Five Great Examples of Collectible Paintings: This Art Mimics the Economic Downturn

Internet art gallery DiscoveredArtists.com reports that art continues to mimic life and, in fact, in some instances mocks life.A growing number of paintings and fine art photos posted to the online art gallery are themed around the current economic downturn.  The artworks range in temper from sympathetic, emphatic reflections on the plight of the common man, to critical commentary on corporate greed, and on the worsening economic outlook.”We always see art that reflects the good times, but crisis, bad news and social and political controversey really seem to stir the creative juices,” said DiscoveredArtists.com’s Brian Walker.It’s no surprise that contemporary artists who by nature are gifted with hyper-awareness and a natural desire to express opinion, are reacting to the economic crisis through their art.   Along with creating new works of art, artists are culling their portfolios for pieces that reflect the recent financial crisis, and especially art that communicates their sympathetic and empathetic themes related to the common man with concerns about credit, unemployment and corporate greed.Walker explains that “We search for talented independent artists and invite them to sell their work in our gallery, so we’re actually a curated site.”But Walker adds that artists have “complete freedom” to choose the art that they add to the site, so the themes and ideas reflected in recently posted artwork are a good indication of what’s on the minds of independent artists.And clearly, based on recent postings, the current economic crisis tops the list.

Over the past few months, in sync with growing bad news about the economy, a number of artworks related to the tragedy of business failure and high unemployment, and commentaries on corporate greed and Washington politics are showing up in artists’ galleries.

Fine art photographer, Robert Hicks, recently posted No More Credit to his DiscoveredArtists.com gallery. The artist relates deeply with the plight of small town folks who are affected by financial woes.  He writes, “I have been through financial failure in the 80’s when the oil business crashed and took me with it, so I have a personal connection with the images of financial distress, failed businesses, and decaying edifices that once represented someone’s hopes and dreams.

Hicks, however, continues with a positive twist to the tragic story of survival, “… I also connect with my images of those who try to find a way to survive in tough times – as represented in No More Credit – and find opportunity in the midst of the crisis – as depicted in Cash for Titles.  I understand the rocky road of recovery from financial disaster.”

Both photographs are part of a series of black and white images depicting the edifices or other traces left by people on the side of the road, inviting the viewer to imagine the stories evoked by those structures or other mute signs of human presence.  The photos are an invitation to the viewer to use their imagination and write their own story.

A completely different temper of the times is expresssed in Politicians on Parade by American Artist, Maggie Stewart.  This might be an artwork with a generally accepted point-of-view, but we certainly can connect the thought behind the painting to recent financial bailouts, and especially to the regulatory failure that lead to them.  The artwork is a small, but powerful 5″ x 7″ monoprint on copper plate, and is a real departure from the usual decorative artwork that this very established artist typically creates.  Clearly an inspired work of art.

Unemployment Line by South African artist Grady Zeeman reminds us that the economic crisis is worldwide, and is equally or even more severe outside the U.S.  The artist comments in a description of this artwork that unemployment is at crisis level in South Africa, and that rising costs for housing and food make prospects for many South African families bleak.  The large 36″ x 24″ painting is an original oil on stretched canvas, and is one of over twenty paintings that Zeeman has posted to her DiscoveredArtists.com gallery.  The artist’s mission is to raise awareness of South African issues that affect the lives of her fellow countrymen.

Corproate Conscience by Canadian artist Mark Eliuk leaves nothing to the imagination.  The artist makes no comment about the surrealism portrait because the title, and the painting itself speak volumes about his view of big business.  The 11″ x 14″ painting is available on stretched canvas as a limited edition giclee print, signed and numbered by the artist.  The series is capped at 250 and only twenty of the prints are available for purchase online.

About DiscoveredArtists.com DiscoveredArtists.com is an online art gallery where independent artists sell work directly to the general public.  All purchases are backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee, including return shipping.  Purchase original and limited edition wall art, fine art photographs and art objects with a major credit card.  All art is shipped directly to the Buyer from the Artist’s studio.

Art Investment Guide

Art Investment Guide

Second only in size to the US market, The UK art and antiques market is worth well over £4 billion a year, and holds a global share of some 26% of the world’s total art sales. In terms of volume, the UK is the largest marketplace for art on the planet.(1). In 2005, the index covering sales of old masters showed growth of 18.8%, while the similar index covering post-war and contemporary art rose 8.3%. Over the past five years, the average annual returns were 3.1% and 17.7% respectively.(2). That’s a better return than investing in stocks and shares.

Buying art can represent a fantastic long-term investment opportunity. In order to help you make an informed decision on the art you buy through The Art Ministry website, we have put together some key considerations to bear in mind when selecting work from our galleries. With over 25 years’ experience in the art market, our team have followed the same steps to ensure all work available in our Online Store is fairly valued.1. Buy what you like

It’s important to trust your own taste when buying art. Our aim in providing this collection is to offer artwork for every budget that adds interest to your home or office, a talking point that enriches your environment and lifestyle. Great art needn’t be expensive, and buying artwork should primarily be an expression of your own personality. Like stocks and shares, the value of artwork can go up or down, so it’s crucial you buy what you like and can afford. Ultimately the true value of art is in the pleasure or feelings it evokes. The more people that find it appealing the more demand increases, which inevitably increases the value.2. Do your homework and understand the value of the work

When you view a piece of artwork to buy, pay attention to detail. If you look into the way it has been physically created, how much time it took and the journey the artist went through in producing the piece, you will come to appreciate the skill of the artist and the effort involved in making the work. When it comes to value, don’t be taken in by the medium either. For example, oil paintings are in general more expensive than watercolours, but the latter can require more skill to achieve the desired impression.

The more artwork you look at and the more background information you obtain on various artists and how they work, the more you will learn what you like and why. Comparing the merits of a work with other artist’s work will help you determine the inherent value in any given piece and assist your buying decision. If you want to know what similar work has sold for, use a source like The Art Sales Index, which has catalogued art prices since the 1950’s, or the Mei/Moses Fine Art Index, which tracks various auction price indexes and compares them to the stock exchange to gauge relative performance.

The comparative merits include:

The World’s Best Art Consultancy

The World’s Best Art Consultancy

art-exchange.com unveils Release III of its art tool for designers

The Future Art Consultancy

Locating and placing artwork in a design project is arguably the most difficult part of the project. While some designers take on this task themselves, many enlist the assistance of an art consultant. One limitation of this approach is the consultant’s limited universe of artists. Most art consultants end up with a few “go-to” favorites.

Imagine an art consultancy able to directly access 10,000 artists, with technology capabilities aggregating art choices in a portfolio for emailing or high-resolution printing for presentations. Add the ability to correspond with clients via e-postcard including selected images. And finish with the ability to access framing options online thus enabling the designer to actually show the customer how the pieces will look framed.

Does It Work?

Can a website help you find art? Art-Exchange (www.art-exchange.com) is not a new website, not a new service, not a new company. It does, however, take a new approach to providing art to designers. And it has a new site design that Art-Exchange claims will make the service even more powerful and easier to use.

I spoke with Richard Gipe, President and CEO of Art-Exchange, to find out why he thinks his company’s service is so special. I asked him, “If you had to communicate Art-Exchange’s value to designers in a single sentence, what would you say?”

Here’s what he said: “If you want to access as much art as we have on Art-Exchange, you would have to go to 20,000 galleries, and you would have to deal with so many different sellers that the logistics would be overwhelming.” That sounds pretty good. But does the site work?

About Art-Exchange

Art-Exchange is a business service provider that specializes in solutions for the design trade. They can offer solutions to designers as an art consultancy, or they can provide solutions to art consultants to help them be more effective and efficient.

For the past five years Art-Exchange has been actively contacting artists to list their works on the exchange. Today there are approximately 100,000 different works of art created by over 10,000 different artists. Imagine searching 100,000 records to locate the perfect art solution. Nearly 60% of all the works are originals, and the remaining 40% is a variety of editions. All of these works are organized in a database, and a search engine locates works using any or all of the following criteria:

• Artist’s name

• Title

• Subject matter

• Style

• Medium

• Size

• Colors

• Price

• Orientation

Suppose you need oversized original works and price is an issue. Maybe you want only works with lighthouses. Or perhaps you need large public works. That’s how specific the search engine can be. And with the new design, if you enter several criteria and the search engine can’t find a work that matches all your criteria exactly, it will refer you to the works that match your criteria most closely, so that you don’t have to start over. As one of the new site’s designers said, “We don’t ever want to show nobody anything.”

Normally, designers hire an art consultant or visit multiple galleries or view print books to find the perfect art solution. That’s the old way of finding art. Now designers can look in one place and view tens of thousands of originals alone. This is the new way of finding art. Art-Exchange let’s designers search for all the art they need in one place. That alone has the potential to save time, but the website has some other very powerful features that give designers even more flexibility and power.

Powerful Features

One very important new feature is the Designer Portal. Art-Exchange has four different portals that members can use to enter the site. There’s one for retail clients, one for community partners, and another for artists and other sellers. But the Designer Portal is available only to designers. Once you enter the portal, you can search for the art you want, view images of the art, and immediately see designers’ wholesale pricing.

Here’s another great new feature: Portfolios. How do you keep track of the works that fit your client’s needs? You keep a portfolio. Designers can set up portfolios for individual clients, different locations, or just for future reference. It’s easy to save works to custom-made portfolios. And it’s easy to show the portfolio to clients—from anywhere in the world.

Another terrific feature is the Exhibitions section. Exhibitions include the works of around 200 artists and are compiled topically. Prior exhibitions, which are still accessible, include Realism, Landscape, Watercolor, and Impressionism. In order to have fresh ideas readily available for clients, designers need to be reviewing art all the time, and these exhibitions can help. It takes only fifteen minutes to view an entire exhibition.

Another feature that can help designers and clients work together—especially when clients have trouble describing their interests—is the Postcard feature. Clients can go to the website to browse for themselves. They can view an exhibition, browse by artist, or do a search. When they find something they like, they can send images to their designer using electronic postcards.

Soon, Art-Exchange will even offer the ability to create Custom Frames online so that clients can view the artwork in different frames and choose the one they like best.

Full-Service Art Consultancy

Art-Exchange goes far beyond just the website, however. They also provide full-service art consultancy. They have a full staff of qualified art consultants who can do as much or as little as a designer wants them to. Anything a typical art consultancy does, Art-Exchange will do. If a designer works with an art consultant already and wants to maintain that relationship, Art-Exchange will even work with his or her current art consultant.

How to Access the Features and Benefits of Art-Exchange

Go to www.art-exchange.com and visit the Designer Portal. Log in as a designer and learn about how the service works. You can easily search for art, access their full-service art consultancy, or guide your favorite art consultant to Art-Exchange. A subscription is free. Art-Exchange is paid by the sellers on completed transactions; so they only get paid if they’re helping designers find the right art, for the right job, at the right price.

When asked what he would most want to communicate to designers about the company and the service it provides, Gipe said, “I want the members of ASID who place art to try the art consultancy service at Art-Exchange, and if they’ll give us 10% of their trust, we’ll earn the other 90%.” If you’re a designer or an art consultant, it’s worth trying. Does it work? Is it really whole new way of finding art? Yeah, that’s what it is. And for designers, the world of art will never be the same.