The Beginners Guide to Buying Art - Part 5
by Hugh Goring, Frames Gallery, Perth
In previous articles I have looked at why starting to buy Art can be a rewarding and satisfying thing to do and given some advice about how to get started in the Art World. In this final part of the series I would like to take a more practical look at Art buying.
Lets start with "How Much Does it Cost?"
Like many other things, the simple answer is "as much or as little as you like". For example in our current exhibition the paintings start at £95 and go up to £2,600, with everything in-between. Admittedly the £95 paintings is 3" x 4" and the expensive one is 30" x 26" but size is not the main factor in determining the price of a painting. The main factor is the reputation of the artist in question. If an artists has been working successfully for a long time, then his or hers work will be
well known and more expensive, typically, £500 - £7,000. If an artist is at the start of their career or not widely exhibited then the work will be far less say £150 - £800. This is why finding an artist who is just starting can be a very exciting discovery. At the moment we have a young artist called Jane Cruickshank who, each time she has an exhibition sells almost everything she has. This is partly because her work is still affordable, but it will go up each time she exhibits and I know that
in a few years time people will be saying, "If only I had bought a Jane Cruickshank when I first saw them" Don't hesitate when you see something you really like.
The question of value for money is a little trickier to answer.
There are paintings in our winter exhibition that I believe are really good value for money and they are mostly by artists who are building up their reputation and have not yet exhibited in London. Many Scottish artists are very successful in the south of England and this has the effect of pushing up their prices. Often making them too expensive for the Scottish market. However there are occasions when a bargain can still be picked up. Sometimes galleries will have exhibitions with work
under, say £500 and some very well known artists will have work in these shows. We once had an exhibition of Drawings in the gallery and many of Scotland's top artists had work that was a lot less expensive than a painting but of just as good quality. The thing is to keep your eyes open and learn to trust your judgement.
Finally a word about Own Art
Own Art is a new scheme run by The Scottish Arts Council which allows the public to buy art and craft from £100 - £2,000 with an interest free loan, repayable in 10 monthly instalments. The beauty of this scheme is that the buyer gets to take the work home with them
after the agreement has been confirmed, the gallery gets the money for the work very quickly and the artists get paid just as quickly.
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We, in the gallery, have already sold several quite expensive works to people who could not have afforded the selling price but were more than happy to pay them up. Not all galleries are part of the scheme and the ones that are will be displaying the logo shown on the right. Apart from anything else, a gallery that is a member of Own Art has been selected by The Scottish Arts Council and you can feel secure about dealing with them.
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So, now that you have all this information about buying Art you have no excuse to get started. I look forward to seeing you in our gallery.
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