Galleries and Collectors - the lay of the land

[CAP]

Here's an interesting article by NYC gallery dealer Ed Winkleman on the business side of art. Veteran collectors Joel and Zöe Dictrow discuss their approach to collecting compared with a conventional model proposed by Ed. I think the whole thing stems from a panel discussion they had at Art Basel earlier this year, but interesting to see a profile of dedicated but not mega collectors. A lot of the talk is always around the Saatchis, Pinaults, Rubells etc of collecting, buying in bulk, unloading to public collections, etc. This is a discussion with people who still buy art cautiously, because they like to live and learn from it - not because of the investment prospects.

They're retired now but they're not super rich - although rich enough to visit a lot of art fairs around the world. The problems they point to - the sheer profusion of galleries and artists - the global scale of collecting - collectors from everywhere, following art everywhere - top galleries turning into franchises and 'trapping' artists who don't sell (they keep them on their roster but don't offer them exhibitions - the artists don't want to move to a lesser gallery because that would also reflect badly on their status, so they get stuck in a sort of limbo) - reassuringly, have not disillusioned or discouraged them. They use the web for initial glimpses and updates, and they 'follow' artists for a while before collecting them.

All this makes sense to me.