EP118: The challenges of investing in art with art world editor Jane Morris
“Buying art is a little bit like buying property in Knightsbridge…if you buy a blue-chip artist who’s dead and sit on it long enough then you probably will make money, but that means you need to be able to afford to sit on it for something like 30 or 40 years.
“Art is a very difficult asset class generally, it’s felt that if you have a wide portfolio then art is something interesting to put your money into, but you certainly wouldn’t do it as your primary source of investment. It’s also very easy to lose money.”
Jane Morris is the editor-at-large of CultureShock Media, an arts and culture content agency that delivers print, digital, film and social media strategies for leading arts businesses, museums and galleries.
Jane went to Central St Martins, where she studied fine art before studying journalism and has managed to establish a career which combines her fascination with both. She has written for The Art Newspaper, Monocle, the Economist, Artnet and the Guardian and has built teams of international writers covering news, investigative, data-driven reporting, analysis and long form features about the art world.
We talk about investing in art, how to spot a trend (as well as what’s best to avoid), THAT famous Banksy shredding moment and Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
“There has been a view, I would say coming more from the investment world, that one of the reasons people don’t buy digital art is because it’s easily copied. I suspect that it's because it’s not seen as attractive as a painting on the wall.”
We also talk about:
The challenges and continuing effect of coronavirus on the art world
Current trends and ones to watch in the market
Ring bidding in the upper echelons of the art world
The risky game of trading art as an investment
The lack of diversity in the art world and what museums are doing to rectify it
You can follow Jane on Twitter @MaryJaneMorris.