Collecting Art for Absolute Beginners

How to Get Started on Becoming an Art Appreciator

Oct 20, 2009 Joni Chng

If the idea of collecting art seemed far fetch, here is an absolute beginners' introduction to the exciting world of art appreciation.

Collecting art is not just for the affluent. In fact, anyone who can form opinions on the aesthetic merits of any image is a potential art collector. All it takes is a little effort in developing a more critical eye for aesthetics and an open-minded approach to the visual medium. Think of it like buying another piece of furniture for your home, except with extra careful thought, and just buy within your means.

Why Buy Art?

The visual medium stimulates the imagination and offers a window for escapism the same way an interesting novel, movie or song does. The presence of art personalizes and enhances the living space, reflecting one’s personality and good taste. Continuous art viewing and evaluation also makes one a better aesthete over time, which can be beneficial to improve creative thinking.

Buy for Pleasure, Not Profit

Forget art as investment; buy only for enjoyment. Investing in art is a complicated, narrow and unpredictable niche that really depends on the artist’s fame rather than aesthetics and technical merits of the artwork.

Editor-in-chief of financial magazine, MoneyWeek, Merryn Somerset Webb explains why, “I have just bought a painting by Emily Gregory-Smith.....over time, its value will be entirely dependent on the extent to which other people might agree with me that Gregory-Smith is a fine painter”.

In a sense, most original artworks are like new cars where the value depreciates upon leaving the dealer.

What Kind of Art to Buy?

The simple rule of thumb to buying art is the image must appeal to you on a personal level. It has to be something you want to display proudly on your living space, talk about it to others and always delight in looking at it.

First, you must get to know yourself. Know what you like and look for art that visually represents it. Is it seasonal landscapes that always caught your attention? What about still life or wildlife? Perhaps it’s the human figure in motion and portraits? How about illustrations of superheroes? Maybe you are into Japanese Animation style illustration?

This is a highly subjective area with no restrictions. You should then look for only the best artworks of your favorite subjects.

Where to Buy

Local art shows, exhibitions and auctions are the best place to find affordable, quality artworks and start your collection, along with showing support for local talents. Getting involved in the local art scene also offers you the chance to meet artists and talk to them about their work, which helps in gaining better understanding about art in general.

Plenty of independent artists and hobby painters are taking full advantage of the internet to promote and sell their work. Their portfolio web sites are only a search engine’s query away. Even a simple search under the ‘Art’ category on eBay will wield overwhelming results.

An online community like DeviantArt.com is an excellent place where artists from all levels of experience and medium specialty display their works for critique and discussion. Anyone can create an account to track their favorite artwork and artists, participate in the forum and buy affordable good quality prints.

There are also online galleries like yessy.com where hundreds and thousands of artworks in almost every medium, conveniently organized in subject categories, are up for sale.

Once you have enough buying experience with extra display space and cash to spare, you may want to consider buying bigger pieces from reputable art dealers.

Broaden Your Scope

Visual art is not just paintings on canvases. In fact, the term encompasses sculptures, lithographs, artistic photography and various decorative handy crafts. Even digital imaging softwares are treated as an artistic medium now, making a digitally rendered image acceptable as an art form. So, do not limit your options to one medium.

Trust that your general taste will connect the pieces in your collection to reflect your individuality when they go on display around the living space.

• On to part two of this guide: Evaluating and Buying Art for Absolute Beginners
• For more in depth into art collecting, visit the Art Lady.
• Why you shouldn't buy art as an investment.

The copyright of the article Collecting Art for Absolute Beginners in Art & Society is owned by Joni Chng. Permission to republish Collecting Art for Absolute Beginners in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.