The Art We Don't Pitch To Clients

Our recent blog post called “What We Look For When We Source Art” was a popular one, so we’re building on that concept with this sister post. It’s all about the art we do not pitch for clients.  Of course, we’re doing this diplomatically, but here are some commonalities between the art that does not make it into our client presentations: 

Details about the art are impossible to collect and share. Not every artist or art loving gallery owner is business oriented, and yes, much of our job is liaising between our clients and various art sources….But when we are interested in a work and cannot obtain information such as high-resolution images, media, pricing and more, that work simply does not make it into our client presentations.  Choppy communication often leads to an unsuccessful transaction, so to ensure our clients buy wisely, we choose to only transact with reputable, reliable sources. 

The pricing does not seem right.  Pricing in the art market is not an exact science, but it’s also not pulled out of thin air. When an artists’ pricing simply feels off, we will not recommend it to our clients. There are a few ways to identify “off” pricing: one is when that pricing changes dramatically over a short period of time. Another is when an artist’s galleries all have vastly different prices that simply don’t match up. And finally, a third is when pricing does not align with an artists’ work or career accomplishments to date.  Yes, there are many examples of this that we see often and no, we are not naming names. 

We don’t believe in the work.  Our team members do not need to unanimously and personally love the art we recommend to clients… but we do need to believe in its potential to interest our clients and meet their art collecting goals in the long term.  Without this, we can’t pitch with conviction and therefore won’t pitch the work. This can lead to some awkward conversations, especially when clients specifically identify an artist they like (or already own). “Yes, we did look into that artist”, we will say, “and it’s great on Instagram, but not in reality,” or, “the work is overpriced,” or, “yes, I can believe it cost that little and no, it does not look like a more sought after artists’ work”.

In short, we are always vetting works for clients, and frankly, the more art we see, the more discerning our eye is. With colleagues in different regions, we are able to see countless pieces in person and build relationships with gallerists near and far. Most clients don’t hire us because they don’t know where to find art, but rather because there is too much art for them to narrow down the options! We narrow these down daily, and it’s our particularity that yields client satisfaction and makes each project a success.