chunk into a current middling artist who has no auction provenance for value increases, and who is still churning out many works a year....


Regards


DS

guymo

Devon_Sailor wrote: »

Why not take that £4000 and buy four pieces (or more!) of exhibition art from Art College finals exhibitions?

Great idea, as long as the OP doesn't end up buying the pieces I want!

ChesterDog

Devon Sailor makes a good point. So many of the known/favoured/buyable artists today are just so prolific in their output that there doesn't seem much point in viewing such a purchase as an investment with real prospects for growth.

I'm a bit of an art fan, and to be honest I get tired/irritated by people whose first comments are "How much did this cost? What is it worth now? Should I buy one myself?"

I think to myself "Hang on a minute. Have you even really looked at this picture/sculpture, or just looked for the price tag?"

Everything I have is mine because I love and appreciate it. I like it that way. It's life enhancing.

Even for a small dog. :-)

ColdIron

ChesterDog wrote: »

Even for a small dog. :-)

You do need to buy with care otherwise you'll be sold a pup

paddyrg

Buy pictures you like, not as 'investment'. The art world is anything but a 'fair' market, it is massively skewed by commercial gallery owners/promoters who will take a *minimum* of 50% of the sale price...

Last picture I bought was an amazing quality Thangka from Nepal, I haggled, we did a deal on our last day. I adore it, I can spend ages just admiring the detail. Will the artist ever become popular? Never. But the price will still probably appreciate a little just because of the immediately apparent quality of the work.

If the work was more subjective like Mr Kenton's output, you can't rely on others being able to see the quality and so relying totally on fashion to drive prices up or down. For me, he's a little overexposed and between his high level of output and what I assume to be Chinese clones, I can't see it being the same as discovering an early work by a different artist.

lawriejones1

Buy it because you love it! My father 'collects' art and, if in the future they're worth money, he will be pleasantly surprised. But he doesn't care as he has chosen every piece because he loves them.

To make real money you need to know your subject inside out, it's not for a dilettante.