How To Become a Professional Stalker…Aka Practical Tips For Researching Artists And Prices

Stalking is such a strong word. I prefer “intense research of an individual.”

“Google is my best friend and my worst enemy. It’s fabulous for research, but then it becomes addictive. I’ll have a character eating an orange, and next thing I’m Googling types of oranges, I’m visiting chat rooms about oranges, I’m learning the history of the orange.” ~ Liane Moriarty

Just like this busy orange, by the time you are done researching art and artists, you will learn all kinds of interesting and useful information. Sure, it’ll feel like you’ve become a crazy stalker creep, checking out Facebook pages and Instagram accounts, but at the end of it all, you will have more confidence to dive in and make that purchase (and probably know the answer to ‘boxers or briefs?’).

I’m So Confused…

The relationship between art and the art market has so often been an illogical, unpredictable and plain old confusing one. Some artists have seemingly always sold at high prices — so entrenched is their position in the art-historical canon — and will presumably continue to do so. Others may see their prices wax and wane. Then there are those who may have little real market for their work at all.

Amid all of this, you, the budding art collector, may struggle to make sense of the artists to go for from an investment prospective, the ones to avoid and those who might be worth a gamble purchase.

With this in mind, listed below are our 8 tips for researching artists and the prices they typically command.

1. Whatcha Doing?

Follow Artists’ Career Trajectories

If there is a particular artist whose work you already own or have your eye on, this could be as simple a process as Googling them every now and then and searching for recent references in the news, or updates to their online artist’s CV. What kind of exhibitions have they shown at lately? Is there evidence of solo shows? Have they been nominated for major prizes or residencies?

2. Be A Bookworm

Read Art Magazines and Newspapers

Sure, some of them might be stuffed with impenetrable ‘art jargon’, but they also provide fine pointers as to the artists who are ‘hot’ in the here and now…