The Art Market Smashing Records: You Might Smash A Few Too

  Oh I most definitely appreciate all of the patrons of the world who buy, and therefore support, the world's art. Unfortunately the middle class is rapidly diminishing, and there is a wider gulf between the rich and the poor every day. Wealthy people obviously need culture in their lives, but so does everyone else. How do hundred-aires get into the buying original art game?

  I don't know much about markets, investments, or business in general, but art is hot right now. 

According to an article from the Associated Press viewed here, art sales are up even in a more than shaky economy- in fact records have been broken in succession within the last few weeks. 

Edvard Munch's The Scream

  Pictured above: the late Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's The Scream tipped the first domino with a record sale at auction of almost $120 million on May 2nd of this year. Go Norwegian artists! YEAH!

  The second domino to fall shortly after The Scream was Russian artist Mark Rothko's abstract expressionist piece titled Orange Red and Yellow. The purchase of this minimalist masterwork set the new record for contemporary art auctions at just shy of $87 million on May 8th. Russian artists stand up!!!

Mark Rothko's Orange Red And Yellow 

  A slew of other high value art purchases continued and may still be running for a while. The a-fore mentioned article by the Associated Press reports that the art sales business is booming right now while almost everything else struggles to reach restoration. In the same report linked above Nicolai Frahm of Frahm Ltd in London is quoted as saying, "People feel very safe about buying art. You have a huge amount of new buyers coming to the market. If you have money, you want to be a part of buying art. People almost are considered imbeciles if they have money and they're not buying."


  I'm glad the wealthy are buying art at a healthy rate right now, but they shouldn't be the only ones able to make this kind of investment- right? Believe me, they don't have to be the only ones. How did the previous owner of The Scream manage to own that iconic piece? He was a patron of Munch's. That's right, they were neighbors and the gentleman liked Edvard's work so he became a patron of his art. Do you have friends that create art? If so, and you like it, maybe you should buy some. If you can't afford to spend even a few hundred dollars on original art (I know I can't) you might be able to spend $5 to $20 on an ACEO. Click On This to sort through many many artists auctioning their original miniature art on Ebay.com. Find one two or three artists you like and bid a few dollars on some original pieces. If you're not impressed with the miniature card stock format just remember that The Scream up there was created on cardboard. You never know if you might be collecting the work of the next top selling artist- and it's very affordable I might add. Go ahead, get into the art buying game. Support a budding artist and allow their work to bless your home and your collection. I promise you'll enjoy it immensely.