Since our research tries to bring the role and character of the Collector more into the front, we will share with you some articles and reviews on the topic of the Collector. We are researching the role of the Collector, the similar and different patterns of the collections and the influencing factors of such collections in terms of Eastern Europe. But is there a common something that all these Collectors share? Are there rules they are unconsciously following? For these (and several other) questions we have collected articles from several authors and will share with you, to find possible answers. First we share an article highlighting ten bulletpoints of being a collector by Trudy Montgomery!

Top Ten Rules for the New Art Collector
by Trudy Montgomery

Published in Artworks Magazine, Spring 2008.

Even for a genuine art lover, the thought of “collecting” art can be overwhelming. It requires a certain amount of confidence, often a leap of faith and perhaps most intimidating of all – parting with a substantial amount of cash. You’ve probably heard the stories – the friend who chose an art deco wannabe over a Miro limited edition print. Years later the Lady with the Cigarette has been relegated to a relative’s basement and the friend is still lamenting the loss of his Miro, not to mention thousands of dollars. Clearly no one wants to make a mistake like that but artistic paralysis is not the answer, either.

As Picasso once said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” And that is probably the best reason to forge ahead into the big bad world of collecting. But we are not sending you in alone. Trudy Montgomery is an art advisor with offices in San Francisco and London, and she has come up with ten pearls of wisdom for the new collector. “I’m sort of like a personal shopper for art,” explains Trudy. “I find the perfect pieces for clients – in their price range.” And that’s key. Trudy insists that with a little education, a little patience, and some money, anyone can be a collector. So here’s Trudy’s top ten rules for the new collector.

1. It starts with you.

The best guidance for buying art is that you’ve got to love it. But it’s important to establish your purpose for collecting, as well as the location and environment you’ll display your collection. Your personal aesthetic may be influenced by your background and culture, while the style, size and subject matter you select may be driven by the space available for displaying artwork. Are you collecting for fun, for investment, to create a legacy for future generations, or to decorate your primary residence, office or second home?

2. Decide what you don’t like

This is often a good way to hone in on what you do like. Is there a specific medium (photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, new media/video) you prefer? Analyze the formal aspects (light, color, line, mood) and subject matter (humor, landscape, figurative, portraiture, political) that appeal to you. Decide if you want abstract or realist work in your collection.

3. Pick a niche

Establish the focus of your collection. While there’s value in a cohesive collection, it’s also more fun to have a theme such as a specific artist, school/art movement or time period. Specializing also allows you to gain more knowledge and make informed decisions along the way.

4. Budget

Create this early, but be prepared to be flexible for the right piece (the good ones usually cost more!). Align your budget with your collecting goals and make it appropriate for the medium. Buying contemporary art in the primary market (direct from artists or their galleries) is cheaper than buying in the secondary market (from dealers or at auction). Timing is an integral part of collecting because the art market is cyclical and may reward one category over another at any one time.

5. Quality, quality, quality

Always buy the best example of an artist’s work your budget can afford. Choose original oil paintings over prints, but buying a limited edition print by a big name artist is also worthy. Select only works in excellent condition, and check for authenticity and provenance (previous owners and when and where it was acquired).

6. Get to know the artist

Research is easier today than ever before, especially online. Credentials and references are the cornerstones of an artist’s reputation: look for awards, solo exhibitions in respected galleries, museum collections. Where possible, take the opportunity to meet the artist and their dealer at gallery openings and special museum events. These relationships give you access to the artist’s work as it becomes available, and know that the best work is often reserved for prestige and loyal collectors.

7. Investment Value

It’s best to think long term when acquiring art, and that’s why experts will tell you it’s important to love what you collect. The art market is not liquid like the stock market; it can take a long time to sell a piece of art. Although it’s counter-intuitive to think about reselling before you buy, know that the investment value is important and will depend on 8 factors:

i) Reputation of the artist.

ii) Rarity. Is the work unique or greatly limited in supply?

iii) Authenticity. Can you prove it? Keep all paperwork!

iv) Provenance. Has the work come from a recognized gallery, collector or purchased at auction?

v) Aesthetics. Is the work pleasing to look at?

vi) Signature Style. Is the work of the style the artist is best known for?

vii) Condition. Excellent quality is rewarded.

viii) Market environment. Is this art asset class currently in favor?

8. Invest in your art education

Here are five things you can do to invest in your art education rapidly and avoid making mistakes:

i) Join museum collector groups, and art schools, all of which offer networking opportunities and special lectures.

ii) Read the reviews: subscribe to art magazines, blogs and other online resources. Arts coverage in the New York Times, LA Times and most major newspapers is excellent.

iii) See as much art as you can: attend openings and art fairs.

iv) Go back to school! Sign up for Art history evening classes – a great way to build context and fill in knowledge gaps.

v) Develop relationships with galleries, advisors, curators and other collectors.

9. Hire an art advisor

Working with an objective expert who has your best interests at heart is the quickest and easiest way to find art you like and within your budget. Art advisors or consultants provide access to the best work (through their relationships with artists, galleries and dealers) and may pass on discounts where possible. Working with an advisor is also a great way to get an art education, hone your eye and avoid making mistakes. Some advisors will accompany clients to art fairs for intensive shopping trips.

A good advisor also takes care of the logistics: sourcing art through their network, overseeing the process of commissioning new works, coordinating shipping, framing, installation, lighting and display, as well as arranging insurance appraisals, coverage and valuations for sale and consignment.

10. Have Fun!

Don’t feel pressured. Stay true to your purpose, acknowledge that your tastes will change over time. Make sure you continue to relate to the pieces of art and the aesthetic experience. Collecting can provide a lifetime of fun, a focus to travel, and an opportunity to be enriched by the creativity of artists, some whom you’ll get to know personally.

Let us tell you about our third trip to Bratislava last week. It’s been a while since we are visiting Bratislava to find the possible author for our text about Bratislava. During these visits we are meeting experts from the various field of academic studies, museums and galleries as well as researchers and freelancers from different fields of the art scene.

Exhibition view in Roman Fecik Gallery

Last time we have travelled with experts and people who are interested in the art scene of Bratislava. We have started the day with meeting Maria Orisková, who has a really interesting and unique view on the Slovakian art scene. She has studied with different scholarships abroad, also in London as well as in New York. She is the author of Zweistimmige Kunstgeschichte, a very interesting and early publication on the theme of eastern and western art history.

Later we have visited the exhibition at Galéria Mesta Bratislavy where we had a talk with PhDr. Ivan Jančár and his colleague. There we have also seen the exhibition of Alfons Mucha.

Later we have visited two galeries: AMT Gallery where we have seen an exhibition from Sergio Limonta and we have met Alberto Matteo Torri, owner of the gallery. Galéria Nedbalka was also a highlight of the day, really impressive building and institution in the heart of the city. The several floors are presenting focuspoints of different epochs from Slovakian art. If you would like to have a certain taste of the 20th century slovakian fine arts, this place is a must see.

Exhibition view in Galéria Nedbalka

Exhibition view in Galéria Nedbalka

Inside of Galéria Nedbalka (source)

At the end of the day we have visited a Vernissage at HIT Gallery highlighting three video artworks from Maya Schweizer. Exhibition curated by Dorota Kenderová & Jaro Varga. Could be seen till 28 March.

Video artwork of Maya Schweizer at HIT Gallery

Keep yourself updated and follow our instagram photo feed to have a certain taste of this great visit to Bratislava! Don’t miss our forthcoming post, because next time we are announcing the author of our text!

We have visited the capital of Slovakia three times so far, to learn about the art scene of this country. We have faced several interesting phenomena in this great city – unbelievable, only one hour far from Vienna! – while we have met galerists, collectors, curators, directors, artists and freelancers from this art scene.

Bratislava Hlavné Námestie (Main square)

First we have met Gabriela Kisová – manager of Krokus Gallery – who gave us good advices regarding the possible author from Slovakia. We have seen the exhibition ofLucia Dovičáková, Zenita Komad, Peter Wehinger – In the Name of Love . Afterwards we have met Richard Gregor – Vice-president of AICA Slovakia – in Roman Fecik Gallery, where he gave us a short overview on the contemporary art scene of Slovakia and the AICA conference, that was held in Bratislava and Kosice in 2013. You may have heard about some works of Gregor such as his book: “1963″ (authors Richard Gregor, Eva Filová, and Darina Sabová).

Franciscan Church Bratislava

Later we made a short trip to Modra, not far from Bratislava, where we have visited an exhibition of Tony Cragg in Zoya Museum. The museum is an impressive new building in a unique area, surrounded by a big wineyard with the possibility to hunt. The museum has also a famous restaurant where – after visiting for example the Andy Warhol exhibition – the visitors have the opportunity to eat meals by the excellent chefs and have a wide selection of wines.

During this journey to Bratislava we have met the artist Lucia Papcová in her new place, and later visited Zahorian&Co Gallery, where we have seen the exhibition of Lucia’s husband: Stefan Papco. We had interesting talks with Jozef Zahorian and Silvia van Espen. Zahorian&Co gallery were preparing the participation at Artefiera Bologna – where they planned to feature the artists Andrej Dubravsky, Stefan Papco and Ivan Pinkava.

Exhibition view in Zahorian&Co Gallery

On our second day in Bratislava we have met Katarina Müllerová – a freelancer of contemporary art who has studied in London. We continued our travel with meeting Ingrid Ciulisová – researcher at Slovak Academy of Sciences, and she had a tremendous amount of knowledge and impressions about the central European art scene and its history. We really enjoyed these talks and the several academic and experienced approaches she gave us. At the end of the day we have met director Juraj Carny, who showed us the new Dom Umenia / Kunsthalle Bratislava. We heard about the plans for the start of the institution and we have seen the exhibition with Radovan Cerevka. Great impressions!

Don’t miss our next post about Bratislava with our special fellow-traveller Kristina Kulakova from The New Contemporary blog!

We have made a two days long journey to Krakow, Poland to start learn about Krakow´s art scene and also to have possible suggestions for our author regarding the research about Polish collectors and collections in the 20th century until today.

On our way to Krakow we stopped at the nice city of Olomouc (Czech Republic), and visited an exhibition by Magdalena Jetelová: (Des)orientation? and Andrzej Pawłowski | Genesis / Cineforms at Museum of Modern Art. Jetelová, born in Czech Rebublic and living abroad, has changed big parts of the architecture of the upper floor by installing crooked fake walls, impressive.

Hans in Olomouc

Later on, we arrived to the city of Krakow in the evening and visited the opening at Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow (MOCAK). We were surprised by this formel industrial building, which contains unexpected huge exhibition rooms. Among others we have seen ´Her hair ´ from Krystyna Piotrowska

Exhibition view of ´Her Hair´

and ´If You Shoot One of Them ´ from Marta Deskur and Manju Pavadai. The main rooms showed ´The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe Since 1945 – 30th Council of Europe Exhibition´ and ´Good Boy´ with the works of Erwin Wurm. During the crowded openings of these 5 exhibitions (all in MOCAK) we have met interesting people from the local art scene, had inspiring talks. On the next morning we had a nice and valuable conversation with Maria Anna Potocka, director of MOCAK, very interesting and useful for our project. Here you could find a video with her and her colleagues about the exhibition. Afterall I could say that we had the chance to get best first insights about the art scene in Kraków and some overview of the art scene of Poland with this visit.

Check this video to have a certain taste of the exhibition ´The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe Since 1945´ in MOCAK:

Later we have met the artists Łukasz Stokłosa and visited his studio. He is participating in the group show ´Uncertain Places´ with Karolina Breguła, Barbara Ipsics, Csaba Nemes, Dóra Palatinus at Knoll Galerie Wien from next week (29. January – 29. March 2014) in Vienna.

On our way back to Vienna we stopped at Zabrze – not so far from Katowice – to visit Bartosz Sikorski in a really special place, around 320 meters underground in an old coal mine called ´Guido´. In this mine you can find surprising things: first of all a concert hall with great accustic. Here takes place the annual Krzysztof Penderecki festival. Going deeper into the mine there is also an exhibition space, now displaying Bartosz Sikorski´s works. All together a unique experience – if you are in town visit this place, it is worth to see!

With our next post, we shall invite you to our journey to Bratislava to visit the must see contemporary art spaces in town! Stay tuned!

Gabriella & Hans

Photos about the exhibition opening ´The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe Since 1945´:

Photos (c) EEC

UPDATE – Latest news from MOCAK this week: they published this book about the MOCAK Collection in braille, which is their third publication that is available for people with sight los!  Looking forward to have it!

in recent times we started our research project on the topic of collecting in former socialist countries. Our project ´Eastern European Collectors´ makes researches in 9 countries (or probably 10, if including Russia), working with experts from each country and searches the similar and different patterns and the roles of art collections and of collecting, and showing people and institutions from each country their influence how the local art scenes in recent years transformed in terms of collecting art.

Collectors of contemporary art became influential members of the art scenes with their important and active role in societies: by following traces of art and how they became partners and supporters for the artists, galleries and cultural institutions. By their commitment to art they are convincing examples to their social environment.

We like to show the aspects of how collecting transformed in former socialist countries and how collections, both public and private, transform local art scenes. In many societies art collections contain important potential for the future of societies and cities.

Enjoy reading and spread the news!

Hans Knoll, Gabriella Czibóka