Modern Art Obsession

Art As An Asset Class - New Investment Research

Art As An Asset Class - New Investment Research. A new report is out from the CFA Institute, it's in their May/June 2010  Publication.

As most MAO readers know.. you don't just buy art as an investment. It's for the love of it!!

But people all talk about art and money almost simultaneously. Just say hi to an art dealer, gallerina, or worse yet an Artist, and within 5 minutes you'll always hear some aspect of the evil Dollars, doe-rea-mee word MONEY come up. So while almost everyone in the art business hates to admit it,  art and investing are inexplicably linked. MAO has written about art investing many times before. But, now a major financial publication has a 3 page story about it.

In fact, this May/June CFA Institute Magazine features Art Investing as the cover story.

The magazine has a feature story by Ed McCarthy who seems to know almost nothing about the art market is a freelance financial writer in Pascoag, Rhode Island.

The Fine Art of Investing, Is art a good way to diversify a client's portfolio?

The story is written from a strict investment professional point of view which is refreshing, but sadly the story lacks a lot of details.

Here's the story...  Download Cfa_may_june2010

But the Key points highlighted in the article are

1. The term "Art Market" is misleading because the market encompasses numerous submarkets with distinct characteristics.

2. The unique features of the art market and the transaction costs create additional risk for the casual investors and investment opportunities for more knowledgeable participants.

3. Studies of art's investment properties show that returns vary with the holding period but have exhibited a low or negative correlation with financial markets.

So as you can see, this story is not exactly breaking new ground.. but it's interesting to see a well respected financial journal finally  writing about Art as an acceptable investing asset class.

MAO wonder's if this was how subprime ABS and CDO investing started??

Artist Spencer Finch to Speak (Parsons Lecture Series) at The Aperture Foundation

Artist Spencer Finch to Speak at The Aperture Foundation (in cooperation with Parsons New School for Design) at 6:30pm on April 20th.

Some of the best things in Life are Free.. and as far as the art world goes.. this is one of those events.

We've been a long time fan of Spencer Finch and his super Witty sensory perception art creations.

(Photo #1, Images taken of the 2009 Venice Biennale room featuring 2 Spencer Finch artworks, Moonlight (Glass Window) and Moondust (light Sculpture))

If you've been on the New High Line Park in NYC.. you've no doubt marveled at Spencer Finch's Creative Time sponsored "The River That Runs Both Ways" (aka.. The English translation for the Native Indian name "Hudson") work, which looks like a huge stained glass wIndow installation at 15th Street and 9th Ave. In MAO's not sohumble opinnion, it is possibly one of the most perfect public art works we've seen in years!

So here's you chance to meet and listen to the brilliant mind who created this amazing public artwork...  

Here's the note from the official press release..

Aperture and the Photography Program in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design present a talk with Brooklyn-based artist Spencer Finch. In his renderings of light and color, Finch unites scientific method with a poetic sensibility as he explores the mechanics and mysteries of perception. Working with a variety of media, the artist examines how people experience, remember, and represent an array of visual and sensory phenomena through a studied investigation of his own observations of subjects ranging from the color palette of his dreams to a Monument Valley sunset. Finch is interested in the physical, cultural, and psychological factors that shape perception, examining the effect of light on an object's color, the boundaries of the human field of vision, and the influence of language, memory, and the subconscious.

Spencer Finchwas born in 1962 and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, Hamilton College, and Doshisha University in Kyoto, and has exhibited internationally. Finch had a major solo exhibition, What Time is it on the Sun?, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in 2007, which was accompanied by a monograph with essays by Susan Cross and Daniel Birnbaum. His recent solo exhibition, As if the Sea Should Part and Show a Further Sea, was exhibited at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia, in 2009. Finch was also included in the Making Worldsexhibition at the 2009 Venice Biennale, and has a solo exhibition forthcoming at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in September 2010. His work is held in important museum collections, including those of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; and Guggenheim Museum, New York

So the lecture starts at 6:30pm.. I'd suggest you get there early.. cause everyone MAO knows will be there...to oooh.. and ahhh.. over Spencer Finch and his amazing art!

Artist Talk with Spencer Finch
Parsons Lecture Series

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
6:30 pm

FREE

Aperture Gallery & Bookstore
547 West 27 Street, 4th floor
New York, New York

Friday May 7th...A Great new Photography Show Opens in Chelsea, Save the Date!

Friday May 7th... A Great new Photography Group Show, American ReConstruction, Opens up in Chelsea at the super art bloggers run amuck hot and innovative Winkleman Gallery, So

Save the Date! This opening is one not to be missed!! People will probably call this "THE Art Event of the Spring 2010 Season!." 

Plus, A big MAO congratulations go out to the 6 lucky new young talented artists which have been chosen for this show. Trust MAO, your careers in the Art World will never be the same!

More details to follow. (Photo below by Mark Lyon, Landscape For The People Series, "Ford F150 Tailgate", 2009, 24" x 60", C-Print) 

Last Chance to see.. Ruben Natal-San Miguel's "NY, NY Concrete Jungle" Show!

This is your last chance to see.. Ruben Natal-San Miguel's "NY, NY Concrete Jungle" show at +Kris Graves Projects!

The show closes on April 10th, and the gallery is at 111 Front Street, Suite 225, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Plus, this show was curated by photography great, and MAO favorite, Matthew Pillsbury.

OK.. We know.. going all the way out to Brooklyn is not going to happena small hassle. But, you will not be sorry. This is one show not to miss. Many of you might know Ruben Natal-San Miguel from his hyperprolific art blog, "ArtMostFierce." But beside being an obsessed contemporary photo collector, Ruben is also quite a skilled street photographer. The show, his first solo project, and is packed full of strong hit you right where you live images. It is NY street grit and glam at it's best. (Photo #1, Ruben Natal-San Miguel, "Duo- Once Upon a Time, Harlem, 2007," C-Print)

If you like the work of photographer Zoe Strauss, you've got to see this show.

Here's a small overreaching thoughtful note from the show's press release...

Like Ruben's Philadelphia friend and influence, photographer Zoe Strauss, he elevates these "UNSEEN" people and places with poetic vision, working to create an endearing meaningful life lesson of what it's like when the human spirit makes the best of what others may consider to be so little. This photographic project captures the beauty and struggle of everyday life which resonates as a social document of our time, and as a sheer and powerful visual art" - Mike Hoeh

The show includes a total portfolio of intriguing images, taken on the streets of Harlem over the last 5 years.

(Photo #2, Ruben Natal-San Miguel, Apollo M.J. Memorial Harlem 2009, C-Pint)

So the show is only up for a few more days.. so get out your subway maps.. and check it out the show.