Money, Money, Money!

Even before the lyrics from the musical Cabaret became familiar, we all knew “Money makes the world go round”. But these days and particularly in this country it has gone to such an extreme that it no longer makes any cents … no … sense!

The large auction houses do not represent the art market only one aspect of it. People in general do not want to read about aspects of everyone else’s day-to-day life, they are already living it. Therefore, the press writes headlines that everything is fabulous or, going to hell in a handbasket, whatever the extreme.

A line in a recent Art Net article reads, “According to Artnet’s data, last year there was a steep decline—44.2 percent year over year—in sales of trophy works at auction, or those sold for over $10 million.” A few sentences further on, “Still, sales in the $100,000-to-$1 million range remained resilient amid last year’s downturn, suggesting that profit-driven speculators are sitting back, and a broader collector base is interested in buying more affordable works they are passionate about…. That’s exactly the price bracket where younger collectors can participate much more actively.”

When I was a boy in the 1950’s my ambition (if I was old enough to have ambition yet) was to be a millionaire, in line TV shows like How to Marry a Millionaire. I just checked, and that would be the equivalent of 13 million dollars today. I presume kids now think that they want to be Billionaires. Well, that is about 77 times 13 million.

More statistics from the web: Currently it is calculated that there are only 3,028 Billionaires worldwide while there are 17 million professional artists. The United States account for 2.7 million artists, representing 1.6 % of all U.S. workers.

Now I know that to a great extent I am equating apples and pears because the art market consists of art through the ages, but today do you, reader, have enough money to spend more than a million dollars on a work of art or even $100,000? Probably a fraction of one percent of the world’s population would feel comfortable paying anywhere near that much.

Since most art dealers (there are over 21,500 listed in this country) and collectors do not speak of their sales or purchases except on the rare occasion of a specific example. The statistics all come from the best-known auction houses where the super-rich go to show off, competing with each other, hoping to hedge their risk from the stock market or filling in that one work missing from their collection. There are, of course, hundreds of auction houses in this country and thousands around the world that sell art. Yet when you look online you will probably find less than a dozen listed.

I have many friends who are artists and sell from hundreds of dollars to a few thousand. There are also many artists who are known by name and recognized in the press and sell in the same range and, yes, there are also some who sell for astronomical sums. I bought this small sculpture just because I found it satisfying and calming and I feel the same way years later. I bought it at a gallery in Santa Fe and it is by Jason R. Brown, he called it The Eye and it cost just under $750.

My point is that though in a recession or a time of uncertainty people have less discretionary income so all artists, like everybody else, will suffer. Obviously, there are very serious issues that we should be aware of and prepare for accordingly, but that the big auction houses are reported to have lost business should not be of concern. If you buy art that you love and can afford, the market headlines have no significance.