[Music]
the art market is crazy
okay so many people in the art world
love to subscribe to the idea that
everything is all about
art and only about going to exhibitions
and enjoying the work
being surrounded by the culture and the
visual storytelling and for many people
it is
it's why i fell in love with art it's
while i'm still in love with it but for
others
it's a speculative market it's playing
the addicting game of winning at
auction of getting the pieces that
achieves you the most amount of clout
the idea of buying and selling or buying
a piece camouflaged as philanthropy but
truly used as a write-off
there are polarities in the art world
specifically in the auction sector
one being the buying and the seller both
winning in many cases
but the artist never gets a piece of the
pie i will argue
that the beautiful part about art is
being able to indulge and connect
being able to collect art i'm not solely
saying other portions of the art world
are vicious and political in a bad way
i'm saying as you take a career in art
on any level
or seek to understand it on any level
make sure you have a rounded perspective
of understanding
so that you don't go into it thinking
everyone thinks it's just about the art
and there are no other complexities
within that market if you guys
watched my art market explained you knew
this was coming this is art auctions
explained what's going on y'all
it's mariah elise this is frame and
today we're getting into a deep
we're talking about art auctions and if
you've been around and i've added value
to you guys and your perspective and
knowledge so far
let's connect subscribe to my channel
leave a comment and let me know what
you've gained let's build on one another
especially navigating in this art world
so the art world gets really complex
it's not always a bad thing i just want
us to understand it
now most of us know the market in itself
is a 68 billion dollar market
now i know that sounds like a ton but
let's put a few things into perspective
entertainment is a 684 billion dollar
industry
so on the scale of things is art such a
big market
here's a difference the art market is
not regulated
there is very little transparency so the
large question that arises is
is it really worth more or less than
what we can imagine
besides the irregulation let's first
talk about what the secondary market
actually is
so the secondary market is when the work
is sold for the second time
everything that goes to the major
auction houses has provenance
meaning they've had previous owners the
providence can either raise
the value of the work or lower the value
of the work depending on who
owned it over its history or what
institutions
exhibited or had it for loan now we can
go deep into what gives art its value at
auction but first i want to get into the
nitty-gritty of the major players of the
auction process we have the seller
the buyer and of course the house now
the seller begins the entire process
they need to consider quite a few things
the seller's premium they're able to
negotiate which is basically how much
the auction house is going to charge
them for actually selling the piece
how well that auction house is known for
selling that particular type of piece
if they're able and willing to travel
that piece to see
different collectors and what type of
audience that auction house has
one of the most important considerations
is will the auction house give them a
guarantee
now here's my breakdown of a guarantee
it's when the auction house tells the
seller
whether this p sells or not we're still
going to offer you
a hundred thousand dollars that leaves
the seller in a really good place
but you may be wondering where does that
leave the auction house
the auction in return sells the
guarantee to a third-party company
that then offers them a guarantee you
also may be wondering
why they may do this well if the piece
that sells for over the estimate the
third party that offered the guarantee
has probably worked out a percentage
they will obtain for even
assuming the risk if it didn't sell for
those of you guys who don't understand
what an estimate is
is two numbers a low number and a high
number
which is a range of what experts would
assume the piece should sell for when
the seller decides which auction house
is a good fit
they move forward now we have the
perspective of the buyer
now as we've said before most of the art
if not
all that sold at auction has some type
of provenance
meaning it has been owned by a previous
owner when the auction releases the
catalog which is the information
about the lies for sales such as the art
of the maker
the detailed description of the object
the year of its creation
is provident the major exhibition that
hasn't been appeared and the
publications which
has been documented it's very important
that as a buyer
you do your own research do your own
research as far as you can about that
specific piece
although most major auction houses are
reputable still do your own research
find out the specifics of that piece
yourself because once you click
bid or you raise that paddle you're in
the game
okay make sure the work that you're
interested in
is authenticated meaning that it has
proven to be real
sometimes that is hard for contemporary
work and that's okay still find out as
much as you can
make sure that as you buy it or before
you buy it and win it
you know everything that there is to
know about that piece buyers
also need to be aware of auction
etiquette whether you're bidding online
in person or by the phone keep in mind
that there is typically a live auction
going on
and the bidder has a right to skip your
bid for instance if the bidding is ten
thousand dollars
assume the next bid will be 15. if you
don't want to go all the way and you bid
12
your bid may not be acknowledged because
it slows down the auction
now this can happen on a smaller scale
first bid's 100
assumption next bit is 200 not 150 but
sometimes the cut bid
is accepted with that being said don't
be afraid to hop into your first auction
just be prepared
take time beforehand to study the art
know a bit about the market and try not
to just engulf yourself in winning the
bid
engage on all levels guys go to the
galleries
visit the museums visit the artist
studios if you can
listen to podcasts and that's why i like
websites like artsy
because they give you the ability to
engage on all levels from the auctions
to buying the piece individually from
galleries from just viewing the artist
profile so you can become familiar with
their artist
all of those things are extremely
important take your time
with yourself and with the art that you
love the last thing i have for the buyer
is to understand terminology and perhaps
one day i'll dedicate an entire video to
that
but what i want to point out about
estimates is the more information you
know
the more you'll be able to determine
yourself if they're priced appropriately
auction houses typically put a lot of
time into estimates but know the market
yourself and buy with your heart
and with your head a lot of people say
only bye with your heart but i say bye
with both
now by this time somebody's wondering
what about the artists
and here's the part that truly bothers
me because in all honesty i have no
problem competing in auction
there's nothing about the artists to
answer the question nothing about the
artist they get nothing
if they're living they get nothing if
they're dead their estate gets nothing
not monetarily at least sometimes the
auction market can really mess up the
primary market for contemporary artists
that are living
is so speculative that if there were
goals to auction and eventually their
actions prices goes down
does that devalue the primary market
does that devalue the work of the artist
what if it goes up does that increase
the value we would like to think so now
here's a scenario a contemporary artist
is selling a work by a gallery for five
thousand dollars
they give you an estimate of four to
seven thousand dollars in the auction
a little bit below the primary market
and a little bit above the competition
is flaming
the paddles are going up and they
finally get out above the high estimate
and it sells for nine thousand the
seller gets their money the house gets
their premium but the artist still gets
nothing because they no longer own the
piece what should the gallery do
i would say the gallery's role is to
protect the artists so what they would
likely do
is keep it the same and gradually raise
it over time
and watch the market because the auction
market is a little bit too
tricky and too speculative something
tells me that this might change in the
future
and the artist will at some point end up
profiting from the auction market
i would only hope so and that's
something that we have to wait on
that's my very last part the house's
perspective
now i'm not going to dive too deep into
this because you guys have already
typically learned about the house
from learning about the buyer and the
seller's perspective
but keep in mind the house does all of
the initial work they source the piece
they accept or decline the seller they
curate the auctions
meaning the auctions carry some type of
thing and if they're able they travel to
pieces we look to the auction house to
have a really good collector's base we
want them to reach a pretty good
sell-through rate
we want them to either be selling the
work for above or within the estimate
never below the estimate never below the
yes now the way that it can't even sell
below is if the piece doesn't have a
reserve
meaning the piece may have an estimate
between one and three thousand
but you're the only bidder and you bid a
hundred dollars
because there's no reserve you're gonna
get that piece for a hundred dollars
even if there are multiple bidders you
bid the highest bid is gonna win if it's
below a thousand there's a lot that goes
into it and i know
i'm not covering everything but i wanted
to give you guys a brief and a spill
that was going to last between 12 and 15
minutes
that didn't overwhelm you this is
nothing more than an introduction to the
seller
the buyer and the auction market
perspective there's definitely so much
more that can be said
but that's my spiel without keeping you
guys for way
too long so i hope i've added some value
into your life
thumbs me up comment if you guys are in
and you know the word
subscribe if you vibe until next time
guys
i'm mariah elise this is frame and i'm
out
bye guys