While it is true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, works of art frequently transcend the individual and are subjective. They become totemic, as exemplary works that capture a wider movement or feeling and demonstrate mastery of form in the process.
From the delicate watercolours of Monet to the incendiary graffiti installations of Banksy, good art has a meaningful and lingering impact on society.
This cultural value often translates into market value, too. The art market is a behemoth for investment, providing entrepreneurs and business leaders with an opportunity not only to engage with a lynchpin of modern society but also the future – and a chance to grow wealth. But how is art the future, and how exactly can it provide value to the entrepreneur?
To get it: For those interested in exploring and supporting these diverse expressions, buy art online can provide a direct and convenient way to connect with artists and their works.
Art and the Future of Culture
The history of art is not something that can be easily condensed into a trite paragraph; indeed, there are decade-long academic courses that aim to teach the value of art, and experts for every moment, discipline and notable individual in art over its millennia situated at the centre of modern civilisation.
The future of art, however, is counterintuitively easier to surmise. Art almost always exists in opposition to the status quo, to power – for better or worse. As conventional art in the form of paintings and sculpture continues to interrogate the world in which we live, new forms of art are born to interrogate the system in which they operate.
Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, are digital artworks that enjoy the same scarcity as ‘real’, tangible artworks. They are transacted and exchanged on a peer-to-peer network, free from centralised control and interference. This is as much a cultural statement as it is a vote for financial freedom; both the art and blockchain on which it is based have also invited controversy, which, for better or worse, sets the NFT in art history.
The Art Market, and the Value of Investment
The art market is sometimes defined by the high price tags individual works can command; recently, a David Hockney work vastly outstripped its estimated auction value of £10m to sell for £21 million. Art is unavoidably big money, as evidenced by these gargantuan figures and the overall size of the industry.
Engaging with the Art Market
But how can one engage with the art market in a valuable way? For the entrepreneur, legal counsel can be, somewhat surprisingly, the best route to understanding the potential of art. For one, collecting art is a strong way of growing wealth, or at the very least protecting it from economic fluctuation.
For another, the transacting of art can be profitable, if wrought with legal issues relating to provenance and borders. These legal issues are also present in the digital art world, where NFTs are just as beholden to foreign laws as tangible assets. But weathering these issues is worth it for the reputational rehabilitation they can provide – especially if you are lending artworks to museums and galleries. Though these are not profitable agreements, they are free publicity and storage – and a good opportunity to advertise for sale.
Images courtesy of unsplash.com
