I buy new pottery from other artists in my studio on a semi regular basis. I’ll probably pick something up at the sale next week.
Two years ago I found a Gunter’s chain at a flea market: http://hlanelee.angelfire.com/Stuff/Chain.jpg I was taking a surveying class and HAD to have it. It’s not art but I hanged it on the wall anyway. As far as I know, they were all hand made.
This seems like a good time to mention the Ontario College of Art and Design’s annual Mystery Sale. Every work is the same size, every work is $75 but you don’t know the name of the artist until you buy it and turn it over to look at the back. Some of the work is painted by current students, some by their teachers and some donated by celebrity artists. Link to the 2010 Mystery Sale.
I looked that up, it is a traditional device for land surveying, right? You must get interesting remarks on it from visitors.
Indeed, it can be fun to hang other things then paintings on walls. When I was a student living in a dorm, I pinned my collection of fiftie-era party dresses to my wallpaper. About four satin and lace dresses. It looked very nice.
What a wonderful idea!
Recently I got invited to a charity art fair to raise money. Their business model didn’t make sense one bit, though, so it didn’t raise much money. They did ask for artist to donate works, so far so good. But then they limited the artworks to about 50 and made people bid for them in an live auction. Most of the works were far to amateurish to merit any bidding. I found out that they were offered many, many more artworks. So if they just had organized an art fair for reasonable prices, i think they would have made much more money.
I advised them to do it next year again and then call it the poor mans TEFAF,which is Europes most posh art fair and is also held in my hometown Maastricht once a year. I visited once; the entree was 50 bucks per person and it was the chicest place I ever saw. Art works started at about a million bucks.
That’s right, for land surveying. Most people comment on the big hornet’s nest hanging from the ceiling though (one of three, two in opposing corners).
I collect art and have run out of wall space to display it. The most recognizable piece I have is a Francisco Goya.
I have a large number of commissions from a well known local artist Dean Stanton.
I currently have my art collection insured for about $30K.
I cannot afford or hope to afford works by my favorite artists, so I just hang my own photographs on the walls midst the cobwebs.
The Goya? Wow! How did you get it? And what do you generally pay per art work when you buy something new?
Yep - that Goya. I have an original etching of Le Petit prisonnier. I purchased it on ebay - don’t worry - it’s real - I had it authenticated and cleaned when I first purchased it - it would also be a weird thing to fake.
This really, really depends on the piece - anywhere from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars. I buy art because I love it and think it looks pretty. That some of it is a bit valuable is purely by accident.
I finally managed to find the elephant park my tour went to. They do have a web presence and do seem to sell elephant paintings on line, but for more than they cost in their gift shop. And they only seem to be selling one painting.
J.
OCAD is a very interesting institution that way. There are lots of cutting edge ideas going on in there, they are as crazy as they want to be, and yet, when it came time to build their new building, with its ‘pencil box in the sky’ design, the first thing they did was they approached the neighbourhood committees and addressed their concerns, following through on all of them. As a result, the new building went smooth as silk. Meanwhile, up the road, the Art Gallery of Ontario tried to push their renovation through contrary to the wishes of nearby residents. Result - rocky road to rebuild.
One of the things I love about the Mystery Sale is that it focuses on the direct appeal of artwork itself, without any of the commercial or resale concerns. You aren’t buying it for the name, you’re just buying it because it speaks to you.
I love the Mystery Art sale idea!
I bought two pieces at an art show last summer. (This is one of the hazards when I have very good sales at a show. I want to go around and buy things from other artists.)
One is a gorgeous little landscape in oil; the other was a watercolor. I think each piece was in the $125 range.
Excellent purchases, both. They make me very happy when I look at them.
I bought this piece, by a local artist who does alchemical-inspired work:
I bought it because it very clearly has Ramon Llull as an influence, which is one of my personal heroes. $2000.
My walls are covered in my own paintings, for the most part.
The most recent original we bought was this photo of Angkor Wat – the largest version, 20" x 24" – from the photographer himself, an American journalist based in Cambodia. Gave it a nice frame and put it up on the wall. That was maybe seven years ago.