Art Collecting 101

Plus, some of the works I'm eyeing to collect now

May 28, 2023

Art is something near and dear to my heart. I grew up in a very artistic family. My maternal grandfather was a working artist, who specialized in realistic portraiture as well as large-scale mixed media pieces. My grandmother was also artistic, albeit in different ways (when I was very young, she had a flourishing side business painting abstract designs on top of furniture and decoupaging antique windows and plates).

I began selling my own art because, quite simply, I had a lot of ideas in my head for text-based pieces. I love words and how one sentence can mean two different things to two different people depending on inflection or the type of mood you might be in when you read something. I love poems and lyrics and also double entendre, too. So I started selling what I call my Play on Words. Some feature snippets from songs or fragments by people like Anne Sexton or Taylor Swift. Others are just things I came up with, overheard someone say in a crowded restaurant, or are common idioms that I find interesting.

I make other art too — nudes, Picasso-like faces, abstracts — but have been fortunate to see the Words really take off. So much so that now I have repeat customers who buy more than one piece. I have struggled to think of myself as an artist (damn imposter syndrome) but I guess you’d say these return customers are collectors.

Art collecting, like vintage-buying, is very intimidating. It appears to be something reserved for only the very rich but here’s a little secret: it’s totally doable, even if you’re not Jeff Bezos.

Below, I’ve rounded up my tips for building an art collection, plus shared a selection of some of my favorite pieces to collect at the moment.

Art Collecting 101

First, you need to know that art generally falls into four categories: originals, lithographs/prints, special editions, and posters.

Originals are one-of-a-kind pieces that, while sometimes turned into prints, are the most valuable of the bunch (for instance, the original Mona Lisa is worth a lot more than the millions of posters, t-shirts, and bumper stickers inspired by the fair lady).

Then you have your lithographs, which are prints overseen by the artist and created with stones or metal plates. These are different from mass-made prints, which are often not necessarily overseen by the artist, but instead just mass-made in a factory, through some sort of licensing deal (but often numbered).

Special editions are essentially lithographs (i.e. high-quality prints overseen by the artist) that have something special: say, an embellishment, or a swipe of paint—something that sort of bridges the gap between print and original, so your edition is somewhat unique.

And then there are posters, which are just mass-made in the thousands, often many years after the piece of art they depict. There are different categories of posters and not all are the same. If you go to a thrift store and you see an original, 1977 Picasso exhibition poster, that’s amazing. But if you see a poster printed in 2020 that shows a Picasso painting on it, that’s less incredible (because only a small number of the first were made, and they were made while the artist was still alive, to depict a unique exhibit).

Tips on Building a Collection:

These days, collecting art doesn’t have to mean purchasing from a gallery. Thrift stores are an excellent source for beginning a collection. Just look for what you love (photography, abstract art, etc.) and do research as you go. You will familiarize yourself with styles and artists this way and it gives you something to hunt for.
Go to art fairs (Art Basel, Frieze, even your local markets!) I went to Art Basel many years ago and first became acquainted with the artist Brian Calvin. I immediately followed him on Instagram and managed to procure a few of his signed special editions over the next year. Those works have already tripled in value since, as his star has risen.
If you don’t have the budget for an original, but want something special, there are great websites like Exhibition A and Tappan Collective that work with in-demand artists to produce limited-number, special editions that won’t break the bank.
There are also websites like Chairish and Artfully Walls that sell less-expensive print versions of original works of art that arrive framed and ready to hang.