Pricing contemporary art. Part 2
ARTinvestment.RU   14 июля 2020

Anna Lipskaya — on how contemporary artists can affect the value of his art

In the first part of the article we have described the main markers of the past decade market — feminism, the phenomenon of the artist-бренда and accelerating career. Today we will talk about what factors affect the pricing in the career of a contemporary artist.

it is considered that market participants understand the evaluation of art. However, even in this small circle, not all can confidently say exactly how the price of an art object. Auction houses, galleries, and appraisal companies are reluctant to discuss the true factors that influenced the final cost of a particular work. And in the end, not knowing all the details of the evaluation practice, it is difficult to understand how the prices of the two looks very similar works can vary considerably.

In this situation especially vulnerable are artists. As you know, one of the evaluation criteria of the artist's career is how his work is sold and what happens to their value. Market dynamics needed to strengthen the reputation of the artist, to create it artificially will not work. Here the decisive factor is the demand for work, and only then — value growth. It is a mistake to think that artificially raising the prices of their works, the author becomes more popular. No: it was the growth of interest in the artist and his creativity on the part of market participants will eventually lead to an increase in the cost of work.

Traditionally, many artists rely on the efforts of the gallery and wait for the result, without going into how their creativity can be perceived by the public. If the gallery indeed has enough experience and resources, the artist has the chance of a breakthrough. However, this is not the only way, and understanding how value is composed on the subjects of art, artists have the chance to directly influence the development of their market.

first think about the factors that influence the final rating of the work.

the First factor is the authenticity, or the authenticity of the work, its authorship. The artist's name automatically reflects the price segment, which is guided, starting the evaluation process of a particular work.

the Second factor, which includes a broad group of elements influencing value, — is an external quality. It is important to know the materials, equipment and work size — on these data usually relies on the evaluation of the work of emerging artists. With the consolidation of the market of the artist we begin to pay attention to a variety of other criteria, such as the subject of the image, the colours, the quality of the work. These reference points help to highlight the more significant and interesting works, which, respectively, will be priced higher.

the Third stage of evaluation of a work of art devoted to the analysis, which requires deep knowledge about the artist and his work. Here we need to pay attention to the year in which the work was created, and the level of the artist in the period of the work. If we are talking about contemporary artists, attention is drawn to the history and uniqueness of the work. You must consider the rarity of the work and its significance within the artist's work.

the Final stage of analysisthe cost of this work is to study the performance of the artist on the market currently. Institutional interest in the artist and the regular successful sale at auction — two signals of the high cost. It is important to remember that the current results will help to determine the cost, it is therefore necessary to monitor the market continuously.

it Becomes clear that among the many factors that affect the cost of the work, there are elements that are completely dependent on the efforts of the artists themselves. Each artist can perform his work by asking yourself the following questions:

• what is my value?

• As to know about this audience?

These two issues are not random, they are based on the principle that was formulated by the American economist Peter Drucker. According to him, to achieve the result you need to pay attention to two functions — innovation and marketing. It's amazing how accurately this principle reflects the situation on the art market. If you examine the most famous and successful artists the world today, we see how important were these two levers. Take a closer look and see how budding artists can apply this seemingly simple truth for creative growth and the strengthening of market indicators.

Undoubtedly, every artist who has attained success in today's market, unique. It is important to note that the uniqueness need not be absolute: even the smallest difference from colleagues can be a profitable advantage. There are two classical variants of building artistic uniqueness — on the basis of the self, that is, the formation of the brand, or through art. Contemporary artists manage to combine these options, and over time it becomes hard to say what plays a major role in the success of their market.

If we are talking about young artists, who are in search of its uniqueness, it is important to decide what you can use as the basis for and what is worth working for. You should start with their own capabilities and to understand what are the distinctive creative skills are already available, what needs to be improved, and to learn. It requires complete honesty, a sober assessment and the willingness to hard and long work.

Next is to go to the art on which the artist works. It should be interesting, recognizable, influential. Here you can ask the following questions: what ideas brings creativity, clear whether they created the work, how well expressed? Honest answers will help to determine whether art has the potential or should I continue to work on new ideas, formats.

Forming solid basis of uniqueness, you want to promote. To achieve success it is necessary to convey the value of the individual artist and his works to the world. The ability to interpret and describe their art — key advantage for the artist. A clear and strong voice, it makes the interest of the public and the response collectors.

of Course, regular exhibitions and activities are on the right sites has always been an important aspect of commercial success of the artist. The more he participates in group and individual shows, the greater its prominence and higher reputation. Live chat withcollectors and travelers in the art world also have a lot of weight in their own promotion. Do not neglect classic online-каналами by which the curator or collector can get acquainted with the work of the artist. Where the audience can see the artist's work? The artist, not having a quality website is already at a disadvantage and losing potential opportunities. Social networks also play an important marketing role in the modern world. In particular, Instagram today can be a major source of information about the artist, his works. If possible, you should invest time and money in the promotion channels, which helps the artist to convey their own ideas and to strengthen the interest of the public.

Thus, it is possible to perform their works and to understand which aspects should be further developed or promoted. Do not expect a rapid growth, but rather, you need to target the long and hard work. The true value always resonates with like-minded people, therefore, the main task of the artist — to understand and show it to the world.

In the next article we will talk about how a young collector to start preparing for the formation of his collection from scratch, at the same time improving their own knowledge about pricing in the art market.

Anna Lipskaya, d’ARTMethod (London),
especially for AI