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Daily Telegraph
New perspective on art
Filed: 29/03/2004
Collectors with money to spend are growing in confidence and knowledge, writes Will Bennett
Buying art was once mainly the preserve of those rich enough to spend large sums of money at auction or confident enough to venture into smart galleries in the West End of London.
But now fairs aimed at beginners, information on the internet and exhibitions at galleries such as Tate Modern are encouraging thousands of people to buy art.
Iona Jennings: sporadic buyer
Some buy for investment, calculating that as interest rates are low and the stock market is fluctuating then art should be a good long term home for spare cash. A survey this week revealed that 24 per cent of adults would consider buying art for this reason.
But dealers and fair organisers say that most buy because they feel more confident than ever about doing so and because they want to spend disposable income on something for their home.
The Affordable Art Fair, founded in 1999 by Will Ramsay, a former Army officer, has tapped into and encouraged this new mood.
The fair is held twice a year in London and annually in Bristol and New York with affiliated, locally organised Australian events. More than 19,000 people attended the latest fair in London this month.
Spending figures for the March fair are not yet available but at the previous event in London last October collectors spent more than £3 million, bringing the total for all Affordable Art Fairs last year to £5.7 million.
With prices for the contemporary art on display mostly under £2,500, one in four visitors to the event buys something, a proportion that fairs selling more expensive works can only dream about.
"People are buying mainly because they like the art rather than because they are investing," said Heidi Smith, the assistant fair manager. "People's confidence is growing because now they are able to find out much more about art."
The Contemporary Art Society holds an annual exhibition in London called ARTfutures to help new buyers. At this year's event, which starts on Wednesday, advisers will be on hand to offer free guidance to collectors.
David Messum, an art dealer, has recently closed one of his two West End galleries and opened an internet site to enable the public to look at the contemporary British art in which he specialises.
"Buyers are much more able to make their own decisions now," said Mr Messum. "They want to make their own statement about what they are and what they like."
Dealers and fair organisers hope this enthusiasm for modestly priced art, often for decorative reasons, will create a new generation of long term art collectors.
One of these new collectors is Douglas Gee, 29, an IT consultant, of Fulham, south-west London.
This year, Mr Gee has bought an £1,800 print by Paula Rego, a contemporary artist, from the Marlborough Gallery in west London and an oil painting by Peter Iden from Messum's on Cork Street, west London, for which he paid about £4,000.
"How much art I buy usually depends on how well work is going," he said. "I like to spend any spare cash I have on art. I usually buy five to 10 pictures a year from a price range of anything between £300 to £4,000."
"I am an art lover, but I also consider my pieces as investments. I have about 40 pieces and my art collection is now probably more valuable than my ISA. How can you beat making a sound investment and being able to look at it on your wall every day?"
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