Finding good contemporary art and artists... : eBay Guides

If you are thinking about buying contemporary art through eBay then have a quick read of this... it may save you from making some of the mistakes I made when I started out.

Buying from a self representing artist...

This, in my opinion is the most exciting way of buying art.

• Beware, not all sellers describing themselves as, or listing in self representing categories are being 100% truthful. Some are simply selling other people's rubbish.
• There are well known artists selling direct on eBay... but they don't shout about it. Galleries get annoyed at this practice and discourage their artists from doing this. It under cuts the galleries. (normally by as much as 60% although 90% is not unheard of!) You won't find them selling under their real name, and often they are experimental pieces, or of a slightly different genre to their gallery work.
• Check the volume of work produced by an artist - you might not want to buy something from someone describing themself as a self representing artist when they have a large number of works for sale at the one time. If they have a really high turnover of work this is either because they are actually selling cheaply produced Far East pieces or are simply painting really fast and perhaps with little consideration or care over their work.
• If you like what an artist is producing you can always go back to them and ask if they can do something else for you later. But a lot don't like to work to commissions - they are a weird lot artists!

Trying it on...

A small number of self representing artists will set their prices very high - if a bidder shows interest they will make a seemingly good offer to sell - but often way above the going rate for a non-established artist. Watch out for this as you could be buying rubbish at a high price.

Buying as an investment...

The simplest thing I could say here is "don't" there is absolutely no guarantee that something you buy will make you money. You can however try to turn a profit for fun and there are several things to look out for when doing this.

• You can try to buy established, listed or well known artists - simply by searching on their name. This will yeild results, but many others will be doing exactly the same as you. When an artist is listed by name then there is seldom a bargain to be had simply because of the interest generated. In addition there is also all the risk that goes along with it. Condition of the work, is it genuine? etc etc.
• You will almost always be able to buy a listed / known artist at around 50% of a typical gallery price. Beware, this does not mean you'll be able to sell it at a profit. Many galleries will have work for many years before it is sold - often pieces are disposed of by selling to gallery staff or simply given away with larger purchases to clinch a deal. Not everything will achieve the gallery price - therefore it is often not worth what the gallery is trying to sell it at.
• Galleries (especially the ones we love to hate, DeMontfort, Washington Green / Castle plus all the branches or concession galleries they have dotted around department stores) will price original artwork by plucking a figure out of the air. It is very frequently the case that an artist they represent will eventually be dropped and go back to knocking out originals at a fraction of the price they were being sold at when they were signed to a gallery.
• Major publishers (the ones mentioned above especially) will hoard original works to artificially sustain a high market price - demand outweighing supply.
• Quite often a failing artist's work will simply be sold onto publisher's or gallery staff at ridiculously low prices. This can tumble the value of an artists work. But it can also mean bargains on eBay when they resell.
• Getting a work authenticated is near impossible. If you think you have just bought a Picasso on eBay and want to get it authenticated then don't bother trying. Even if it is the real thing it will be near impossible to get enough experts to agree and even if you did the cost of doing this is often prohibitive and more than what the work is worth. This is true of almost all really well known artists, there is a better chance with marginal artists.

Buying because you like it...

This is the only way to guarantee sucess. If all else fails you can hang it on your wall.

Artists need to make a living...

So with this in mind - be as generous as you can with genuine artists who produce work you like- otherwise they may stop painting.

Shipping...

Buy from the USA and import to the UK. This is a sure way at the moment, of getting a keen price. ($2 to the £1 at the moment)

• Shipping art is inexpensive, so long as you don't insure. You will rarely find customs checking art work - they will just go off the sum insured (if at all!)
• Inland shipping is even more economical.
• Large format canvas & paper works can ship in PVC drain pipes if valuable (£1,000 plus) ship in cardboard tube if inexpensive.
• Shipping an item that is framed is expensive due to the bulk and weight. Consider the value of the frame and whether it is worth paying to ship. If it is not to your taste or too bulky, ask the vendor to have it removed from the frame and taken off its stretchers. This way it can normally be rolled. If the vendor doesn't know what they are doing, or is not confident doing this themselves, ask them to take it to a gallery or framer and they will do this for very little, if any, charge.

Far-East and Eastern European work

There are some very convincing looking oils, watercolors and acrylic works being touted around that have originated in the East. These can be very good value, but are often prints that have been painted over or are straight forward copies, done in high volumes and with little depth. These artists are very skilled but there are concerns over unethical employment practices with children or very low low paid workers employed in art production lines. Consider whether you want to support this practice before buying.

Background Reading

OK - this is just for fun really, but it gives you a good idea what some people have been getting up to when selling art works. I recommend this book on two levels, for entertainment and also for an insight to art forgery and the mind games played when some unscrupilous sellers list their "unknow artist" pieces on eBay.

The book is by Kenneth Walton and is titled "Fake Forgery Lies, and eBay" - it reached a rather greater level of acclaim in the US than in the UK and Kenneth Walton certainly reached a level of notoriety but remains unknown to most of us in the UK.

The book follows a few years in the life of a US solicitor who falls into an addictive habbit of eBay selling. At first just turning junk shop buys into a profit and then gradually slipping into fake seller IDs to place shill bids and mis-representing pieces with fake history to all-out deception and forgery.

At the time of Walton's exploits; eBay in the US had reached a level of market saturation similar to that now seen in the UK - however, the business model and systems were somewhat behind the present level of maturity. Consequently some of the exploits will remain in the annals of history as the eBay systems have addressed some of the security issues. Some practices described in the book, however, remain a very relevant and real threat to the legitimate eBay community.

To find this book, search on either "Kenneth Walton" or "Fake forgery lies" - there are normally one or two copies for sale at any one time in the UK. A lot more if you are prepared to get it from the US.