As a collector, your ultimate aim is to buy the best art and keep them in your prestigious collection. But it is often difficult for collectors to ensure that every piece of art you buy would be a good investment in the future. Hence, it is only natural that there are some art that you have bought might just disappear into oblivion in the future. This is where you would have made an uninformed decision or a poor one.
So what is it that you must do in order not to spend your money in art which might not be valuable in the future? The most important people here would be art dealers or gallery owners. They are the best people who will be able to help you in buying the best art which you can keep or invest in. You might not be able to avoid buying art which would be worthless in the future but you surely can minimize your loss if you are buying from the right avenues.
You must first be significant to the gallery owners. This means that you must be able to strike an impression where they would remember you. Contrary to what many believe, gallery owners are not just out for your money although they do need to enjoy profits in order to survive. Depending on your affordability, as long as you have bought any art from the galleries, you are a customer.
It is very important that you keep a good rapport with them so that they are aware of what your interests are.
You might not be a collector who can afford every piece of work that comes around but galleries would take you seriously if you take their businesses seriously. This is where you must know and acknowledge that the gallery is very much a business operation to them, which means they will be talking in business terms whenever possible. But being a dealer in the art scene, they will be able to derive the products which the customers are looking for.
By having a good relationship with the gallery, they will take note of what type of art work you are looking for.
If you are one who likes impressionism, when a specific artist comes out with a work along that nature, the first person they will think of would be you. Hence, they will call you up for any pre-show dinner or to view the painting before the public does. This way, you will be given preferential treatment by the gallery although it might not be the case with each show. In situations like these, they might be recommending new artists to you instead of the more established ones.
On the other hand, if you are a collector cum investor type of buyer then the gallery will know how to act accordingly where they will know that you are only interested in artists whose works are sound investments. This is where the galleries would be suggesting work from artists who are more established and thereby slightly more costly.
On top of that, you will also know about some art which never makes it for public shows and might just be kept in the private offices. As mentioned, if such work are aligned with your preferences, the gallery will contact you directly to inform you of their existence instead of waiting for the show to come around.
