Art tracking: How delusional is Gen Z about art collecting?
In the first step of investment, including art investment, people can often be easily influenced by their own psychology. When dominated by thoughts and emotions, there is bound to be illusion. Stepping through this stage, investors often learn the lesson that they need to be more rational, think more scientifically, thereby reducing illusions.
The collectors are very diverse, there are amateurs, and there are professionals. A professional does not mean a long-term collector, but a focus on investing in knowledge, experience and sometimes a whole team behind them to advise them. But no matter what class, usually, they will put their trust in the artist, trusting that they are sending to the right place, to the right person, to buying the right picture. They are excited about the residual value of the picture they invest in. Hope and belief in the artist's skill is the motivation for them to buy paintings, but it is also a double-edged sword for them to be disappointed at some point, for some reason.
As one (unnamed) collector shared: “Like many other hobbies, everyone has to pay the 'red carpet' fee for their first times. Through this stage, they begin to become wiser and less delusional, gradually practicing in the right direction. But no matter what time, any society, there will be a few hits for you to take for your passion, whoever stumbles a lot is wiser. But whatever you say, it's thanks to collectors like that that artists can move forward."
Another collector also frankly shared with LUXUO: “There are people who have money and immediately jump into art dealing and get a shock! People today are more professional, when they know how to learn and invest in the right painters and go in the right direction. Most definitely hire a consultant. There is one thing I observed and found that, many collectors of paintings nowadays buy paintings by 'ear error'. That is not willing to objectively learn anything. There are people who have been playing for a long time, but one day I know the truth and then I feel really disappointed!”
Especially in the fake market – it is so confusing now, buying paintings from the wrong place, the wrong person, the wrong organization, can all disillusion collectors. But even so what? Because even an auction house as illustrious as Christie's has been fooled.
About 10 years ago, the Beltracchi case shocked the global art world. Beltracchi's art of fake painting also partly exposes the dark side of the painting community: millions of dollars are paid for works that are difficult to verify, but that system makes judgments, misrepresenting the value of works of art. He specializes in painting fake paintings by second-rate artists. This artist's paintings have fooled even the experts. The first painting Beltracchi sold through Christie's in October 1995 was The Girl with the Swan, a forgery of a lost work by artist Heinrich Campendonk. By composing a believable script of the painting's origin, even the most connoisseurs are appalled!
Therefore, the illusion still comes to reputable experts or organizations, when the fraud is increasingly sophisticated and even systematic.
Another picture player shared: “I've watched the Chinese art market grow, because it's very specialized in investing, even giving children through the US, European, etc. to learn how to invest. painting. Because the most important thing is that Chinese people buy Chinese paintings, only then will the market for their paintings become stronger.”
So, if there is one piece of advice, collectors should also start their investments in the market they are most familiar with. With knowledge, real experience, plus a team of reputable and close experts, the illusion will surely decrease. But the most important thing is to be ready to accept whatever may happen.
According to Luxuo
