Alberto Giacometti’s life-size sculpture Pointing Man, Christies May 2015 - $141 million

Datin Shalini Ganendra of Shalini Ganendra Fine Art unravels the reality of investing in art and how developing an eye for good works is done through extensive study and viewing.

We collect art for different reasons including aesthetic appreciation, prestige or branding, decoration and investment.

Art funds are popping up everywhere – those unregulated and generally opaque investment vehicles – promising super, unsecured returns with no guarantees and many hidden costs. Investment talk abounds now with auction prices reaching record levels.

Is it so easy to make money investing in art?

The answer is NO.

Making money legitimately involves knowledge, discipline, smarts and a bit of luck or timing. Making money trading art is no different and in many ways more challenging due to limited liquidity and subjective trends. Very few in the world’s population are buyers of art, less than 2%, so we have an illiquid market.


Picasso, Women of Algiers, Christies, May 2015, auctioned at $179 million


Analyse, analyse, analyse

Buying art for investment without proper research is a big gamble on beauty.

Caveat emptor for an investor: don’t be fooled by the recent and phenomenal international contemporary art auction records (eg US$179 million for Picasso) as they are the exception and not the rule.

When I represent clients at auction or privately, before any bid or offer is made or artwork consigned; we do a lot of research on the relevant work to evaluate its ‘ fair value’ and assign a threshold buy/sell point. Not unlike stock review, we analyse the art market and a necessary component of good art analysis is having a developed eye.

Having the ‘eye’ means being able to determine whether a work is special, strong or weak by just looking at it. It's a skill that art experts and connoisseurs develop through extensive and exhaustive study and viewing. An advisor’s record must speak for itself.


Alberto Giacometti, life-sized sculpture of The Pointing Man, Christies May 2015, valued at $141 million


Where to start

If you really want to invest in art, set a budget and seek advice on – inter alia – collecting genres, artists or mediums. Then continue to work with a reputed advisor who will work hard to provide quality information and good recommendations. Most importantly, enjoy the collection you develop.

Buy what you like and the best you can afford. Live with the works, learn from them, develop an eye and then, if you can part with any, set up a profitable arrangement (private or auction) to sell.

Avoid buying art on margin. If you treat investing in beauty as an informed and inspired course, it will certainly generate better returns, for the soul and purse.

 

 

 


Datin Shalini Ganendra is an art advisor and gallerist with over 18 years of dedicated experience in the field. Advisory services include collection management, valuation, exhibition coordination and artwork sourcing, and expertise extends to a broad range of artists, mediums, geographies and periods. Ask her anything!   

To get in touch with her, please email sgfa@shaliniganendra.com or log on to the Shalini Ganendra Fine Art official website here.

 

 

(Photos and artworks: Shalini Ganendra Fine Art, Christies) 

 

 


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