Galleries and Collectors - the lay of the land

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.
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.
