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Tips for the new to art: When I am working with clients who are just starting to explore the art world, I encourage them to go beyond “I like” or “I don’t like.” Think about why a piece of art is moving or disturbing, beautiful or ugly, thought-provoking or boring. Identifying and expressing a thought around a piece of art helps you engage with the work and hone your taste. This takes practice through seeing many different types of work. One helpful way to further identify the “why” is to attend a fair with a friend: you will quickly find through conversation that tastes differ and explaining to a companion why something is resonating for you leads to satisfying discoveries of art’s truly personal nature. To get you started, below are a couple areas to think about when pin-pointing the reason behind the “like” v. “don’t like” of an artwork. Subject matter Story the artist is conveying Color palette Medium (e.g., photography vs painting vs sculpture etc.) Feeling you have when looking at the work (happy, sad, calm, energized etc.) Process of making the work Craftsmanship
Tips for the experienced collector: When working with clients who already have a collection of work and have a defined taste in art, I encourage them to push beyond the work to which they are typically drawn. Maybe this means looking at different mediums, subject matters, or time periods. For example, if they have a collection of vintage black and white photography, perhaps they explore vintage color photography; maybe they forgo the silver gelatin print presentation for the daguerreotype display; if they have been collecting pioneering photographers like Ansel Adams (landscape photography), Henri Cartier-Bresson (street photography), or Bernd and Hilla Becher (architectural photography and “typology”), perhaps they learn about contemporary photographers pushing the boundaries of their artistic predecessors (see below).
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