Have Fun Creating Your Own Art Gallery

Collecting art isn’t just for the extremely wealthy or fortunate.  You may look at Albert Scaglione, Founder and CEO of Park West Gallery, the world’s largest art dealer, and be totally intimidated at the thought of art galleries and dealing in art.  Well, honestly, you should be.  His gallery sells the work of the most significant artists of our time.  

But that’s not what we are shooting for here.

We are thinking local.  We are thinking about being significant where we are.  We are encouraging you to buy with your eyes and your heart.  

Scaglione started his path towards significance in the field through the simple act of purchasing a piece for his parents.  His saving, purchasing, and presenting this piece to them meant so much that it moved him to dedicate his life to offering that opportunity to others.  

What are some tips to help you become a heart-driven art collector?

Buying from artists who are just starting

Local work seldom gets the appreciation it deserves, especially in rural locals.  Young artists, just beginning their careers, are still learning their craft.  Many are just beginning to develop the style that will be their course for life.  Early work in many artists is only appreciated later when you start to see the creative arc they were beginning.  Young artists have one thing mostly in common, they are broke.  Every dollar is appreciated, and every dollar you spend that you give to them gives you an opportunity to meet them and start a relationship for life.

Buying locally

When you pursue and purchase locally, you are impacting your community in many ways.  Like any small business, artists spend most of their money in the same community they live in.  Additionally a thriving art culture in your area impacts the vibrancy and appearance of your community.  A healthy art culture including music, theater, and visual art develops the minds of the youth in your community, creating opportunities for fuller and richer lives.

Creative buying benefits you

Not everyone can drop a cool million for a Chagall to wake up to and appreciate.  For $300 dollars, though, you can go to most local galleries and find a piece that will move you.  Art has a definitive impact on us.  If you find the right piece, it will fascinate you for life.  On the right day, it will take you to the time period you purchased it. Happy or sad, love or anger, art draws out our emotions in amazing, powerful ways.

Be a boundary breaker

Buying art can help you gain a better understanding of our world.  As you collect, you should begin to notice the influences of other artists and the influences of the cultures they came from.  Art should expand our horizons to consider the whole of humanity and our differences and similarities.  The more diverse and international your collection, the richer the experience of collecting will be.  

Buy what you love

If you can’t take your eyes off of it; if it moves you and makes you think as you look at it; if you think of it later and if it sets itself in the halls of your mind; if it owns you as much as you could own it, then maybe you should make that purchase.  That is how Park West Gallery started, maybe that’s how you should start to become a collector of art, too.