Shopping for Art

Last Friday I learned about 'Amazing Things Arts Center' group in local newspaper and attended an independent artist exhibit listed on their site. I procured two paintings by a local contemporary budding artist (He sure wasn't a Picasso or Van Gogh but his bubbling energy & devotion to his true passion interested me a lot!). Even though visual appeal of both artworks played a vital role in my quick purchase decision but what's interesting was that the process left me with so many more intriguing questions. Questions such as:

• As an art collector, how can one ascertain a reasonable estimate of an artwork?
• How can one establish authenticity of an artwork-especially when the transaction is being done online or say from an art dealer,museum or art gallery.
• Do such transactions have some kind of post purchase warranty/guarantee concept?
• Is it advisable to shop for artworks in real world or online auctions?
• Is there a way that an art collector can get a candid opinion (with a decent consulting fee) from some trustworthy art-historian before signing the check?
• Say if certain painting or sculpture really engages an art collector, is there an easy way he/she can connect to the artist and know about his other works?

[Margo Leavin Gallery, with works by Willem de Kooning and John Baldessari]

I spent a Sunday afternoon in Framingham Library researching for trustworthy sources where as an newbie art collector one can get several informed & unbiased opinions about artists & artworks. I saw books (thanks to Lib's cordial staff) that give you pointers on what aspects to see in good artworks, how to find a good art dealer, how to do background checks of auction firms etc. And that's when I saw this "2010 Art Show" flier in the 'Visual Art, Fine Art, Graphic Design' shelf.

ADAA seems the single perfect answer to most of my questions and I am quite positive that some of you might the website interesting too! And while you are on ADAA's website, take a look at their Collector's Guide-a very well drafted primer on shopping for and understanding ART! Happy Reading folks :D

I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.~~Vincent van Gogh

[Image Courtesy © Artnet]

Speaking Of Visual Thinking...!

What's do best athletes, best entrepreneurs, best musicians, best graphic designers, best curators, best software programmers and ofcourse ace artists have in common? Other than the fact that they are well known (though that's now always true with s/w programmers :)), they all utilize their Visual Thinking skills for problem solving, idea generation, improving themselves and delivering near perfect performances when required. Well have a look at the following pitch-hope you like it. And good luck with solving everyday challenges visually.

"One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself"~da Vinci