O gustach się dyskutuje

Odsiewanie ziarna od plew – jak wybierać wartościowe prace na aukcjach młodej sztuki?

Many false beliefs have arisen about the auction of young art. The first is that they spoil the market by lowering the prices of artists' works. It is worth referring to this view. There are many, really many artists who want to break into the market and sell their works. There are much fewer collectors and art lovers who want to buy their works, but incomparably more than 10 years ago, when the youth auction project was launched on the Polish market. These auctions "did a good job" and are still doing it. They became interested in art as a tangible item that can be bought, by masses of recipients who previously had empty walls in their homes or serially produced decorations purchased in building and interior design stores. 

Have new customers appeared at the auctions because their starting price is low? This is usually not the main cause. What is more important for them is an understandable auction situation, the pleasure of buying in this way and the possibility, with little financial risk, to find out what they like and what jobs they want to live with. They are often wealthy people who, with time, when they gain confidence in the art world about their preferences and available offer, enter the collector's world, buy regularly, build corporate and private collections, buy paintings for gifts and - very importantly, go to museums and gallery.

Inne stereotypy dotyczące aukcji młodej sztuki to dwa przeciwstawne, skrajne mniemania. Jedno mówi o tym, że na takich aukcjach nie ma sztuki wartościowej, a wystawiają tam tylko twórcy seryjnie malujący pod publiczkę. Zwolennicy drugiego poglądu w każdej nabytej na aukcji pracy upatrują arcydzieła, a w jej autorze drugiego Wilhelma Sasnala. Prawda, jak zawsze, leży pośrodku.

So how to choose works from the auctions of young art in order to buy works of artistic value today, as well as investing in the future?

Po pierwsze trzeba powiedzieć sobie brutalną prawdę. To popyt kształtuje podaż, a nie odwrotnie. Na aukcjach młodej sztuki dużo jest prac dekoracyjnych, często ocierających się o kicz, bo na takie dzieła jest popyt, czyli takimi pracami interesują się klienci. Jesteśmy społeczeństwem młodej, pierwszopokoleniowej inteligencji. W niewielu naszych domach były obszerne księgozbiory, o obrazach nie wspominając. Nie mamy zazwyczaj wyrobionego gustu. Czy to problem? Nie. To wyzwanie, z którym możemy się uporać i możemy zrobić to szybko. Wierzę, że kolejne pokolenia nie będą już onieśmielone sztuką i środowiskiem galeryjnym. Na razie większość z nas kupuje na aukcjach i ćwiczy swój gust. Gust ćwiczyć trzeba, bo każdy go ma, tylko jedni lepszy, drudzy gorszy. To jak z pogodą, która jest zawsze, tylko czasami deszczowa. Ćwiczenie gustu jest też ważne, ponieważ pierwszym kryterium zakupów na aukcji jest kupować to, co nam się podoba. Śmiało i bez lęku. Jeśli za kilka lat uznamy, że nie były to wybory trafione, to po prostu te prace sprzedamy.

Private collections are not a museum collection, in which once purchased work remains for eternity. Privately, we can sell what we no longer like, or the work, the author of which disappointed us and did not make a career. What are our risks? Little. We buy works at young art auctions for low amounts - usually PLN 2-5 thousand. Of course, for many people, 2 thousand. that's a lot. However, this is not an amount that will shake our budget for a long time. And the risk of comments from the environment? Neither, because we buy the art and they don't. 

So we primarily buy what we like. However, we usually like a lot of work. How to choose those that will gain value in the future and their authors promise to make careers?

Najważniejsza rzecz to czas

I know that we always have too little of it, but it is worth investing a little bit in developing a passion for collectors. When I am asked what amount of money can I start investing in art, my answer is 2-3 hours a week. And this is not a slip of the tongue. It is impossible to cultivate passion effectively without practicing it. We will not get fit as a result of purchasing a gym membership, we have to go to it regularly. 

The first, mandatory element of a collector's "gym" are auction quotations. Of course, it's not good when we rely only on them, but they are a kind of primer. If we are a person arranging an apartment who has a specific project in mind, consisting in the purchase of 3 paintings - for a bedroom, hall and living room, then we do not need knowledge about auction quotations. We will buy the works we like, and the format, theme and colors match the nature of our apartment. However, if we want to buy something that will be valuable, because we want to collect, invest or ... we do not know what we want, but art attracts us, then quotes are obligatory. 

Access to auction quotations from the beginning of the auction market in Poland has been published by the Artinfo.pl portal. This is a paid access. We will only see the results of the last month's auctions free of charge. However, the subscription is not high, and it will be an investment that will pay off.

What conclusions should we draw from the analysis of auction quotations and what should we pay attention to?

1. Przede wszystkim sprawdzamy, czy prace autora są spójne stylistycznie. Na przykładzie kolejnych wystawianych obrazów możemy zobaczyć, czy przypadkiem nie jest tak, że artysta w styczniu był abstrakcjonistą, aby w marcu zostać realistą, a w czerwcu malować obrazy surrealistyczne. Taki brak spójności oznacza brak własnego stylu i próbę komercyjnego szukania tematów, które będą się dobrze sprzedawać. Artysta tworzy, bo ma coś do powiedzenia, ma potrzebę analizy konkretnych tematów i wartości malarskich. Jeśli stylistycznie skacze z kwiatka na kwiatek to oznacza, że jego sztuka nie powstaje z potrzeb intelektualnych, a z wyrachowania.

2. Drugą kwestią, jaką sprawdzamy to czy prace artysty wystawiane na aukcjach mają ten sam poziom, co inne jego dzieła dostępne w galeriach, czy na jego stronie internetowej. Jeśli prace aukcyjne są słabsze, starsze, mniejsze, sprawiają wyraźnie wprawek akademickich, to też informacja, aby w takiego artystę nie inwestować, bo nie traktuje on poważnie ani kolekcjonerów, ani swojej kariery. Słabe prace powinny zostać w pracowni, nadają się doskonale do przemalowania. Aukcja to nie bazarek, na którym wystawiamy cokolwiek, aby dorobić. 

3. Trzecia rzecz to sprawdzić, jak często autor wystawia na aukcjach. Jeśli w jednym miesiącu znajdziemy jego prace w 6-10 domach aukcyjnych to znaczy, że autor maluje „na akord”, na potrzeby aukcji, nie zastanawiając się i nie analizując swojej twórczości. Ponadto będzie to wskazówka, że prace są tworzone szybko, zazwyczaj niestarannie. Trzecia informacja, to fakt, że autor najprawdopodobniej nie buduje swojej kariery w oparciu o wystawy, konkursy i przeglądy, bo wystawiając tyle na aukcjach nie byłby w stanie przygotowywać jednocześnie ciekawych zestawów prac z przeznaczeniem na ekspozycje. Z jednej strony napisałam, że styl artysty powinien być spójny. To fakt. Autor jednak nie powinien popadać w schematyzm. Jeśli na aukcjach wystawia dużo, a widzimy że jego prace są do siebie bardzo podobne, że nie chodzi tu o spójność stylistyczną, a o mocno mechaniczne powielanie tego samego motywu, który opanował, albo który dobrze się sprzedaje, to też sygnał, że nie warto kupować jego prac.

4. W notowaniach aukcyjnych zwracajmy też uwagę na cenę wywoławczą. W wielu domach aukcyjnych jest ona równa i wynosi obecnie 1000 zł. Jednak jeśli autor sprzedaje też swoje prace od 500 zł albo też jest już osobą w zaawansowanym wieku i o znacznym dorobku twórczym, a mimo to decyduje się na udział w aukcjach młodej sztuki (w przeciwieństwie do aukcji dla artystów średniego pokolenia o wyższych cenach wywoławczych np. Aukcja Sztuki Dzisiejszej) to znaczy, że jest w finansowej desperacji. Nie wróży to dobrze jego sztuce, a my jeśli chcemy kupować prace z myślą inwestycyjną, na pewno nie powinniśmy sięgać po dzieła takich artystów. 

Another important element is the analysis of the artist's biographical note.

Artinfo.pl publishes biographical notes at auction quotes. They are not very up-to-date, because artinfo.pl publishes them free of charge, hence auction houses, galleries and artists themselves should take care of updating them, and they usually do not. Therefore, the notes on artinfo.pl should be confronted with the results of Google searches. From the artist's biographical note, we mainly learn about his education, participation in collective and individual exhibitions, participation and awards in competitions, as well as scholarships and publications. Additional information concerns the presence of his works in collections, especially in public ones. 

Does the lack of a specific artistic education disqualify an artist? Not always, but usually. His work shows the workshop shortcomings at first glance. It may not be so obvious when we watch the reproduction, but it is live. 

Remember that an artist is a person of a certain age. Therefore, we have different requirements for a 4th year student at the Academy of Fine Arts and different requirements for a 35-year-old student. Other requirements regarding the number of exhibitions, competitions and publications. If an artist is already "late young" before 40, and there are no interesting facts in his biographical note, then you should refrain from purchasing his works, unless you really like them. 

Biographical notes should be read critically. The exhibition at the Cultural Center in Jantar has a different weight than at the Bielska BWA Gallery. The competition for the Work of the Year of Przemyśl Land (there is no such competition, this is an example name) is less important than the prestigious Bielska Jesień competition. When an artist writes that his works are in numerous public and private collections, it usually means nothing more than that he has sold the works to several private buyers. We will look at the note in which all national museums in Poland are mentioned by name. 

The above information, contained in the biographical note, is not always legible for us in interpretation. At the beginning, we do not know which gallery is prestigious, which competition counts, and whether the publications have the weight of a comment from a valued critic, or are a copy-and-paste effect of a local newspaper journalist. Here we come to the topic of advisers.

Kupując dzieła sztuki powinniśmy korzystać z wiedzy doradców.

Of course, they also need to be approached critically. Commission-paid auction house workers will try to squeeze into us every work that we stop at while watching the pre-auction exhibition, even if we paused at the painting with disgust. Advisors must be chosen consciously, from among such gallerists or marchands who really want to help us. In Xanadu, I assume that if the client crossed the threshold of the gallery (no matter if he did it physically, by phone or asked for a videoconference), he had already spent money with me. I can not worry about that, so our conversation is only about what to spend the money on. Not only for reasons of ethics and honesty, but also for my own pleasure and satisfaction, I want to sell good art to my clients. I advise them as best I can, and I often advise against them. 

However, even if we are not sure whether the marchand has clear intentions in the conversation with us, we can direct this communication in such a way as to obtain valuable, helpful information. Let's not ask what to buy, what to invest in, what the marchand likes. Let's ask about specific works and their authors. How often they exhibit, what school they graduated from, whether other collectors are interested in them, whether the auction house plans to establish closer cooperation with such an artist, which determines that, according to the marchand, the work of a given artist is valuable and which means that it is considered valuable by itself creator. Marchand, who only wants to trick us into buying a painting, will "crash" with such questions, it will not sound credible.

Remember that marchandzi have extensive behind-the-scenes knowledge. They know whether the artist has a chance to make a career or not. They observe the artist's behavior, his determination to be in art, his attitude. It's matter. The point is that we should buy the works of artists who will develop, and not leave their profession or emigrate in three years. We want to find artists who, apart from attending auctions, also work on exhibitions, send their works to competitions, present themselves skillfully on the Internet and are represented by the gallery. This information is not available on artinfo.pl. It is rather the knowledge that we learn from the conversation with the gallerist or marchand. It will allow us to select interesting works for the collection, which will become more expensive with time.

Of course, we don't always hit the 100 % right. As the name suggests, young artists exhibit at young art auctions. They can do anything with their lives. They can achieve a lot and miss their chances. However, if our purchases are half-hit, then in the area of young art we are winners, both as collectors and as investors. We will sell the remaining 50%s without profit, but if we want to do it not within a year, but within five years, then in a good auction house we should also sell without major loss. Unless we were buying for amounts that are significantly above the average auction market listing for a particular artist's work. Then even the best auction house will not help us get our money back.

Na koniec ważna uwaga

Auction quotes show us how much an artist's works sell on average. It is good if prices tend to increase over time. We should always look at the quotations as a median - that is, we should reject extreme values. When spending money, pay attention to the estimates published by the auction house - this is important information about the real value of works on the auction day. Let's not overpay, but also if we see that the chosen work is great and the artist is promising, don't be afraid to spend more. In the future, the amount paid by us will build the calculations of subsequent estimates and the limits that new collectors will assume when buying. This will increase the price of the works of the artist whose work we have bought.

- Agnieszka Gniotek

Jeśli chcielibyście  zgłębić jeszcze temat, zachęcam do zapoznania się z article about buying at auctions opublikowanym w magazynie “Czas na wnętrze” czy, jeśli wolą Państwo posłuchać, z an interview about Investing in Art conducted by Anna Smolińska.

Polecam również bardzo poprzedni article published on our website dedicated to auction buying strategies.