4 Ways to Start Your Art Collection Without Blowing Your Budget
A walk-in closet that does not double as your entire apartment. A cabinet full of wine that is more diverse than two-buck-chuck. An art collection that consists of more than a fews posters duct-taped to the wall. These are the things grown-up dreams are made of.
But although our rented homes may be small and our wine budgets low, there is a way to start a diverse art collection and still make rent. That way, of course, is on the Internet, so behold: four sites to jump start your artistic menagerie without having to leave the comfort of your closet and Trader Joe’s merlot.
Exhibition A is the side project of designer Cynthia Rowley and her husband Bill Powers, an art writer, editor and gallery owner. Working one on one with emerging and established artists like Peter Sutherland, Jeanette Hayes, and Harmony Korine, Exhibition A produces limited edition prints available for as little as $100. Each work is printed in a limited quantity and comes with a signed Certificate of Authentication, allowing buyers to purchase their favorite artist’s work for less than an original while acquiring a piece that isn’t mass produced.
The site releases a new work every week. Many of their artists have gone on to have very successful careers, making their limited edition prints worth much more than the initial selling price. “Collecting art is actually easy and quite addictive,” says Rowley, but go with your gut when collecting. “What you purchase should make you happy every time you see it,” she says, and with over a hundred works to browse through, there’s bound to be something that strikes your fancy.
Prints for only $24? You might as well just cover your walls completely in 20×200’s massive collection from artists like William Wegman, Bruce High Quality Foundation, and Dorothea Lange. It would be cheaper than painting.
If you’ve got a tax refund to spend and a bidding trigger-finger, online auction house Paddle8 will enrich your art starved soul. Paddle8 is the perfect option for investing in original work by mid-career artists like Eddie Martinez or Sam Falls, or for getting your hands on a real life Bruce Weber print. Check out the many benefit auctions for lower prices and a chance to invest in a good cause (and a nice write-off toward your growing collection).
Art isn’t limited to your walls. It can be as functional as a chair, a puzzle, or even a yoga mat. Grey Area gallery works with a number of cool artists like Baron Von Fancy and Andrew Kuo (of @earlboykins Instagram fame) to create limited edition art objects that you never knew you needed.
And if you’ve already started? Snap a pic of your collection and show us what you’re working with.
Follow Kate Messinger on Twitter, and check out her last story on five female painters to know.
