Buying Art

[alfabetty]

We are looking for a large piece of work and I've seen something I like in a fairly top-end gallery. It is a few thousand pounds.

I've never bought anything over a few hundred, and obviously the gallery owner isn't going to be giving impartial advice on values!

Is there any advice/guide on valuation? Or is art bought and sold on the basis that if you like it enough, you'll pay the price?

I don't mind paying a few hundred pounds when someone else may think a piece has no intrinsic value, but now I'm looking a more expensive work, I wondered if I could arm myself with a bit of knowledge beyond googling the name of the artist.

Possibly asking an auction house (bonhams etc) if they have sold a piece by this artist though bear in mind auction values are often lower than galleries.
Personally I always go by do I personally feel it's worth that price.
Also if you google the artist you may find them direct and often pieces are cheaper then also you could get more choice.

We haven't bought anything that pricey yet but recently bought a piece that was in the high hundreds and will likely go higher over the next few years. We've decided that the only thing we can do when buying art is to buy art we love and that we love enough to pay the price asked, because we're too inexperienced to play any sort of investment game. Maybe in future we'll be able to educate ourselves and make proper judgments on the 'true' value of the piece. So we buy things we love to put on our walls and give us years of enjoyment - if it increases in value then that's all well and good, but as it's to make our home look beautiful we sort of treat it the same way as buying a new sofa or tv - get years of pleasure but assume depreciation in value! Then if it holds its value or increases, that's just a bonus.

I buy all our art from Outline Editions in Soho - limited editions (signed and numbered by the artists) from contemporary artists. I love the graphic feel to the work, and the idea of investing in an artist. Many of them are becoming quickly established in the art scene (both UK & abroad), so making our investment worth while - affordable art that will probably increase in value given some time.

Here's the link (you can buy online) -
www.outline-editions.co.uk/