Art Advisers Roundtable

Photo by Michael Edwards

Site: Louise Blouin Media headquarters, New York City

Key Advice
for Collecting in These Uncertain Times

Mary Hoeveler

“There are opportunities in virtually every collecting field right now. If you want to play it safe, concentrate on established secondary-market artists, negotiate well, and take a long-term view.”

Abigail Asher

“Careful and selective buying of 20th- and 21st-century masterpieces is what I would focus on. That’s the area people felt priced out of in the past few years. This is actually an exciting time.”

Stefano Basilico

“Collectors should be selective and careful in their choices. Condition becomes paramount, especially if it’s an editioned work. Look at each piece with a jaundiced eye. It’s not worth a risk.”

Allan Schwartzman

“Look for undervalued areas in every price range. These are times when people crave art of profound beauty or meaning. The art that means the most holds its value— spiritually and financially.”

Richard Serra Yayoi Kusama Hans Hofmann Lucio Fontana Ad Reinhardt Jean Arp Hans Hofmann Piero Manzoni

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ABIGAIL ASHER: It was fair overkill, and the quality suffered. There’s a limit to how many great secondary-market things any dealer can get during the year.

MARY HOEVELER: From a professional standpoint, my sense was always that fairs were a bit of a farce, because you were sent jpegs weeks before, and many of the deals were done before the fair.

ABIGAIL ASHER: Our job is to filter that for clients so that they don’t have to walk into a fair and be overwhelmed. The pressure is taken off them.

STEFANO BASILICO: It’s not an ideal way to look at art. A spectacular fair booth doesn’t compare to a good exhibition.

MARY HOEVELER: My clients actually love fairs. I am much less enamored of them because I feel like everything is degraded — it just looks like so much merchandise. You have no context in which to make assessments of new work.

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: Fairs are dangerous for developing collectors. It’s like when you go on vacation and you have a certain budget you are prepared to spend, and then you spend money you wouldn’t spend otherwise. For me, the fairs are useful. Every year at Basel I see something that I didn’t know to look for. And it’s a great opportunity to interact with a wide range of dealers.

SARAH DOUGLAS: What changes did you observe in Miami this time?

ABIGAIL ASHER: People were more interested in looking at art than worrying about the silly social things. The mood was strange.

MARY HOEVELER: It felt more like a cultural event than a marketplace. People were looking more than buying.

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: It was depressing. I saw a lot of younger galleries that made a big effort and sold nothing.

STEFANO BASILICO: I think there is a difference between art-fair art and exhibition art. Art-fair art is sort of filler.

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: There’s a fallacy that people discover artists at fairs. The only time I’ve discovered an artist at a fair is when a dealer is taking me by the hand and saying, "Here’s an interesting artist. I’d like to show you her work." Which makes it a great opportunity for collectors who are just getting grounded. How many people walk into Pace and ask a price and have Arne Glimcher come out and tell them?

MARY HOEVELER: But you get saturated after one aisle. That’s the other thing that puzzles me about people’s passion for art fairs. They’re physically, mentally, intellectually exhausting.

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: I have a rule for fairs. For the first few hours, I run around, engage in as few conversations as possible. If I see something for a client, I put it on hold. To have that clarity of scanning at the beginning is essential.

TONY FREUND: Do you think the Art Basel Miami Beach phenomenon will continue in the current economy?

STEFANO BASILICO: Yes. The 110 other fairs next to it, I don’t think so.

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: It’s a totally unnecessary fair. Somehow Basel underattended is an opportunity, whereas Miami underattended is depressing.

LOOKING FORWARD

SARAH DOUGLAS: What do you predict will happen in the art market over the next several months?

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: There will be a process of natural selection. The market will sacrifice a certain number of artists and galleries. What will result is a greater preservation of prices for a large number of artists.

STEFANO BASILICO: Or everything could more or less stop for a period of time, like in the ’90s. The market is behaving reasonably at the moment. But that’s not a guarantee that it will continue to do so.

ABIGAIL ASHER: There’s going to be a shift toward seeking out top-quality, rare things.

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: Certain price levels will be particularly vulnerable. The low-seven-figure range is problematic at this point. And the upper level — the $40 million, $60 million, $80 million range — seems to have taken a vacation.

MARY HOEVELER: All the conventional wisdom was defied in the past market. I hope we are returning to some semblance of rationality in terms of understanding value.

SARAH DOUGLAS: How do you provide context for prices and value for your clients right now?