# Art Collectors. Are You Out There?



## Specific_Pacific (Mar 11, 2018)

I've been collecting art for the house and office for 13 years and most of my friends have no idea why. Anyone else have a collection? What's in yours?


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## FarmKid (Jul 12, 2018)

I enjoy paintings and sculpture. I am "on notice" from my wife not to buy anymore paintings. I'll try to post some more photos later.

Paintings I own:
A. Untitled Abstract by a former Albany University Art Professor
B. 5 Original Oil Paintings (2 Landscapes and 3 Nature Close-ups) by three different people from my wife's side of the family
C. 3 Architectural Drawing Prints by a college classmate of mine.
D. 1 Mass Produced painting of a Venice canal, probably tacky to most, but I love the vibrant colors in it.
E. 3 Original Paintings by the artist Tommervik.




















Art that I want.
A. Something by Birger Sandzen
B. An original Western Kansas Landscape (oil or watercolor)
B. Winged Victory statue


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## Specific_Pacific (Mar 11, 2018)

FarmKid said:


> I enjoy paintings and sculpture. I am "on notice" from my wife not to buy anymore paintings.


Same. Exact. Boat.

I started out with a bunch of Simbari lithos then started picking up Dali, Miro, and I have a Calder floating around. Most recent was a Dali etching.









I've since started picking up a lot of art nouveau peices; mostly Mucha and Cambellotti.

I did get the OK to start buying original travel posters from the places we travel... so at least I have that going for me now. She doesn't know about the wooden crate coming in from Catania, Sicily next month. I'll post photos when it arrives.


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## jz1094 (Jul 19, 2016)

yes, but I buy all of my art from goodwill and similar places for very cheap then i sell them online for 10 to 100x what i pay for them.


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## Specific_Pacific (Mar 11, 2018)

jz1094 said:


> yes, but I buy all of my art from goodwill and similar places for very cheap then i sell them online for 10 to 100x what i pay for them.


Lol! That's awesome. Are you buying going %100 on aesthetics or just whatever random stuff is in there?


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## fetasigma (Nov 28, 2012)

I have a large art collection but funnily enough no pictures on my phone. I own multiple original oil paintings by Peter max, and several other artists. I also have several bronzes mostly Remingtons. My collection is somewhat eclectic but starting to run out of room in the house and office 

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## FarmKid (Jul 12, 2018)

by Don Mochon, founding director of Albany University Art Museum and former Architecture Professor at RPI.


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## SunnyOrange (Aug 26, 2016)

I'm an Art teacher, and so is my mother (she is retired now). We all have our own paintings, but she used to paint much much more than me, had many exhibitions, etc. 
Since she used to paint big format paintings, I took many of her beautiful paintings to have them for me. She is my role model and I've learnt much from her.

This is one of her paintings (not so big though) which I'm lucky to have on my wall.


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## Alysandir (Jun 29, 2016)

Specific_Pacific said:


> I've been collecting art for the house and office for 13 years and most of my friends have no idea why. Anyone else have a collection? What's in yours?


I collect original comic art, representing the original cardstock pencils - and often times, inked - work that comic book artists used to do back before Photoshop and Cintiq tablets became ubiquitous. This would include simple pages, splash pages, double page spreads, and covers.

For me, these are artifacts of a bygone era; most major publishers do everything digitally now, and frankly, I would expect the publishing arm of either DC or Marvel (or both) to cease operations within the next 10 years. They also hearken back to my childhood, teen years, and misspent adult life, as well as the road not taken for me in career choice (once upon a time, I thought I was going to be a professional artist; now I'm just a professional patron of the arts).

If you're familiar with names, I have works from Alan Davis, Chris Bachalo, J Scott Campbell, Joe Benitez, Adam Hughes, Carlos Pagaluyan, Amanda Conner, Tim Finch, Aaron Lopresti, Ed Benes, and many more that I cannot easily think of off the top of my head.

Regards,
Alysandir


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## RideCRF450 (Jun 30, 2009)

Not to highjack the thread...but do you consider photography art? For example, I bought a massive Peter Lik picture for the living room. I don't consider it "art" per se because it wasn't drawn or painted or created; rather it was captured. But I love how it transforms the living room. How does photography fit into this category?









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## ryanboude (Feb 17, 2019)

I’m really interested in starting a real collection (and by real, I mean intentional and originals) but I find myself more in analysis paralysis. I really can’t figure what my first piece (or genre) should be. Partially because I like so many genres and within a genre I’m not exactly sure “the look” I’m going for. 
Basically I’m a head case when it comes to starting my collection. 


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## FarmKid (Jul 12, 2018)

I am not an expert at all, but give some consideration to "looking local." 

Another idea would be to set up a space for your art to be displayed. Layout the shape of the painting with painter's tape to help you understand what sizes you think might go there.


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## kip595 (Jul 11, 2019)

My own taste is very eclectic. Some of my favorite 'art' pieces are original film posters for classics like _The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly_; and _Jaws_. I do enjoy traditional art however. My favorite original piece is by Eastern European artist Viktor Shelig, but I also love the work of Waterhouse, Edward Hopper, Jack Vettriano (though those are prints, originals normally being out of my range). Several years ago I missed out on an original Dali watercolour of about 12"x24" by $500...still kicking myself for that one.


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## civiclx (Jan 3, 2020)

RideCRF450 said:


> Not to highjack the thread...but do you consider photography art? For example, I bought a massive Peter Lik picture for the living room. I don't consider it "art" per se because it wasn't drawn or painted or created; rather it was captured. But I love how it transforms the living room. How does photography fit into this category?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, I think you can count it and I think your photo is pretty artistic as well. I had to make a couple changes though


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## flabbychucs (Feb 4, 2017)

Most of what I collect is loosely connected to my antique automotive hobby. I collect turn of the century automotive sheet music (mostly branded pieces) although technically I collect any piece that has transportation featured(shipping and aviation are interests). I also have a few vintage race advertisement posters. 

I also collect Soviet era propaganda posters mainly with space related images depicted. 

When I get a larger place I'd love to acquire a Dali, Warhol, and an original Bob Ross.

I would also like to get into antique rugs.


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## Monsoonking (Apr 27, 2019)

I’m an art collector and have been at least tangentially involved in the New York art scene for over 15 years.

Collecting art is challenging for a bunch of reasons, including:

1) Most people (especially beginning collectors) have terrible taste in art. Like, truly awful. Problematically, almost no one THINKS they have terrible taste in art. People who think they have taste but actually don’t tend to confidently amass big collections of garbage art that has little aesthetic or financial value. If you’re lucky in your art collecting journey, you may in fact develop better taste, but that will come with the sad realization that all your early acquisitions are complete dross. That’s when you learn the second problematic thing about collecting art, namely that:

2) Transacting in art (especially selling art) can be a nightmare. For starters, transaction costs can be enormous. Auction houses charge a huge vig (sometimes more than 20% each to buyer and seller), sales taxes, as well as shipping and storage costs. Buying and selling work can easily cost 50% or more of the value of the art. That’s if you’re lucky enough to have bought work that actually has ANY value in the secondary market to begin with. 99% of art is less valuable than the frame it’s in. Do a search for oil paintings on eBay. There’s a near infinite amount of work out there, almost all of it worthless. Art also takes up a ton of space and is a huge pain to pack and ship. Properly framing and storing art is yet another source of significant expense and headaches.

3) Some people (perhaps wisely) decide to outsource their taste to art-historical consensus. They collect Picasso, Warhol, Dali, Miro, Chagall, Calder and the like. Going down this path reveals another problem with art collecting. Most of the work out there by blue chip artists is fake, an unauthorized reproduction, or some other manner of scammery. Think you’re getting a deal on a Picasso print on eBay? You’re almost certainly getting scammed. That sleeper Chagall at a third tier auctioneer? Fake. If you think a “certificate of authenticity” is worth more than the paper it’s printed on, you’re the sucker at the table. Determining authenticity of artwork is tough, even for experts. It’s an absolute minefield for beginning collectors, and you’re almost certain to get your leg blown off. 

So what’s the best way to proceed?

1) Go deep. Develop expertise in a narrow field. It could be Japanese woodblock prints, old master etchings, mid-century abstracts...whatever. Read a bunch of books on the subject. Examine prominent museum collections that pertain to your preferred niche. Develop an eye for what’s high quality, which artists and works and most collectible and why, and get wise to the most common scams and pitfalls within a given field. Variety may be the spice of life, but it’s also an almost sure path to a sloppy, low quality collection.

2) Go slow. Taste and interest can change dramatically over time. It’s almost certain that early purchases will be regrettable. Avoid any purchase that doesn’t absolutely sing to you.

3) Go high quality. Buy from highly reputable dealers and auction houses. Buying from places like Sotheby’s, Christies, and Phillips means the work has been vetted by an expert. It also means that the work you buy has instant provenance, which is essential if you ever hope to sell the work. Contrary to popular belief these auction houses do traffic in pieces in the 4-figure range, so you don’t need to be a hedge fund titan to get involved. Buying at auctions in an important form of protection for beginning collectors. It allows for real price discovery and limits your downside risk. If you win a painting for $4,100, that means you know someone else was willing to pay $4,000 for it. A work bought off a gallery wall for $4,000 will likely have a liquidation value that’s only a small fraction of that. Buy the best work you afford. Go for quality over quantity.

4) Avoid art that’s specifically targeted at unsophisticated collectors. Think Thomas Kincade or Peter Lik. Anyone with a big marketing team that stokes a scarcity mentality and a “collect them all” approach should probably be avoided before their prices collapse in a beanie baby like implosion.

5) Consider embracing reproductions. Buying reproductions can feel kind of lame, but it’s probably the best way to get extremely high quality work into your home without having an oligarch’s bankroll. Honestly, a high quality reproduction Warhol print has the same aesthetic quality as the original (and in some cases may be even better). A Van Gogh giclee, frankly, is probably going to be a lot nicer than whatever “find” you drag home from Goodwill. Frame it well, light it well, and present it well and you don’t need to spend mega dollars to get a lot of joy out of art.

Art collecting can be a tough and expensive hobby. It can also be a source of almost endless enjoyment and interest. For me, the best part of collecting is looking at tons of art. As always, the journey is more important than the destination. Just get educated, be judicious, and only buy high quality work that you feel like you absolutely can’t live without.


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## upupa epops (Apr 24, 2016)

Monsoonking said:


> I'm an art collector and have been at least tangentially involved in the New York art scene for over 15 years.
> 
> Collecting art is challenging for a bunch of reasons, including:
> 
> ...


Good advice. Don't want to sound smart but there is something to be said about wanting to collect art because you woke up one day and thought yeah, I think I'll do art next. I believe it has to be natural, you need to be sucked up into it.

I started going to exhibitions when I was a college student. One day I passed by a gallery and asked the most stupid question, why are some artist so expensive? The owner was bored I guess so she showed me around and then took me to the basement where they had some spectacular paintings. That was it, I was hooked. I wish I could buy those pieces today for those prices but the train has left the station. It's all in collections now and if anything comes along is x3, x4 the price. Even the gallery doesn't exist any more.

Read books and develop a taste but don't force it. Keep an eye on promising talent or ignored talent. Artists that are storytellers, not celebrities.


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## JD10 (Dec 26, 2017)

I am new to collecting. We recently purchased two clementine Hunters. We love them and plan on adding more in the future. 


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## 20thCenturyEye (Jul 10, 2020)

You are very accurate with this, alongside my passion in watches I'm a 20th century art dealer by day, it's this that funds the watch passion! Naturally I collect art too. You have pretty much hit your nail on the head with regards to auction. My 10 cents would be to mention that you should look to acquire the best example of an artists work that you like that you can afford. I'd also encourage sticking to the proven markets such as school of Paris modern masters... Picasso, Miró, Chagall etc etc.


Monsoonking said:


> I'm an art collector and have been at least tangentially involved in the New York art scene for over 15 years.
> 
> Collecting art is challenging for a bunch of reasons, including:
> 
> ...


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## catsteeth (Apr 8, 2016)

I had artists in the family, so it was the RA summer exhibition every summer from when a small child. All the London galleries like the back of my hand, and that was before I was 18.
My favourite activity is traipsing round galleries.
Poussin, Claude, Giotto, Botticelli - those faces.
All the obvious stuff - Turner, Matisse, Picasso, Braque

Lots of paintings. Mostly watercolours. Mostly less famous, English painters. Only two watercolours in the low luxury watch price level.
Two interesting oils, very unusual, by an Icelandic chap called Bilson.
But English watercolours are what I most like, and can afford.


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## mudmud (May 18, 2014)

I collect prints, most signed and numbered, but only really just starting out. Prints by Donald Sultan, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Andre Butzer etc... but not rare pieces.


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## pmwas (Aug 20, 2010)

Hardly an art COLLECTOR, but recently I was looking for a painting for my brown and green room.
So I found this...










Beautiful painting, lovely colors, very skilfully painted...










The signature is Moritz Mueller Munich...
Younger of the two, I presume, so before 1934, when he died.
I can say I was lucky - not everyday you find such painting for sale for affordable price


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## Harcar (Apr 20, 2019)

I collect lots of stuff. Toy soldiers Cars Mid century Modern furniture and Art. I have a bunch of prints numbered and signed Dali, Calder, Miro, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Kaufman and Picasso. I collect paintings mostly from
Local artists.


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## stbob (Dec 30, 2017)




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## The Watch Ho (Aug 16, 2019)

my entire "collection"...
This one I got because of the great story behind it and I like golf. Hey the masters is going on today too! Sorry, not good pictures. 

















This one was done by my daughter in law. It is a water color of my house. She did a great job.









This one was from someone I knew. It is a one of a kind original. I have always liked the message of a light house and the religious angle.
Brightly Beams our Fathers Mercy is a fav hymn of mine.


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## christianj (Jul 14, 2010)

I've been collecting since I first started making any real money back in the day. Similar to my watch collecting, I buy what I like. My main focus has been on B&W photography and 80s Pop Art artists. Since the pricing of those artist I like has skyrocketed and you can't hardly even afford a limited edition signed lithograph of theirs anymore, I will also buy pieces from current artist that were clearly influenced by the 80s Pop Artists. This is an image of a painting I own from a young artist that I really like.


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## 03hemi (Dec 30, 2021)

I drew all these in Illustrator.
The cars just for fun, the kids football one was for a T-shirt printing.


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## 03hemi (Dec 30, 2021)

delete


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## Owe (6 mo ago)

For a number of years I have been collecting art. It's not planned in any way; I simply acquire items I just can't resist. It has grown far beyond what my walls can accommodate. For a while my excuse was switching paintings with the season, but even that now doesn’t quite cut it. After considering different actions, I wrote a program that creates documentation on WEB pages. 
Launch an ftp app on your phone, press "Generate" and "Publish" on your computer, and then the updated pages are available on your phone. If anyone is interested in testing, the program is free to download here Artwebgenerator.


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## Herb1953 (Apr 3, 2020)

I grew up in Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan. The U/M has a large and diverse art faculty and I began to buy their work beginning around age 12. Not valuable but I have a number of pieces - oils, sketches, acrylics, prints and bronzes, by Chet LaMore, Emil Weddige, Dick Wilt, and Bill Lewis, all c.1960-1982. I also have fine prints by British artists from the late 1800s and early 1900s like James McBey and Muirhead Bone. Some feel our home has way too much hanging on the walls. I like it! When I was on the faculty of the U. of South Carolina I bought works by that art faculty, but when I left South Carolina I left most of that work behind. Art makes the world a better place


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## The Watch Ho (Aug 16, 2019)

Herb1953 said:


> Art makes the world a better place


amen to that!


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## 69mach351 (Feb 14, 2012)

I wouldn't say I am "in" to art, but there is some I enjoy. I have a couple of series that I will browse for a few times a year by Salvador Dali. I wouldn't mind finding some Peter Max stuff at some point, but it just hasn't been a big priority.


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## The Watch Ho (Aug 16, 2019)

new piece I picked up. Was visiting my aunts art studio and had to have it.


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## Lastlineofdefense (Aug 13, 2019)

I managed to pick up a few originals from contemporary artist Merv Slotnick recently. As a big fan of abstract expressionism (Motherwell in particular) I was immediately attracted to these works.


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## appophylite (Jan 11, 2011)

Small Collection on my side:

Two open edition Prints by Marissa Amor:


















Two open edition prints on metal by Dan Twitchell:


















496/500 Print by Dot Bardarson









55/144 Print by Neil Welliver:









14/300 Print by Byron Birdsall









18/18 AP Print and 214/325 Print Giclee by Vladimir Kush


















Original Ink Sketch by Vladimir Kush









Original Watercolor by Arin Underwood


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## Squirrelly (Nov 9, 2011)

My wife, long ago, had a boyfriend who was really into art. He influenced her to purchase higher end print art that's now worth maybe $100K in total. Most of the artists are little known except the one signed Dali. That was just a short lived phase for my wife, we haven't purchased any* real* art during our 30+ year marriage.


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## Squirrelly (Nov 9, 2011)

I forgot about this signed Elton Bennett print, it's one of my favorites. Bennett (1910-1974) was a notable Pacific Northwest artist back in the day. I inherited this one from my Aunt. She and her husband had maybe about 10 of his works but my uncle took most of them in the divorce settlement. I have one more of his works I got from my aunt, a print of northwest ferns. It's around here somewhere in the back of a closet.


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## Artstock (1 mo ago)

After collecting and keeping my collection behind closed walls I decided to finally open the doors of a one of a kind collection; if artist like, Keith Haring, Mr.Brainwash,C215, Jonone, Kenny Scharf, Kai, Richard Orlinski, Robert Indiana, Roberto Matta, Segui, Speedy Graphito, and many more. With over 100 Originals, this is one of the biggest collection. 

check out Artstockgallery.com


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## ChronoTraveler (Oct 28, 2014)

Alysandir said:


> I collect original comic art, representing the original cardstock pencils - and often times, inked - work that comic book artists used to do back before Photoshop and Cintiq tablets became ubiquitous. This would include simple pages, splash pages, double page spreads, and covers.
> 
> For me, these are artifacts of a bygone era; most major publishers do everything digitally now, and frankly, I would expect the publishing arm of either DC or Marvel (or both) to cease operations within the next 10 years. They also hearken back to my childhood, teen years, and misspent adult life, as well as the road not taken for me in career choice (once upon a time, I thought I was going to be a professional artist; now I'm just a professional patron of the arts).
> 
> ...


That's really cool - I love comics, although I pretty much only read things outside the Marvel/DC spectrum.

Do you mind sharing some pictures with us? Do you like Eduardo Risso's art?


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## thewatchidiot (Oct 5, 2018)

Have some interesting art on the walls.
This is the original Marlboro Man which was used in their advertising. I purchased from the artist directly


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## WatchenYou (12 d ago)

Lastlineofdefense said:


> I managed to pick up a few originals from contemporary artist Merv Slotnick recently. As a big fan of abstract expressionism (Motherwell in particular) I was immediately attracted to these works.
> 
> View attachment 16912908
> View attachment 16912911


I literallysigned up to this forum to comment how much I dig these paintings. I'm an abstract expressionist myself and it's been, well, difficult to find people that appreciate that kind of work. There's no forum like this one where people can congregate over that shared interest.


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