The Art Of The Possible
Happy 2020 Addictees! We hope it’s off to a cracking start.
Welcome to our first blog of the decade.
While sipping our third cup of coffee and wondering whether or not a fourth one might actually kill us, an email arrives. “Ping! It’s so fluffy!” — this may or may not be the email alert sound set for one of us. Moving on… It’s a message from pop artist Whatshisname which talks about emerging artists. We look at each other with caffeine-induced crazy eyes and decide we too should talk about emerging artists…because we have a few in our tribe and we don’t think Whatshisname will mind us stealing (ahem) taking “inspiration” from his blog idea.
So, what is an emerging artist? Well, according to Artsy:
“…young artists whose careers are on the rise. In addition to younger artists and newer works, the category also includes artists who are relatively under-recognized but for the most part considered on the path to critical and/or market acceptance. While characteristically championed by smaller galleries [like us!] and art fairs focused on younger artists, larger galleries and institutions regularly focus their energy on so-called emerging artists to define new styles and careers.”
So why do you need one — or a few — in your life?
It’s a great way to start an art collection or diversify an existing portfolio…
What do you get when you cross a postal worker from Harlem with a librarian? Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, the owners of “one of the most important post-1960s art collections in the United States”.
The couple used Dorothy’s income to take care of living expenses while they used Herb’s income, which peaked at USD $23,000 annually, for art. They only chose pieces they personally liked and could carry home on the subway or in a taxi.
“One of their first acquisitions was a Sol LeWitt sculpture. It also happened to be LeWitt’s first sale. LeWitt delivered the sculpture to the Vogels’ apartment with Robert Mangold, and thus began a lifelong web of friendships that would influence the Vogel Collection and shed light upon many yet emerging artists.” Source: Vice.com
The Vogel Collection combined both established artists and many artists at their humble beginnings. The collection included over 4,000 works of art collected over a 45-year period. The works were stored in their one-bedroom apartment (having lived in a one bedroom apartment in NYC, where guests would sleep on a blow-up mattress under our dining table, this is no mean feat!).
Art from an emerging artist tends to be more affordable (remember, even Banksy was an emerging artist once upon a time)…
…and, buying works from an emerging artist can also become the best investment you’ll ever make.
This is the story of a girl — with a balloon.
A perfect, unicorns-are-real example is Banksy — specifically his “Girl and Balloon”/”Girl with Balloon”. She’s been on the streets; she’s been shredded; she’s tattooed on Justin Bieber; she’s been voted as the UK’s number one favourite artwork — you get the idea.
There have been a few sets of limited edition prints produced, however for the sake of making our words limited edition too, let’s focus on the set published in 2004. There were 150 signed prints and 600 unsigned prints of the 66 x 50cm artwork. The signed version sold for GBP £150 on release. In 2015, one of the signed prints sold for £56,250. The price has only gone up since.
Keeping it real here — not every artist is going to become a Banksy or a Kusama or a Warhol but the potential is there and isn’t that what you’re investing in?
Be among the first to discover an artist…
Alexander Iolas, gallerist and collector, led a colourful and eventful life. At 17 he ran away from home to pursue his dream of becoming a ballet dancer. His dancing saw him tour extensively in Europe, the US and Latin America. Injury required he withdraw from ballet in 1944 and eventually he became director of the Hugo Gallery in New York City.
“It was there, in the late 1940s, when he first saw a slender man walking past his gallery with a small bag and a portfolio. One day, he decided to ask him where he was going and what he was carrying. ‘This is my lunch’, said the man who turned out to be Andy Warhol, ‘and these are my shoe designs, I work in that factory down there’. Iolas took a look at the drawings and told him that it was his last day designing shoes. The conversation resulted in Warhol’s 1952 exhibition of drawings inspired by Truman Capote’s writings.” Source: Frieze.com
You are helping artists develop their career…
Fun fact, Debbie Harry (Blondie) and her boyfriend Chris Stein bought Basquiat’s first painting for USD 200.
Basquiat went from homeless, to painting in thousand dollar Armani suits.
“I loved the fact that he chose to wear Armani. And loved even more that he painted in my suits,” Giorgio Armani says. “I design clothes to be worn, for people to live in, and he certainly did!”
Totally random fact, Madonna and Basquiat dated in 1982.
The moral of the story? The art of the possible — and maybe a rendezvous with Madonna.
Check out our family of emerging artists and remember, buy art from living artists, the dead don’t need the money!
In alphabetical order:
Give us a shout if you’d like further deets on any of our artists:
blair@addictedgallery.com or elena@addictedgallery.com
Until the next one Addictees…Ele & Blair xoxo
