Buying Art in NYC?

I'm not into art, so I wouldn't know about it. But I did visit The Met to see all the art there.

I like high and low, and would do both if I could afford the high range more. There's some excellent street art, and sometimes I just know what I want. Admittedly, most of the art I have is a result of being friends with artists for most of my adult life, so you just acquire things--presents and mementos, and such. Pretty much stay away from antiques. Not my thing, and not my budget either.

Making friends with artists and collecting their work could be the best thing of all - my grandmother dated an artist in SoHo in the 70's, got into the scene, and collected a bunch of her friends' art - now she's got a fantastic collection of modern art that went up in value as all her friends made it big. Guess she knew how to pick 'em!

Thats fantastic ajadediealist she sure had a great eye! I also like old prints and lithographs but tend to buy those in London at the Portobello Print and Map Shop on Portobello Road in Notting Hill but I believe there are similar shops in NYC in Midtown East and the East Village though I need to check them out .

The one thing about dating an artist, is they tend to talk a lot about their craft. I find certain aspects of that enlightening, while other parts are not.

I'm a sucker for prints and lithographs and good paper (I even made a list to go along with my paper fetish). When I was in art school there used to be a yearly print sale/exhibit, so printmaking students could get to sell their pieces to interested buyers. It was GREAT! You could pick up some beautiful prints for under $50, and you could always tell yourself maybe this one artist you're supporting now will make it big in the future...I find a certain satisfaction in seeing who of the young upstarts whose work I liked managed to make successful careers later on...Anyway, if you have a good eye or at least know what you want, the beauty of being in NYC is that you don't necessarily have to pay a lot for the name-brand artists in order to own beautiful works.

I wish I had more money to spend on art; I'm always seeing the products of local artists that are not only pretty great but actually affordable. The cafes and restaurants in my neighborhood tend to display the works of local artists, it works out for both parties - free decoration for the food establishments, and free advertising for the artist. There's also an awesome gallery on my block - Lumenhouse on Beaver and Park St.

Getting prints and lithographs sounds like a great idea, @uraniumfish, and one that's perhaps mildly less expensive - at least given the prices you've cited. Was this an art school in NYC?

@ajadedidealist The Gagosian Gallery at 77th and Madison is currently exhibiting Damian Hirst's End of An Era if you are interested. The show runs until March 6th..

@ajadeidealist Yes, a NYC art school, and come to think of it, all of them have such yearly student exhibits and programs, not just mine. Another point about buying art at these student shows: the students get 100% of the prices they set for their works, and at a time when they might really put a little extra cash to good use. Whereas at professional galleries you're paying about 60% or more to gallery costs.

@uptowngirl Do you guys like Damien Hirst's stuff?

@uraniumfish its bizarre to say the least and I always wonder how it fetches such high prices? who would want to put a bull's head up ? I dont really like his work or even that of Tracy Emin but its always in the news so have a cursory interest in it.

Here's a review that totally rips the show apart and calls for an "End of the Damien Hirst Era."

http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/end-damien-hirst-era

You're not the only one who has wondered this, uptowngirl, and the explanation for those prices has more to do with weird art world politics than the work itself, I reckon.

I have an art showcase happening up in CT March 27, a few artists, writers, bands/DJ and film. A few of the artists are first timers to gallery-type shows (although this is not an actual gallery show). I am interested in getting some of the city vibe up in the 'burbs - although I know its tough to get people out of the city. Any suggestions on sites/places to spread the word (aside from this forum)?

Both Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin are poor excuses for innovators.

Hirst just draws up his ideas and sends them off for someone else to make - except in the case of his recent paintings, which he did on his own, but they really show his lack of artistic charisma: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/oct/14/damien-hirst-paintings-wallace-collection

And Tracy Emin is always in the news for saying idiot things or for making provocative pieces for the sake of provocation rather than for her marvelous talents as an angry seamstress.

What about Michael Landy? He seems to have the right idea with this new project: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jan/28/michael-landy-art-rubbish-dump

Yeah, maybe all those delusional Damien Hirst collectors can just dump their Hist pieces into Michael Landy's garbage bin? That would be a real statement.

@OPIBAS Where in CT is your show, and what kind of crowd do you have in mind to attract? If you're hoping some NYers will come down for your show, best way to start doing that is actually through the artists themselves. They should do their best to invite their own friends and friends of friends. I've been to a lot on NYC group shows of this kind, where the main crowd in attendance were the artists and the friends of the artists. No shame in that, it's a beginning.

If you're hoping for the youngish crowd, you might try to network through the art schools in NYC:
SVA (grad and undergrad),
Pratt (grad and undergrad),
Columbia (Graduate MFA program),
Parsons,
FIT,
NYU's Film program,
NYU's Tisch School

If your show is something you plan on doing on a regular basis, you can definitely lure young aspiring artists to check it out with the promise that they can apply for the next show, net month, or next year, or whenever that will be. Young artists are ALWAYS looking for little shows to be part of, so you might get a lot of traffic that way.

@OPIBAS For whatever it's worth, a friend of mine has been raving recently about the potential for niche marketing on Facebook. Since lots of people put in information like location, age, and interests, you can really target specific groups of people who you think might go for your show: young people in a certain area who are interested in art, music, literature, and so on. I'm not a big Facebook user myself, but it could be one way to start spreading the word among people who are specifically interested in this kind of event.

For that matter, OPIBAS, you can also make a Myspace account for your event (I've seen this a lot, Myspace pages made not for people but for the events proper) and start inviting the kinds of NYC bands/artists that you think would make a good crowd. I think Myspace has made some changes to their networking options lately which makes it a lot easier to acquire Myspace friends and link in to their Myspace friends, exponentially.

If you're hoping to get NYC people out to CT, though, you should DEFINITELY make sure getting there is easy and you spell out exactly how to do it.

@uraniumfish - can't stand Hirst, think he's a joke. I do believe that to be a great artist, you need to know and understand the Old Masters, even if you choose to break their conventions. I can't see Hirst as having much respect for/engaging with anything but the sense of Weird for the Sake of Being Weird.

@OPIUBUS: What you have sounds very interesting. I think I'll go there in March and take a look. Thanks for letting us know about it. Sound really exciting.