Who buys art?

Who buys art?

I tell myself that I cannot afford to purchase original art, yet I spend a couple hundred dollars a year on books, which may or may not be about art.

Why don't I spend this money on art?

Although I enjoy visiting galleries and museums, I seldom buy prints.

Truth is, I love art, but buying it is not a high priority.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

I am interested in hearing from rec.arts.fine participants about this.

Actually, I have a couple questions.

Do you buy art?

What motivates you to buy?

Generally speaking, do artists buy art? Or are artists content to surround themselves with their own creations?

Rock and roll has its fans who must buy everything their heroes sing. Do art fans exist who feel this way about their artist heroes, who must buy every print or pen scratch?

Would you rather read a novel or study a heavily illustrated art book?

Gus

Website:

I like the pictures

well,,,,you can buy good art books with quality prints of great masters, or pay more ,,,much more for original art that won't be as good. personally, there's less than a handful of contemporary artists whose paintings i like.

i own no contemporary, and if i did, it would probably be through trade. what WOULD motivate me would be DEEEEEEEEEEP pockets and the availability of art i like. but most are owned or in museums.

personally, i prefer my art.

i have nothing BUT art books. i have no time to read. in fact,,,i don't even bother READING art books.

says...

Generally speaking, in MY experience, legitimate artists trade with other artists for their works.

Since my primary output is two-dimensional, the art that I spend money for (or trade for whenever possible) is three-dimensional. I love the finely crafted in wood, whether utilitarian furniture or decorative sculpture. Glass is another passion of mine - decorative glass.

I agree. On the other hand, if we were members of THE CHURCH OF ART, perhaps we would be expected to tithe 10% of our meager incomes to our religion via buying art.

I suppose we should thank Art that She doesn't expect us to worship Her with

Hmmm...I'm a legitimate artist but seldomly trade my art. This is mainly because it is difficult to find another artist who I like who also likes my work who's work is also of the same value, price wise. Trading art for services happens more often and I have and know artists who have traded for things like computer lessons, transport, studio space, etc. The comment about 2D and 3D is interesting though, I like a lot of sculpture and ceramics for the same reason as you (I'm a painter). I wonder how common that is?

In response to the original question... I buy art. I love collecting although I have to save and carefully select what I buy. My collection is relatively small (8 pieces, including ceramics, enamals, original prints and paintings) but I love looking. Some pieces I was fortunate to find by artists I do like. Some pieces are by unknowns (to me) that I fell in love with. One piece is by an artist I have liked for a long time (about 12 years) and have bought his book work, when I found an original photograph I was thrilled and it's still the main piece on my wall. To me it's the luxury of coming home and seeing beautiful things - I can't hang up my books, the reproductions are never as good as the original, and they're too little. I want people to enjoy my art because it has feeling and texture, and enjoy others' art for the same reasons. A book or poster just isn't the same.

I do like other things too, so I don't purchase art over something else necessarily. I buy things in the moment. I like robots too and have spent more on those than art. I don't like my own work in my home usually. Sometimes one or two pieces for a while, but in general I like to keep work at work. (haha! Yeah right! I still work at home but stick to prepping frames, signage, CVs, business letters, etc at home.) I have a problem with over-focusing on stuff though, so it's better to get away from it and usually I get more ideas that way instead of getting stuck if a piece is having problems.

By inference, rec.arts.fine participants, who collectively write about 200 thousand words each year, are collectively worth approximately 200 illustrations a year.

Actually, this sounds like a reasonable figure; 200 illustrations would be a prodigious output for any group of people.

Gus

This is fascinating. Robots? I love the idea of robots, but where does one buy them?

Gus

[That wouldn't go very far as a fine art budget.]

[No, hardly anybody buys art. Most people aren't interested in it, and those who are tend to be artists, who generally have more than they can display (or even store) in their cramped accomodations.]

I am interested in hearing from rec.arts.fine participants about this.

[Very rarely.]

[It has to tickle not only my fancy, but my acquisitive urge, which is distinct from merely finding something about a piece to like. Then it has to be affordable, which rules out most of the stuff that pushes my 'buy now' button.]

[The latter, mostly. If artists as a group were more affluent, this would probably be otherwise- we'd have big places with ample gallery space, and funds to indulge our tastes. This has happened in times when art and artists were more highly thought-of. But I don't think the art market would be on a very sound footing if it had to depend on this. On the other hand, if people knew more about it, if they'd tried the various art-making methods themselves, they'd appreciate it more, and know better what to look for. It's like sports- if you've tried making that outfield catch at the fence yourself, you are in a position to appreciate an outstanding play when you see it.]

[The works of rock and roll performers are available in very large unlimited editions, so the cost of their creative effort is amortized over a huge number of small-dollar sales. Artists still tend to pin their hopes on much fewer sales of unique pieces or very limited editions, which require commensurately higher prices to recoup their costs. Once an artist has widespread name recognition, every 'pen-scratch' is considered valuable, regardless of its aesthetic merit. That's the souvenir-hunter mentality at work, not art appreciation per se.]

[It depends on the mood I'm in, I suppose. Art and literature shouldn't have to be an either-or choice. And there are plenty of folks who seem to get along fine without either one.

I like your 'Church of Art' idea. If everybody who claims to love art tithed 10% of their income to support it, some amazing new cathedrals would be rising in short order...]

Andrew Werby

Good. Let's do it. I'll be a church mouse. Who wants to be pope?

BTW, I really enjoyed your website.

Gus Horne

is there room for another church mouse?